Wedding Weekend

Whew, what a whirlwind of activity we had last weekend. I was totally exhausted by the time it was over.

My sister and niece arrived from Alberta on Thursday morning at 5:30 am; I had to get up earlier than I would have for work to pick them up at the airport.  Later that afternoon, two more of my nieces arrived from Prince Edward Island so it was back to the airport to pick them up. All of this company was arriving for my nephew's wedding which was being held on Saturday.

But before the wedding, there was on Friday, the graduation of a young cousin from the Royal Military College of Canada. My sister, Annette and I made the two hour drive from Ottawa to Kingston to see the graduation parade. The parade had to be moved indoors on account of the rain so it wasn't the spectacle that it should have been.  Our view of the parade was of the junior wing so we actually didn't see much of the graduating class from where we were seated.

We had lunch afterwards with our aunt, my Dad's half sister, and then started the long drive back to Ottawa. All of my nieces had stayed in Ottawa and had gone downtown to see the sites. Unfortunately, they had the same weather in Ottawa as we did in Kingston so mostly all they did was some shopping.  You can read about their day at Uniquely Alyssa.

Friday evening was the rehearsal dinner so when Annette and I arrived back at my place, all we had time to do was feed the dogs, let them out for a bit and finish the salads we were taking over to the dinner. Then it was off to my sister Juanita's place (mother of the groom).  We had a lovely buffet supper. After dinner all of my nieces went with the wedding party to decorate the room at the golf club where the reception was to be held and Annette and I went back home. Two early mornings, I was already tired, luckily the wedding wasn't until the afternoon on Saturday.

The next morning dawned bright but chilly, I thought it was going to be a beautiful day but later on it got quite overcast. We were thankful that although it never warmed up much, at least it didn't rain.  My youngest sister and her boyfriend arrived early afternoon from Toronto, now the house was full. We decided to go to the chapel early as it was located on the grounds of the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum and we had free admission that day as wedding guests so this gave us a bit of a chance to walk around.

After seeing a few of the buildings at the museum, some of the animals and having a demonstration of type-set printing we headed back to the church.

It was a lovely service but the ring bearer, my great-nephew and the flower girl, the bride and groom's god child nearly stole the show.  I think actors have a saying about never sharing the stage with children or animals, well that's what the bride and groom had to do was share the spotlight especially with my great-nephew who thought he should have the best seat in the house.

A little blurry but you get the idea.

After the service there was the requisite photos of the wedding party. I'm sure had it been warmer, the pictures would have taken longer but since it was so chilly everyone was eager to get to the golf course club house. I made those driving with me wait until I could take a  few pictures of the bride and groom with the antique truck that was my brother-in-law's but is now my nephew's.

With this ring...

Husband and wife

The groom's family

Together

And one of the pictures with the truck

The reception location was beautiful and they had done a very nice job decorating. The meal was a buffet including a build-your-own pasta buffet. I ate far too much but still had room for wedding cake.

The wedding cake

Reception venue

Cutting the cake

Our name cards

Since the dogs had been home alone since 2 pm in the afternoon, I started trying to get our group to leave at about 11:30; I think it was after midnight we left. Needless to say, a good time was had by all.

Back at my place we had a few more drinks and then crashed. I think it was nearly 2 am when I went to bed after having e-mailed some wedding photos to my brother-in-law's sister so that she could see her nephew's wedding. The next morning came far too early so we were somewhat late for the wedding brunch, it started at 10 am and we all arrived at 11 am. There were no pancakes left but there was still lots of sausage, bacon, eggs, coffee and juice. After all we had eaten the night before, it's funny how hungry you are the next morning, must have been all the dancing.

The bride and groom left on their honeymoon that evening so they have not had the chance to open their wedding gifts. They'll need a day to open all the gifts and cards. I had a handmade quilt made for them and I can't wait to hear if they like it or not. The bride made the bridesmaids' and flower girl's dresses so I am sure she will appreciate the work that goes into it. The quilt and some cash was a gift from my mother and me. My Mum wanted so badly to be at the wedding; her first grandchild to be married but with her health it is just impossible.

The gift table

My wedding gift

The quilt - Gemma

Quilt detail

After the brunch, we headed back home to relax, boy I needed it.  Maureen, my youngest sister left later that afternoon for Kingston where Steve's daughters live.  The rest of us just relaxed but later that evening went back over to Juanita and Joe's just to have a little more time to visit.

Monday morning, Juanita and Joe came to take my nieces to the airport. I would take Annette and her daughter a few hours later. And so the whirlwind weekend was nearly over, I still had Tuesday off. I took the extra day knowing I would need it and I sure did as it wasn't until Tuesday that I did laundry and mowed the lawn.

Next year, we'll get to do it all over again.  Annette's daughter has been engaged for about a year; they recently selected a date for next summer and the wedding gown is already purchased.