The wedding of dreams

I have had the most incredible weekend. Let me walk you through it…

So it all began Friday morning. I woke up at my usual 6:30am to feed the kids and get them ready for school. However, I was also getting myself ready for my flight home. Hectic isn’t the word. Luckily, I was only travelling with hand luggage and had packed most of it the night before. I was a tad worried that my host family was too casual with their timings, but it meant that I wasn’t waiting around at the airport for too long. The view shortly after takeoff was absolutely stunning, although I much prefer to look at the snowy mountains from a distance.

We arrived in England ahead of schedule and I couldn’t believe my luck! Everything is so much simpler when you travel lightly, and much, much quicker. If I could do it more often, I definitely would. 

The pickup was a swift one…a stop, hop and go affair. But just to be in my little car, surrounded by family, was enough to put an enormous grin on my face. It was a much needed break from the chaos in France. Sadly though, my good luck didn’t necessarily extend to the motorway, as we hit a traffic jam shortly after I had downed a bottle of water. Not ideal. There I was, sat staring out of the window debating whether it was worth evacuating the car and peeing in a field. Thank goodness we weren’t stuck there for long! 
At home, Mum had cooked a delicious chilli con carne and jacket potatoes (I swear I don’t know what I did to deserve a Mum like her.) While it was cooking, I rushed to pack whatever I could into my little bag. My time frame was much too short and my schedule was jam packed with visits and cuddles, no time for stopping! 
After lunch, I visited some of my little (and slightly larger) loves at nursery and school. Basically, I spent the afternoon cuddling children… The nursery ones were a little confused at first, they must’ve thought ‘what is this traitor doing here?!’ But they soon warmed up to me again and proceeded to show me their snowflakes and tell me all about what they’ve been doing without me. They perked up even more when I gave them some sweeties to munch on! I clearly haven’t lost it…
As I was heading over to see my school babes, they were going down to assembly. Nevertheless, I was greeted with a great symphony of little voices screaming ‘SARA!’ and received lots of lovely, squeezy hugs. Their short absence meant that I could have a quick catch up with Tashy Washy (not even sorry). It can’t have be long before the tiny humans returned, shattering the peace but obviously buzzing with excitement. They all had so much to tell me about school and just generally how incredibly clever they all are! I’m so proud of the people they’re becoming. Every single one of them is a star and it made my day to see all of their gorgeous little faces again. I managed to fit in cuddles with some of the wonderful mummas, who are absolutely glowing and seemed just as happy to see me as I was them. They truly are an fantastic group of women and I miss them (plus their spawn) dearly. 
Unfortunately, after three missed calls from Mum I thought it best to head home. Once home, I was basically straight back out of the door. And so commenced our one and a half hour journey to Reading…

It was a bit of a debacle, but we got there eventually (thank god for smartphones!) All checked into our hotel, finally a bit of relaxation time. By a bit, I mean like half an hour or so before we needed to head to the shop for some food. I did manage to drink a red wine and coke before heading out (thanks Hana, that’s changed my life a bit that mix.) I made the lady in Tesco laugh by comparing her wonderful customer service to France, which is rarely as polite and friendly. I wonder though, is that because I’m English or is it just France in general? I make a conscious effort to smile and say ‘Bonjour’ to people I pass on the street, but rarely get a response… bit of a tangent there, apologies. 
When we got back to the hotel (after scoffing some sandwiches/wraps), we sat in the foyer where we were joined by other family members for a catch up. I made a bit of a friend by talking to a Czech girl who works there. It’s incredible what you can learn about people if you just ask them. She told me that she had been an au pair in Frankfurt for 6 months last year and that she was only going to be working there for a little while longer. My sister, Kerry, made a good point. Not even a year ago, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to speak to that girl so openly and easily. It’s crazy to think how far I’ve come and how much I’ve grown, especially when other people notice it. 
In the morning, Mum and I chose the continental breakfast, whereas Dad and Kerry went for the full option. We sat and ate at the table next to the rest of the family, so that we could talk about how excited we all were for the day. It was a bit of a mission to find the tea, I thought Mum was going to behead someone if I didn’t get some. Thankfully, everyone kept their body parts and I had two happy parents. I forgot to take a picture of the conveyor belt toaster, but I want one of these in my house, how cool! Oe I’ve missed coco pops...

We nipped into town to do a spot of shopping, because I desperately needed a hot water bottle (grandma alert) and some flat shoes for when I gave up on heels...
Somewhat reluctantly, I smothered on a load of makeup to cover up the current mess that is my face. When I try to put on any kind of makeup, it reaffirms my inability to be a functioning female. I tried my best though, with my hair too! Another thing that is not ideal: heels. I can barely walk as it is, without huge hazards on my feet, but it was a special occasion and needs must. Of course, it rained when we were walking to the venue! Bloody good job it wasn’t far away, otherwise we’d have looked a little worse for wear by the time we got there…

Harendra walked through the corridor, led by a wonderful drummer and applauded by two rows of adoring friends and family. It wasn’t long before Emily followed and we did the same for her. I won’t lie, I shamelessly legged it a bit for front row seats for the ceremony…again, needs must and all that. I spent the entire ceremony in awe and disbelief that I was lucky enough to be experiencing such a beautiful moment. The man conducting the wedding was utterly hilarious and made everyone feel at ease. He tried to smoke us all out by adding some sort of alcohol to his fire and every time Em had to walk around it with her floaty, presumably highly flammable dress, my heart was in my throat. However, we all survived and made it onto the photos and canapés. Those canapés were like heaven, oh my lord. It took all of my strength not to stuff my fat face with hundred. Somehow, I managed to restrain myself long enough to save space for dinner. 
When I walked into the main hall, I was gobsmacked at how magical it all looked. I think you’ll agree, they did a fabulous job of putting this together and making it look so beautiful. 

In between courses, everyone did a bit of dancing. I’ve never seen that before, but I desperately wanted to make the most of my time there, so obviously I joined in. Some of those men were incredible dancers, I sometimes wish that all men danced so vibrantly at functions. 

I have to say, the food was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Dad, Kerry and I eagerly wolfed it down, like we’d never seen food before. Me and Kerry definitely shot each other a few looks of ‘is this real life?’, ‘I’ve never had food like this’, ‘am I in heaven?’ You know that face you pull when the food hits you in all the right places? Yeah, that. 
Full of food and ready to party, we hit the dance floor once more. Once I started dancing, I don’t think I stopped until I left. There was all kinds of music being played and as a music lover in general, I was thrilled to hear all of the different genres. I shared a dance with a lovely man, who showed me some dance moves and spun me around until I lost my shoe and nearly fell over. I can’t dance for toffee, but man did I dance my little heart out anyway! 

Things I learned at the wedding:
People need to let go more often
I really enjoy Indian food
I need to go to more weddings
My faith in love is restored (I’ve never seen two people more infatuated with each other than Emily and Harendra) 
I’ve really, really, really missed being at home 
The sisterhood fire is burning brighter than it ever has before 
Dancing hurts, a lot. Especially if you have to try hard. 
Joe speaks French really well, even after a few drinks. And he reads my blogs too. Hi Joe! 

We didn’t exactly have an early night on Saturday, although we probably should’ve given that I had a flight the next day. 
Life is too short to sleep on a wedding weekend. That’s what I tried to tell myself when I was dragging my sore, tired body out of bed Sunday morning. It was TOTALLY worth it though! I would 100% do it again, but let’s give it a while, I’m still tired… 
We had breakfast with the family again, one last rendezvous before my reluctant departure. I definitely nearly cried squeezing my favourite boys goodbye. And when I hugged my mum at the airport (didn’t think we’d get there after Dad drove up a rather busy one way road, then proceeded to drive super slow on the motorway.) Actually, when I think about it, there weren’t too many moments this weekend where I wasn’t nearly in tears. Most of them were happy tears, overwhelmed by the love and joy filling up my normally icy heart. Only a handful were sad ones, most notably having to leave again. Man, that sucked. 
Anyway, here’s to a strong, happy, hopeful Sara, who is sticking to her master plan and constantly evolving into the person she wants to be!