London part two - An English Country Wedding Spectacular!

The next morning we were up early… For one very special reason.. Bridie and Tam’s wedding!!! We caught the tube out of London central to meet up with a couple of Bridie’s friends, Daisy & Dave who kindly offered us a lift for the hour & a half journey! It was a lovely drive up into the country (heading north of London to a super small town of Oundle!) With a few wrong turns we still arrived in good time, & found our rooms in the massive girls boarding house! Driving into Oundle it was a picture perfect town with cute cobbled side streets, a few pubs & happy people.. I guess it also helped that the sun was shining!! Bridie’s gorgeous mum Marianne is the ‘head of house’ at the girls home & it was school holidays so the perfect location for a breathtaking wedding in the garden and guests conveniently could stumble upstairs to their rooms! 
Dropping off our bags in the Deputy Head of House’s large room, we met a few other fellow guests & all headed down to a local pub for a drink & some sandwiches before returning home to get ready!
We spent a good hour meticulously getting ready for the grand event, & once ready, we walked down towards the stunning ceremony setting, which was amongst tall green trees & a rushing river. Signposts & fences were dotted with ballet flats, signifying Bridie’s passion & current job within the Opera and pieces of Tartan representing the Scottish other half.. Tam. Not long after we sat down, the crowd was ushered to stand as the bridal party came into view. Bridie eventually approached the aisle arm in arm with her brother, & she singlehandedly took our collective breaths away! Looking effortlessly classic & drop dead gorgeous in a slightly off white simple lace dress, touched off with a hint of what’s to become - her beau’s Scottish heritage - a tartan bow wrapped around her tiny waist. She met Tam at the end of the Isle who was dressed in his Kilt and looking ravishing, they exchanged excited smiles as the came together. 

The ‘Humanist’ ceremony was short & sweet without any of the long winded religious readings, & we all agreed it was just perfect. We all even had the chance to sing along to ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ by Queen, an inspired touch, & one that remained stuck in our heads for days! Our singing concluded & the bridal & groom parties disembarked to a round of a resounding applause & adoration. 

We followed them towards the lush green backyard of the house, for a few glasses of delicious bubbles & canapés. The guestbook was ingeniously maps of where in the world you were from, unfortunately the world did not stretch outside the UK!  Undeterred, I drew an Australia & NZ in a spare spot of ocean, & wrote a lovely note to the newly married couple. We later found out that it was where we had met Bridie or Tam, so I appropriately wrote a note around the location of Harrod’s as well, the best of both worlds, literally! We made friends with a few other guests & Bridie’s friendly Labrador, before the Bride & Groom returned from privately signing the vows & triumphantly strolled down a path lined with guests on both sides, dried rose petals at the ready, & as they passed, we chucked it all over them! We once again followed them down to a giant, funky teepee filled with tables on the lower lawn for the reception. 

We each sat down at our respective spots along one of the 6 large tables, & wasted no time in meeting our fellow neighbours. Everyone then got stuck into the food, a couple of delicious salads were laid out & we each passed them around whilst pouring ourselves glasses of wine. We later learnt that we were meant to hold off until the lamb arrived but by then the damage had been done, however we did still enjoy the lamb & spuds on their own. 
A few glasses of lip smackingly tasty Chardonnay in, & once our plates were cleared, the speeches begun. The best man Dave kicked things off to a great response before Bridie made a speech followed by her lovely new Husband! Marianne finished things off & after an uproar of laughs, we were ready for a dance (not to mention a wee!!) 
The traditional Highland dancing was definitely an experience, & after a few drinks it certainly was more complicated then it might’ve been sober! We did our very best to coordinate & move along, swinging around arm in arm with different partners, making sure we were doing it in correct order, & generally having a wonderful time! Bridie & Tam left the building at 11pm to begin their honeymoon, & sadly, it was farewell for now.
After dancing differently for each of the several various Highland songs, we were spent, so we finished up with a few more glasses of German Riesling, & being the last ones standing along with a few others including the legendary Marianne herself, we decided to call it a night. Heading back to our single bed we both assumed the spoon position, & shortly passed out.
The next morning we met familiar faces in the kitchen, helping ourselves & our sore heads to coffee & toast before calling a cab & heading for the train station in Peterborough. We made the train in good time (after we missed the one an hour earlier) & headed back to London! 
Arriving back at the tower just after lunch we tucked into some left over chocolate and cheese, showered then made tracks to Brick Lane! Having lived in London & mainly on or around the area, this was one thing that I definitely wanted to show Sean! It comes alive on a Sunday with the markets however when we arrived I was sad to see that the street sellers (cheap & cheerful street sales) had left & the vintage market had upped their prices & sprawled further down the entirety of brick lane! We grabbed a tasty wrap & some coffees & perused the busy stores until Sean couldn’t bare it anymore! 
We made it back to the tower to meet Micky in the late afternoon & decided to head over the road to St Catherine’s dock to wine & dine at Cafe Rouge. The three of us devoured a bottle of tasty red & steaks, followed by creme brûlée and chocolate fondant.. Definitely better than a lot of the meals we had in Paris! 
I was excited to head home & finally see Jaz (my London muma and mickys actual mum) as she only just arrived back, & just like old days her infectious smile hasn’t tainted a bit!! We all sat around catching up into the late hours of the evening until calling it a night! 
Sean & I snuck out early in the morning to meet Chloe for one last coffee at Pret! Time flew & Sean couldn’t get a word in edge wise, as once the two of us start we just can’t stop, until she had to run off to rehearsals!!  Back to the tower we packed up our bags, loaded them into the car & headed out for lunch with Jaz, Micky, Sean & I! We went to a place under the tower bridge by the Thames which serverd up tasty meals & a beautiful bottle of white to wash it down! The sun was finally shining & it was a beautiful last supper in London with a few of my favourites! Jaz then dropped us to London bridge station so we could easily catch the train to the airport! I was sad to say goodbye to them but will hopefully see their beautiful smiling faces in Aus soon enough!! The train took a little over an hour and found our gate easily! Finally in luck the Easyjet flight to Rome wasn’t delayed an before too long we were flying high! Touching down at Fiumicino airport we messaged our air BnB hosts and promptly picked us up and took us back to their house only a few kilometres from the plane station! 
The elderly couple were adorable and very welcoming of us into their little suburban home! Hungry for dinner we wasted no time in wandering around to find a tasty Japanese restaurant, then back home for an early night. After a much needed sleep in & complimentary breaky.. (Damn those cakey like brioches) we were dropped back at the airport & found our Turkish airlines flight to Bangkok! Excited for our last leg of the journey we strapped ourselves in & took off.. Ready for South East Asia!!