Hot.

It's been a perfect day for an outdoor wedding. When I looked at the directions I was pretty sure that I'd been there before collecting Romas after music sessions with one of his band. That was over 10 years ago. It's only 5 minutes drive from here behind the first little hill. Right now I can hear the music drifting over the hill.

The whole wedding was set up like a music festival with a very relaxed feel and many of the female guests wearing floaty dresses with floral headbands. The bride's mother is a member of the choir but the house belongs to her relatives. 

The choir had been asked to come in our concert gear - black trousers and bright tops which were a little warm for the day. Here we're relaxing in the shade before the actual ceremony. The singing seemed to go well though I have to admit that for some of the songs I wasn't sure what the first word would be until everyone else began. Some of the bride's family had come over from South Africa and they really appreciated our singing of some South African  songs especially the ululating from a couple of our callers. We sang 7 songs before the ceremony, one as the bride arrived and finally afterwards we sang another 7 songs while the guests had scones with clotted cream and jam. We were all offered a glad of fizz for the toasts but I'm not a drinker and we had our scones once we'd finished singing.

The wedding couple and family and friends spoke and read out poems which was then followed by a Handfasting Ceremony when friends and family wrapped coloured braids around the couple's hands with each colour representing different aspects of their future life together. It was lovely to see a Celtic tradition dating back thousands of years being incorporated into the wedding.

The choir members were invited to stay on to listen to the folk and other music being performed so quite a few of us did just that. The choir is as much a social group as a singing group and it was lovely just to relax and get to know my fellow choir members better. I eventually left about 6.00 as I had sheets on the line that needed ironing. In the end Peter had gone next door to watch the football and thankfully England won.

Here's wishing Alice and Jim a long and happy life together and well done for all the hard work put in by family and friends to organise such a lovely day.

I'm off now to water the garden and rescue Peter's birthday beer from the garage.