I can see the church, I see the steeple...

This latest delay wasn't my fault.... Bloger hasn't been letting me upload pics!!!

Grr!!

Anyway - Saturday was the big day.... part of the reason for the timing of my trip was so I could go to Ant and Jo's wedding, a great way to meet all the family at the same time!!!

We left home in PLENTY of time to go to the car hire place to pick up our car for the journey up North. Expecting we would get to our hotel with an hour or so to spare and get changed etc etc.

Little did we know that the hire car company planned on keeping us waiting for over an HOUR to pick the car up. As we fidgeted more and more as the minutes ticked by, we realised it was going to be tight for time, but we would still be ok, we kept telling ourselves, it would be ok....

We eventually piled into the car, made a quick stop back at the house to pick up the Woollimi Pine (our cool Australian dinosaur pine tree wedding present) and our bags and set off... thinking we should still have at least half an hour to spare at the other end.

London traffic blows.

we inched along the freeway.... and for no apparent reason....

...there was no crash... just traffic....

... and more traffic...

We screamed into the hotel parking lot, ran (and i mean RAN upstairs chucked our dresses on grabbed our shoes and hand bags and jumped back in the car) It was all ok we were giong to make it.

Just as we got to the massive round about at the bottom of the road that the church was on, we saw some flashing lights, not to be put off we enetered the round about but there was no getting off at our exit.... The police had barricaded it off. We madly did a few loops of the roundabout in a panic, while Emma frantically checked out the road map, and just when i thought i was going to puke with dizziness, Emma yells to Kim (who was driving) "take that exit" as Kim veers off amid beeping horns.... Emma says a lot more quietly "ummm.... no ... the other one"...

Too late... we were on the freeway to somewhere far far away.... like maybe Gibraltar!! And tehre was no getting off. We all looked dismally at the clock, watching the time slip by completely out of our control. Eventually we got off, and somehow managed to get back on going the other way. Soon enough (kinda) we were back at the fateful roundabout, we pleaded for the barricade to be gone, but no such luck. We took a stab at another exit, this time taking us into some back streets, far more promising, but as we wound our way through the wending roads, we started to realise our new fate.... we were lost. Eventually we came to the resolution to try my favourite trick when lost.... follow the majority of cars around you..... whilst doing this we discovered we were following a cra who was also lost.... then to our amazement we saw...... Fascinators!!! They were wearing fascinators!!! And in England that can only mean one thing..... they were off to a wedding!!! Luckily they unlost themselves, found the wedding and we followed them.... even better they were going to the same weddign we were!!!

Hurrah!!! We snuck in the back of the church just in time to see the most important "I do" bits.... Yay!!

The out into the sunniest day for photos in the gardens. It really was a lovely day...

L-R: Auntie Coral (Nan's sister), Ant (my Mum's cousin), Katie (my cousin or something like that!?!?!?), Jo (the new adittion to the family!) and Uncle Peter.

Me, Ritchie and Emma!!

I was continuosly amazed by the genetic resemblances flowing through the family lines. Katie reminds me so much of Ali, and Harry (above, being held by Danny and Mel) was like a mini Callum! So strange, to find all these people that I have never met before yet to see so clearly that there is a link there!!

Katie was a stunnig bridesmaid and little Damaris made a debut performance as flower girl. It was a really long day, but they both held up exceptionally well!

Unfortunately.... Lizzie and I didn't hold up quite so well, and by mid afternoon it was time for shoes off and a rest in the sun.

Lizzie, Kim, Em and I all had to have a bit of a break from the dance floor eventually!! And the pink hat was the highlight of the day!

As I mentioned above meeting all the family was a bit surreal. Essentially what by definition would be "strangers" welcomed me as though I had been a part of their lives for always. But I guess that's it... they had always been a part of my lives, I had grown up if not "knowing" these people.... "knowing of them", hearing the stories, seeing the photos, sharing in the news of weddings and children, fortunes and misfortunes. They are my family, and meeting them was one of the best parts of my trip.....

There was a lot of them!!

Eventually it was time to leave, and in true England style the rain began to pour down, we stole a cab, headed back to our hotel and blissfully fell into bed yet again!