I have never felt so excited as I was finishing up work at 4pm on Friday afternoon. 3 weeks off work and a visit back home to see all our friends and family. A-mazing. No news from Qantas about strikes, no news about any volcanic eruptions and with it being Autumn in the UK, no sign of snow (although we couldn't rule that out completely). Slightly disappointed to be leaving glorious sunshine and 24C on the Sunday to make our way to the airport but also nice to know we'll be returning to it in a few weeks time. Appointments had been made with various wedding suppliers etc and we knew we had a busy 4 days ahead following our landing in Edinburgh. The flight on the spaceship A380 was brilliant - no noise, no turbulence and even managed to get a good 5 hours sleep, bonus! I don't think Bob and I spoke to each other for the entire flight as we were distracted by the entertainment system, CD library, flight camera, TV docs and of course being fed every 2 hours! A 23 hour flight can sound tedious but when setting off on your holidays it is absolute bliss!
We were kindly met at the airport by Russell and Margaret, and the rain. Ah, to be back home. Back to the manse for some lunch, feeling pleased to be back but slightly strange at the same time. It had only been 16 months but it felt longer, I guess because we've managed to cram in so much during that period of time. Edinburgh and Cramond hadn't changed at all, which was nice to see. We decided to try and stay awake for as long as possible, and therefore opted for a trip to the Kilt shop before heading for gym and a swim at Westwoods. It was fab to get some blood circulating but my calves took a while to recover - they were like old granny puffy legs for a good 2 days! Managed to survive until 9pm before crashing out.
Tuesday was florist day then onto North Berwick for some food tasting. The florists had a tough time with us, purely because we didn't have a colour scheme, nor did we know what we wanted! Being indecisive was not very productive, however we managed to get a rought idea and we had tasks to do before coming back! A quick visit to see Brian and grab some lunch before heading to North Berwick. The sun was shining and, as we were early, we thought we'd go for a wee walk before heading to the Humble Pie catering school and meeting with Lisa who took us through some samples of our wedding buffet. I believe it was meant to be a "tasting" but Bob and I seemed to munch our way through everything... it would be a shame to waste it, would it not? Again, we were given our homework to do in terms of vegetarians, glasses required, table decor etc. Nae probs.
Wednesday was my mum's birthday - she took the day off work and came through to Edinburgh with Dad to meet with our event coordinators at the Kirk Hall before heading into town for lunch at Hamiltons. "Glass of wine mum?"....."Oh yes, well it would be cheaper to get a bottle".....Right oh! It is a special occasion after all. Good grub, nice wine before heading to Mellis round the corner for some cheese tasting. Yum. Wedding cheese cake sorted and some samples to take home too. Trip into the Sheraton hotel to check out the hotel rooms before heading for some wine tasting. Back to the manse for more wine tasting, cheese tasting, wedding discussion and a good meal! Phew. Bedtime.
Thursday morning we headed into Gorgie to see our photographer and check out his albums etc. He knows Cramond well and had lots of ideas for photos already. We were feeling quite pleased with his suggestions, be it rain, hail or shine and so paid our deposit and moved onto the next port of call - Bob to meet Brian for some golf, me to meet with my hairdresser for a hair trial. Slight moment of panic when the receptionist tells me he needs to change my hair appointment at 9.45am on the 28th December. "We're shut that day so can we make it the 29th?" Eh, NO! Oh dear. A good minute was spent with us all looking rather awkwardly at each other, before Robert, my hairdresser, tells me he'll come in just for that appointment and the receptionist then pipes up that he will come in to open up and he'll bring a bottle of fizz with him. Result! Whole salon to ourselves. Fab. On to meet Kate for a glass of wine and a catch up on Rose Street before heading to a make up trial. We got slightly lost but made it with 5 minutes to spare. Make up on, looked in the mirror and as expected I thought I looked like a clown close up. From a distance, it looked okay but Kate reassured me it looked lovely. Hmmm. I'd have to get used to it! Went back to Kate's to have dinner with Carls and Katie - Bob popped his head in for 5 minutes and gave the make up a thumbs up. Brill. Another thing ticked off the list!
Friday - bridesmaid dress shopping! Mum, Helen and I got the train to Glasgow and had a rather lovely breakfast in Cranachan in Princes Square. Love Princes Square : ) Met up with Heather for our personal shopper appointment in Coast and enjoyed a wee glass of fizz during the girls' catwalk session! 3 dresses tried on, and we had 'the one'. Not quite dark purple or chocolate, but navy was the next best colour! Pleased with the selection and also bought myself a wee faux fur cover up for my dress. No tears or tantrums and all done by 1130am! Lunch?
The rest of the day was spent shopping before meeting up with Aunt Anne and Alison in Jamie Oliver's restaurant off George Square. More fizz? Yes please! Absolutely delicious food, great company and the presentation of the hen night outfit - a onesy!!! Will need to try it on before the main event but not sure I have much say in the matter! Hilarious. Can't wait for the blue eyeshadow and pink tights to go on. 80's night, here we come!
Being the sensible people we are, we headed home for 10pm, to prepare ourselves for the Hen day/night! Back to Helen's for a trying on of the outfit and general malarky dancing to the 80's tunes, classics like Salt n Pepa. Brill. I think at this point, Bob had had a round of golf at the Royal Burgess followed by lunch, followed by a meeting up with all his pals at the Grand Cruz for "a few quiet drinks" which resulted in a few Jaegerbombs being consumed (soon to be called Jaeger Bobs) and everyone stumbling home at 3am a little worse for wear (including my brother in law heading for Leith rather than Haymarket.....taxi!)
Saturday - Hen and Stag!
Having heard from Brian what the costumes were for Bob to dress up in, I was sure he would love them both. England shirt, red plus fours, pink socks and a pink visor for golf during the day, followed by a Papa Smurf outfit for the evening! My onesy didn't look so bad after all.......Being the bride to be and all, I obviously don't have all the gossip from the stag and so you will have to rely on Bob to fill you in on that front. I do believe he was made to "Smurf up" to do smurfograms to any hen party or birthday party they found, and I have also seen photos of Papa Smurf hiding in the bushes, drinking out of buckets and planking in the street. 'nuff said really!
As for the hen, all local friends came to my sister's house for breakfast on Saturday morning, which was a lovely idea and allowed me to catch up properly with them before the mayhem began. Met little Emily, Alison's daughter, for the first time, absolutely adorable. She's starting early with her first hen party!
Off to.......Scot Kart! Yeeha! Not that I'm competitive at all, or have competitive friends, but it was absolutely brilliant and hilarous. We had 15 of us, and 3 boys. No surprise that the 3 boys zoomed off before we even had a chance to notice that the green light was on, but we had a great laugh, even if I did overtake the mother in law at one point (sorry Margaret). The grand final saw Denise, Eilidh, Sineag, Helen, Heather, myself and the 3 boys compete against each other. I couldn't help but be smug when my sister crashed at the first corner, only to crash out myself a few laps in and for Helen to zoom past me with a big smile on her face. Argh! Due to us all being big girls, we asked the chap for a second medal ceremony (clearly the 3 boys won 1st, 2nd and 3rd) so we had our own 1st = Eilidh, 2nd = Denise and 3rd = Heather. Well done girls! And well done to Lindsey Barr for having the fastest lap!
Pizza and juice to refuel before a couple of games of Lazerquest! At this point, I had a veil to wear which unfortunately glowed in the ultraviolet light making me a very obvious target - rubbish! And not very good for my team mates either. Hilarious though - I seemed to be doing a lot of screaming, along with my mum, and I seem to remember Polly shooting me at every available opportunity, so much so that she actually stood in front of me so that i could get her back. Thanks Polly! My aunt was scary, as was the mother in law, both of which were very accurate in their shooting stats and also very devious with their hiding places. I really hadn't gotten the hang of it at all! Lindsey was by far the best with 10000 points, with everyone else on 3000. More practice required!
Lots of sweaty people at the end of it, but good fun was had by all. We all went our separate ways at this point - some to the hotel and some back home. Swim and sauna, with some handstands, mushroom floats and roly polys thrown in for good measure with Mum, Helen, Alison M, Lindsey and Louise before getting ready for our night out on the town.
Onesy on, blue and pink eyeshadow on, loads of blusher on, bangles on, pink tights, shoes and earrings on, veil on, ready to go! Looking absolutely ridiculous but enjoying it all at the same time. Best outfits go to Heather for her white stilettos and shoulder pad jacket, Carlene for the hairdo, headband and ripped leggings, Sineag for the crimped hair and lace glove, and Denise for actually wearing her own dress and still looking 80's - is that a good thing?! Good effort from mum, aunt anne and margaret too. Special mention to Louise for dressing up 80's and still looking like she was out for a normal night out!! A wee glass of wine before disembarking for the Butterfly and the Pig - met up with a very pregnant but well looking Gillian, and Rachael for a glass of fizz before heading upstairs to the private tea room for dinner. Heather, Louisa and of course Helen had all done an amazing job of decorating the room with glo-sticks, glitter, confetti and hen party signs, as well as plugging in the 80's playlist and providing me with my very own Bride to Be sash and glow wand. I loved it! It was a perfect venue with all my favourite people. I was a very happy Hen!
Dinner was enjoyed and wine was flowing, ending in the presentation of my male stripper - a tiny little fella who had to be stuck in some water for him to....grow. He looked a bit dead for the first 3 minutes, at which point we decided to read the instructions "takes about 2 hours for anything to happen". Oh well, we shall just decant him into a glass and take him on our night out. (He subsequently got decanted into a plastic cup for the dancing and then got forgotten about - hopefully not swallowed, as that would have made for an interesting poo) My mum had bought some cards to give out to the boys in the night club, ranging from #1 Complete Minger to #10 Well Fit. Lindsey had #7 cute ass which she proceeded to smack a boy's bottom with on the dancefloor, so much so that he wouldn't leave us alone! Fun fun. The loveliest thing was when I opened up the photo album all the girls had contributed to, and my sister had made. There were a few shockers in there, along with some lovely ones. The girls all wrote a little comment at the back too. So nice. Finally, a Q&A session with some embarrassing moments, including the question "have I ever seen a future in-law naked?" um......not sure....margaret, have I seen you naked?!....oops no......OH OH! at which point the memory came flooding back. much embarrassment whenI revealed the time I walked in on Mr Barr in the toilet, only for Margaret to reveal she'd done the same to her father in law! Much hilarity. And so we ventured downstairs to dance the night away, have some jaeger bombs, bop a few people on the head with my glow wand, magic people through the crowds with my glow wand, and perform some lunges at 2am, infact I think we lunged across Sauchiehall St back to the hotel. Quality. An £11 poke of chips in the room for Lindsey and I before big ZZZZZ's. A perfect night.
I'm sure my sister was delighted when I woke up at 730am, reporting that I needed a shower as I had a massive clump of green glitter on my head and that I was wide awake anyway, to which she replied "Still sleepytime". Yeah, whatever! Time to get up. Breakfast was not filled with much chat and Heather was looking decidedly hungover, managing to eat one slice of melon and not at all enjoying me slopping the ladel of porridge around. Oh dear. A quick swim for Lou, Polly and I before heading home to spend the remainder of the day on the sofa with Helen, Steven, Louisa and Meg Dog for approximately 8 hours of rubbish TV and a can of coke (or red ambulance as Louisa called it). Curry! Then a battle to stay awake until 9pm where we all thought this was a respectable time to go to bed, without being soft.
Up early to see Louisa off on her trip up north with a dodgy car, and to stage whisper to Meg dog to get back down the stairs, only to be rescued by Helen who was finding the whole thing rather entertaining. Off to Alison Renfrew's house for tea and scones and to play with Amy,Ewan and Emily, and catch up with Heather and Alison Sharp. Lovely to see my best mates again.
Braehead in the afternoon, lunch with Helen and Steph then a dinner date with Gillian and Rachael at Amaretto in Bridge of Weir. Fab.
Think that's enough news for now - tune in for Part II!! xxx
We were kindly met at the airport by Russell and Margaret, and the rain. Ah, to be back home. Back to the manse for some lunch, feeling pleased to be back but slightly strange at the same time. It had only been 16 months but it felt longer, I guess because we've managed to cram in so much during that period of time. Edinburgh and Cramond hadn't changed at all, which was nice to see. We decided to try and stay awake for as long as possible, and therefore opted for a trip to the Kilt shop before heading for gym and a swim at Westwoods. It was fab to get some blood circulating but my calves took a while to recover - they were like old granny puffy legs for a good 2 days! Managed to survive until 9pm before crashing out.
Tuesday was florist day then onto North Berwick for some food tasting. The florists had a tough time with us, purely because we didn't have a colour scheme, nor did we know what we wanted! Being indecisive was not very productive, however we managed to get a rought idea and we had tasks to do before coming back! A quick visit to see Brian and grab some lunch before heading to North Berwick. The sun was shining and, as we were early, we thought we'd go for a wee walk before heading to the Humble Pie catering school and meeting with Lisa who took us through some samples of our wedding buffet. I believe it was meant to be a "tasting" but Bob and I seemed to munch our way through everything... it would be a shame to waste it, would it not? Again, we were given our homework to do in terms of vegetarians, glasses required, table decor etc. Nae probs.
Wednesday was my mum's birthday - she took the day off work and came through to Edinburgh with Dad to meet with our event coordinators at the Kirk Hall before heading into town for lunch at Hamiltons. "Glass of wine mum?"....."Oh yes, well it would be cheaper to get a bottle".....Right oh! It is a special occasion after all. Good grub, nice wine before heading to Mellis round the corner for some cheese tasting. Yum. Wedding cheese cake sorted and some samples to take home too. Trip into the Sheraton hotel to check out the hotel rooms before heading for some wine tasting. Back to the manse for more wine tasting, cheese tasting, wedding discussion and a good meal! Phew. Bedtime.
Thursday morning we headed into Gorgie to see our photographer and check out his albums etc. He knows Cramond well and had lots of ideas for photos already. We were feeling quite pleased with his suggestions, be it rain, hail or shine and so paid our deposit and moved onto the next port of call - Bob to meet Brian for some golf, me to meet with my hairdresser for a hair trial. Slight moment of panic when the receptionist tells me he needs to change my hair appointment at 9.45am on the 28th December. "We're shut that day so can we make it the 29th?" Eh, NO! Oh dear. A good minute was spent with us all looking rather awkwardly at each other, before Robert, my hairdresser, tells me he'll come in just for that appointment and the receptionist then pipes up that he will come in to open up and he'll bring a bottle of fizz with him. Result! Whole salon to ourselves. Fab. On to meet Kate for a glass of wine and a catch up on Rose Street before heading to a make up trial. We got slightly lost but made it with 5 minutes to spare. Make up on, looked in the mirror and as expected I thought I looked like a clown close up. From a distance, it looked okay but Kate reassured me it looked lovely. Hmmm. I'd have to get used to it! Went back to Kate's to have dinner with Carls and Katie - Bob popped his head in for 5 minutes and gave the make up a thumbs up. Brill. Another thing ticked off the list!
Friday - bridesmaid dress shopping! Mum, Helen and I got the train to Glasgow and had a rather lovely breakfast in Cranachan in Princes Square. Love Princes Square : ) Met up with Heather for our personal shopper appointment in Coast and enjoyed a wee glass of fizz during the girls' catwalk session! 3 dresses tried on, and we had 'the one'. Not quite dark purple or chocolate, but navy was the next best colour! Pleased with the selection and also bought myself a wee faux fur cover up for my dress. No tears or tantrums and all done by 1130am! Lunch?
The rest of the day was spent shopping before meeting up with Aunt Anne and Alison in Jamie Oliver's restaurant off George Square. More fizz? Yes please! Absolutely delicious food, great company and the presentation of the hen night outfit - a onesy!!! Will need to try it on before the main event but not sure I have much say in the matter! Hilarious. Can't wait for the blue eyeshadow and pink tights to go on. 80's night, here we come!
Being the sensible people we are, we headed home for 10pm, to prepare ourselves for the Hen day/night! Back to Helen's for a trying on of the outfit and general malarky dancing to the 80's tunes, classics like Salt n Pepa. Brill. I think at this point, Bob had had a round of golf at the Royal Burgess followed by lunch, followed by a meeting up with all his pals at the Grand Cruz for "a few quiet drinks" which resulted in a few Jaegerbombs being consumed (soon to be called Jaeger Bobs) and everyone stumbling home at 3am a little worse for wear (including my brother in law heading for Leith rather than Haymarket.....taxi!)
Saturday - Hen and Stag!
Having heard from Brian what the costumes were for Bob to dress up in, I was sure he would love them both. England shirt, red plus fours, pink socks and a pink visor for golf during the day, followed by a Papa Smurf outfit for the evening! My onesy didn't look so bad after all.......Being the bride to be and all, I obviously don't have all the gossip from the stag and so you will have to rely on Bob to fill you in on that front. I do believe he was made to "Smurf up" to do smurfograms to any hen party or birthday party they found, and I have also seen photos of Papa Smurf hiding in the bushes, drinking out of buckets and planking in the street. 'nuff said really!
As for the hen, all local friends came to my sister's house for breakfast on Saturday morning, which was a lovely idea and allowed me to catch up properly with them before the mayhem began. Met little Emily, Alison's daughter, for the first time, absolutely adorable. She's starting early with her first hen party!
Off to.......Scot Kart! Yeeha! Not that I'm competitive at all, or have competitive friends, but it was absolutely brilliant and hilarous. We had 15 of us, and 3 boys. No surprise that the 3 boys zoomed off before we even had a chance to notice that the green light was on, but we had a great laugh, even if I did overtake the mother in law at one point (sorry Margaret). The grand final saw Denise, Eilidh, Sineag, Helen, Heather, myself and the 3 boys compete against each other. I couldn't help but be smug when my sister crashed at the first corner, only to crash out myself a few laps in and for Helen to zoom past me with a big smile on her face. Argh! Due to us all being big girls, we asked the chap for a second medal ceremony (clearly the 3 boys won 1st, 2nd and 3rd) so we had our own 1st = Eilidh, 2nd = Denise and 3rd = Heather. Well done girls! And well done to Lindsey Barr for having the fastest lap!
Pizza and juice to refuel before a couple of games of Lazerquest! At this point, I had a veil to wear which unfortunately glowed in the ultraviolet light making me a very obvious target - rubbish! And not very good for my team mates either. Hilarious though - I seemed to be doing a lot of screaming, along with my mum, and I seem to remember Polly shooting me at every available opportunity, so much so that she actually stood in front of me so that i could get her back. Thanks Polly! My aunt was scary, as was the mother in law, both of which were very accurate in their shooting stats and also very devious with their hiding places. I really hadn't gotten the hang of it at all! Lindsey was by far the best with 10000 points, with everyone else on 3000. More practice required!
Lots of sweaty people at the end of it, but good fun was had by all. We all went our separate ways at this point - some to the hotel and some back home. Swim and sauna, with some handstands, mushroom floats and roly polys thrown in for good measure with Mum, Helen, Alison M, Lindsey and Louise before getting ready for our night out on the town.
Onesy on, blue and pink eyeshadow on, loads of blusher on, bangles on, pink tights, shoes and earrings on, veil on, ready to go! Looking absolutely ridiculous but enjoying it all at the same time. Best outfits go to Heather for her white stilettos and shoulder pad jacket, Carlene for the hairdo, headband and ripped leggings, Sineag for the crimped hair and lace glove, and Denise for actually wearing her own dress and still looking 80's - is that a good thing?! Good effort from mum, aunt anne and margaret too. Special mention to Louise for dressing up 80's and still looking like she was out for a normal night out!! A wee glass of wine before disembarking for the Butterfly and the Pig - met up with a very pregnant but well looking Gillian, and Rachael for a glass of fizz before heading upstairs to the private tea room for dinner. Heather, Louisa and of course Helen had all done an amazing job of decorating the room with glo-sticks, glitter, confetti and hen party signs, as well as plugging in the 80's playlist and providing me with my very own Bride to Be sash and glow wand. I loved it! It was a perfect venue with all my favourite people. I was a very happy Hen!
Dinner was enjoyed and wine was flowing, ending in the presentation of my male stripper - a tiny little fella who had to be stuck in some water for him to....grow. He looked a bit dead for the first 3 minutes, at which point we decided to read the instructions "takes about 2 hours for anything to happen". Oh well, we shall just decant him into a glass and take him on our night out. (He subsequently got decanted into a plastic cup for the dancing and then got forgotten about - hopefully not swallowed, as that would have made for an interesting poo) My mum had bought some cards to give out to the boys in the night club, ranging from #1 Complete Minger to #10 Well Fit. Lindsey had #7 cute ass which she proceeded to smack a boy's bottom with on the dancefloor, so much so that he wouldn't leave us alone! Fun fun. The loveliest thing was when I opened up the photo album all the girls had contributed to, and my sister had made. There were a few shockers in there, along with some lovely ones. The girls all wrote a little comment at the back too. So nice. Finally, a Q&A session with some embarrassing moments, including the question "have I ever seen a future in-law naked?" um......not sure....margaret, have I seen you naked?!....oops no......OH OH! at which point the memory came flooding back. much embarrassment whenI revealed the time I walked in on Mr Barr in the toilet, only for Margaret to reveal she'd done the same to her father in law! Much hilarity. And so we ventured downstairs to dance the night away, have some jaeger bombs, bop a few people on the head with my glow wand, magic people through the crowds with my glow wand, and perform some lunges at 2am, infact I think we lunged across Sauchiehall St back to the hotel. Quality. An £11 poke of chips in the room for Lindsey and I before big ZZZZZ's. A perfect night.
I'm sure my sister was delighted when I woke up at 730am, reporting that I needed a shower as I had a massive clump of green glitter on my head and that I was wide awake anyway, to which she replied "Still sleepytime". Yeah, whatever! Time to get up. Breakfast was not filled with much chat and Heather was looking decidedly hungover, managing to eat one slice of melon and not at all enjoying me slopping the ladel of porridge around. Oh dear. A quick swim for Lou, Polly and I before heading home to spend the remainder of the day on the sofa with Helen, Steven, Louisa and Meg Dog for approximately 8 hours of rubbish TV and a can of coke (or red ambulance as Louisa called it). Curry! Then a battle to stay awake until 9pm where we all thought this was a respectable time to go to bed, without being soft.
Up early to see Louisa off on her trip up north with a dodgy car, and to stage whisper to Meg dog to get back down the stairs, only to be rescued by Helen who was finding the whole thing rather entertaining. Off to Alison Renfrew's house for tea and scones and to play with Amy,Ewan and Emily, and catch up with Heather and Alison Sharp. Lovely to see my best mates again.
Braehead in the afternoon, lunch with Helen and Steph then a dinner date with Gillian and Rachael at Amaretto in Bridge of Weir. Fab.
Think that's enough news for now - tune in for Part II!! xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment