Will and Kate, move over...

(C) Alex Lewis

June 11th 2011. 6:30am. My eyes blinked open, letting in the weak morning sun that was creeping through my window. I could hear my parents shuffling about, having whispered conversations. I wondered if they were drawing straws, like they used to, for who would wake me up. I wasn't a very pleasant teenager in the mornings.

I spent a few minutes trying to work out the ratio of excitement to nervousness, and by about 7:00am I think nervousness was winning over. 

Getting ready was made a lot easier by my Mum's bathroom schedule - getting 6 females (and one man) through one single bathroom before 11:00am is no mean feat. As it was, we had time to spare. Thanks Mum :)

So, the Bridesmaids:

(C) Alex Lewis

Heather, on the furthest left, is my older sister, and was chief bridesmaid. Next to her is Nikki, my sister-in-law and housemate last year. Holly is one of my oldest friends (because I've known her a long time, not because she's ancient...). Hannah is a good friend from Uni, and housemate for two years. Don't you think they all look stunning in their lovely red dresses? Luckily Holly's mum is a dressmaker, and was able to make last minute emergency adjustments - thank you Christine :).

(C) Alex Lewis

As you can see, the cars we got were vintage and fancy. The one shown in the picture above was the bridesmaid's transport - a vintage minibus. Then there is the one me and my Dad travelled to the church in, and then Rob and I travelled to Rowfant House in.

Alex, the photographer, arrived early to do my make-up and to take some getting ready shots. Alex and I have been friends since College, and he is blooming rapidly as a photographer. Most of these pictures are his - please have a look at some of his other stuff. 

We pulled up to the church, and I could have sworn I had actual butterflies fluttering around in my tummy. Can't have been fun for them. I don't think I've ever had a feeling like it, stepping out of that car to see so many people gathered around the church, including my Dad's hairdresser and the elderly lady who lived next door to us when Heather and I were growing up - Daisy. All these people, looking at me. As I stood holding onto my Dad's arm, I could feel the pride radiating from him. It was a good feeling. 

(C) Alex Lewis

We had lots of photos taken, and then my tummy gave a leap when Kath, my minister, gave the nod. We walked down the aisle to the traditional bridal march, played by a local organist, Fiona - Me and my dad, followed by the bridesmaids in twos. 

London Road is not actually my home church, but is in the same circuit and I have preached there a few times. St Andrews was a bit too small for the number of guests we wanted, so thank you to all at London Road for being so accomodating. 


The St Andrews music group played for us as well as Fiona, which was wonderful. The songs: 
O Lord My God (How Great Thou Art)
Jesus Stand Among Us
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Be Thou my Vision

The ceremony was beautiful, and were quite greedy because we had two ministers. The Rev'd Tim Jackson (now my father in law) took the ceremony, and Rev Kath Jones (the minister of my home church and R.S teacher for two years at college) opened the ceremony, did the sermon, communion and blessing. 

During the signing of the register, the lovely Nikki Joy (now my sister in law) sang 'Kiss Me' and then 'This is the Air I Breathe' during the communion. It was lovely :) She did really well, considering she was trying not to cry the whole way through. 

(C) Alex Lewis

We left the church to 'Flowers' by Tor and the Swans of Exile, which none of my family approved of... I'm such a rebel. Check out the band - Tor has an amazing voice and writes some wonderful songs. I definitely recommend having a listen over on Facebook. Ok, no, he's not paying me (but maybe he should...). Advertising done.

Photos outside the church, and confetti - most of which ended up inside my dress... flower petal confetti is itchy... the driver was very discreet and averted his eyes as I attempted to remove them in the car. 

We got our 20 minutes of rain while we were in the car, which I though was incredibly lucky considering it rained the day before and after. Gotta love a sunny wedding. 

To Be Continued...

The Shining

Yesterday, I stood in front of a mirror wearing the actual dress that I will get married in. It was a very bizarre moment. I am in love with the dress, I'm so glad I chose it. I would post a picture, but I'm keeping it a secret from Rob until I'm walking down that aisle. Oh but it's amazing. We've been looking for Bridesmaid's dresses too, and have seen some gorgeous ones.

I finally finished The Shining after three library renewals and a surprisingly low number of sleepless nights (I'm a grown up now, apparently). I thought I would share my thoughts and first impression of Author Stephen King, as this is the first time I have read any of his work. I'd avoided him firstly because I used to be a wimp with this stuff, and secondly because I had a preconceived idea in my head that anyone who churns out as many books as that in such a short time can't put any real care into them. I saw him as trash fiction in the horror genre. I was wrong.

I get the impression he has put a lot of thought into these characters and their backgrounds and motivations. One thing my sister and I discussed was that he seems to have whole chapters of pure back story and character reflection, which is a risky business. As writers, perhaps we forget that not everybody is as interested, at least not yet, about the characters we write. I know I'm guilty of it. However, Stephen King does this well, without breaking the tension or the flow of the story. It is because of these moments of reflection that the reader begins to hope that everything works out alright (apparently this is not a real word. Who knew.) for the characters. Needless to say, it doesn't. 

I would say that I'm a fairly good judge for this, as I am in incredibly impatient reader. I will only be impressed by or even get through a long chapter or paragraph that has no dialogue or not much actually happening if I am already hooked and care about the characters. In this case, I was. 

The characters are well developed, the relationships between them are very well depicted, and Danny, in my mind the central character, is portrayed particularly well. He has managed to capture the voice and mindset of a five year-old by who has seen too much very well.

There is a moment at the end, which (gruesome as various things are in this scene,) was perhaps my favourite part in the book; where Danny has that moment of understanding. His parents are not invincible. They cannot save him from this. He has to think carefully and has a moment of complete maturity where, with his life hanging in the balance, he appeals to his father's love, his father who is still in there somewhere. In this moment, he is the one being rational, and showing an intense amount of love where it is not obvious or at all easy. 

Overall, a very compelling read, a great ending, certainly not disappointing - it fitted well for the amount of build up given. The point is I ended up really caring what happened to these characters. I want that.

In my own writing news, all I can say is, though it is not in the Oxford English Dictionary, 'AAAARRGH'. You got the condensed version. I'm ploughing on with the final chapters, but meanwhile have shown some previous scenes to Rob and realised there are so many gaps of things I have written in my head, but not on the page. We'll get there. But I can;t believe it's taking so long.

I've just been reminded we are going out for dinner tonight, which I had forgotten and so had a Madison's lunch. Madisons make the best sandwiches in town. Subway, move over. Seriously. They pack the filling in til it's absolutely stuffed. Delicious. Bring out the Rennies, I think...