Saturday 15 September – Actually being written Sunday morning while waiting for breakfast to be delivered to our room.  Thanks Amanda, Mark, Lisa and Graham for the night in this lovely comfy room!  As we didn’t get back here till 12.30 this morning, I was a bit tired to do the blog then, plus Grant’s snoring after a fair skinful of drinks, didn’t allow me to concentrate too hard!

Back to Saturday’s proceedings.  We just mooched around in the morning and Grant rearranged the car, setting up the back seat again ready for having passengers tomorrow.  We got to the hotel at a bit after twelve and checked in, and were ready for the wedding in plenty of time.  As the scheduled starting time was 3 o’clock, we wandered over to the beach at about 2 to set up what I had to, and see that everything was ready.  There were a lot of people on the beach as it was a beautiful day (around 26 degrees) and fortunately there was just a gentle breeze rather than the strong wind we were worried about.

Janine had brought along the bells that Mum had crocheted for Amanda’s wedding, so it was my job to tie then along the handrail of the steps down to the wedding spot.  The bells have now been used for four of Mum’s granddaughter’s weddings, so that was lovely, and a very suitable ‘something old’.  That didn’t take long, so we had quite a wait before anything else happened.  When a quarter to three came and there was still no sign of the table for the signing or the p.a system, I began to get a bit stressed, but all was good – they arrived five minutes later, and the bride was pretty well on time.

Aunty Gwenda’s daughter Jenny had driven Aunty Gwenda and David to the venue, and two of her boys had come along, so it was nice to see them.  They stayed to watch the wedding, and we finished up with quite an audience of beachgoers sitting around the pavilion watching, even joining in the applause when they were announced as husband and wife!  The ceremony went very well – I was really pleased with it – very relaxed and happy, with a few tears from the Mum’s and one of the bridesmaids, but Beck and Steve managed to hold it together.

Once the ceremony was over and the photo session was under way, we returned to the hotel with all my stuff and were going to meet up with four of Janine and Alan’s friends at a pub to wait the two hours till the reception started.  We thought we’d have a cuppa first, then our phone rang and it was David saying that he and Aunty Gwenda were down in the foyer of our hotel and would wait for us there.  So of course we asked them up and that put paid to us going to meet the others, as it was a reasonable walk from here and Aunty Gwenda is 85!

The reception was also very relaxed and good fun.  Just three or so speeches were the only real formalities, but of course lots of chatting by everyone else.  Towards the end of the night Carmel and I helped Janine clear the tables and put them and the chairs away, take off and pack all the chair covers and sashes, pack away the remains of the lolly table, etc ready for them to pick it all up in the morning.  So it was a bit after midnight when we left there and walked back to the hotel.  I don’t know what time the few who were still there would have wound up, but I imagine there will be a few sore heads when we are back at Steve and Becks tomorrow for lunch.

Beck with Janine and Alan.

The Bride.

 So their big day is over, and it went very well.  Congratulations to the newly weds!