A family wedding

Everyone says, "you were lucky with the weather!!"  It's March, for us the most stable month, weather-wise when it's still warm, the trade winds aren't blowing, and usually it's fairly dry.  Today, however, it isn't dry - far from it; the rain deluged the place last night and again today... so, yes, I guess that last week, we were lucky with the weather!  It was a beautiful, bright, sunny day, with a bit of a breeze, but not too much.  They married on the Friday, but the festivities started the previous Sunday, with the arrival of the Marriagable Daughter who came a week early, "to help".  Yeah, right ;-)  Next day, the Swain arrived, followed the day afterwards by two of the four Bridesmaids, and then the Aunt of the Bride (my sister).  The whole week was taken up with a kind of stop-start clean-the-house, and beautify-outside regime.  The stop-start happened as one of us would start on a job, only to be diverted by someone else, or the Marriagable Daughter whisking away her Bridesmaids to be beautified, or else we would all stop for lunch, start the inevitable reminiscing, and nothing would get done.  It did, though, in the end.

At least a quarter of the guests came from the UK, all friends and relatives of the Swain, and this provided enormous entertainment as they got used to us, and we to them.  Having four groomsmen and an MC who all knew each other from uni flatting days, could only mean one thing - a great reunion for them all.  On the day of the wedding, the house was filled with make-up specialists, flowers, and food.  The make-up artists took from 9am to 2pm beautifying us all.  It was painstaking work.  I'm used to just a lick and a promise on the face - and that's just from the dog - so sitting still while being titted around was a bit of a novelty.  I felt as though I should be auditioning for panto by the end of it all.

The Marriagable Daughter looked so beautiful, as did the bridesmaids, the Swain and the best men.  But the M.D. was perfect.  I've never seen her looking happier, and the look on the Swain's face as he saw her enter the church, was wonderful.  The Dress was divine, the flowers perfect, and the little country church was full to brimming.  Afterwards, an old bus took the guests to one of the local vineyards where we celebrated, ate, danced, and drank.  The F.O.B gave a great speech, as did the new husband, his best men, and the chief BM. 

Next day, Saturday, everyone descended on our home - weather was good, yes, and there was enough food to feed the 500.  Well it seemed like 500 by the end of the day when many of the guests stayed on to be fed at night, and the following day, most of the new family relatives, and newlyweds arrived back for lunch. 

For the next few weeks, if not years, the F.O.B. and M.O.B. are on hard rations...