I had a really lovely weekend – starting Friday evening. On Friday, after work, I went to something called 'Taste of London', which is a foodie gathering in Regent's Park (I got tickets for the bf and I through work). It's an open-air sort of thing, fortunately with marquees because it rained quite a lot. There were various top restaurants, and top chefs - I saw Anthony Worrell Thompson – urg – and Marcus Waring, and failed to see a whole bunch of others who were apparently there somewhere. The restaurants each had a little stall, from which they served three of their best dishes, and we wandered around and tried lots of different food. There were also lots of other stalls, selling food things, giving away freebies, and giving talks and demonstrations. I missed the lesson on how to make proper Italian pasta, unfortunately, but I had wonderful food and drink from lots of different places, bought some cherry and strawberry juice, cheese, and a bulb of elephant garlic, and staggered home stuffed to the gills.

 

Then, Saturday, was my friend's wedding. It was really beautiful. I got quite sniffly, which isn't like me (not at weddings, anyhow). The bride and groom had put so much care, attention and love into their day, and it really showed. There was a theme of flowers and plants, because they share an interest in gardening. The bride wore little cream-coloured roses in her hair (and a gorgeous orange silk dress). They'd written their own vows, and they weren't cheesy, but very sincere, and simple, and beautiful. She's Finnish, and he's English, so they exchanged languages, too, with the bride giving her vows in English, and the groom giving his in Finnish.

 

One of the loveliest things was, after they'd recited their vows, they exchanged roses, as their first gift to one another, and were asked to create a place for roses in their home, wherever they lived, and to visit that place every anniversary. And if they argued, or whatever, they could put a rose in this place, and it would remind them of their wedding day, and of all the reasons they love one another.

 

Then we had a lovely party, and champagne, and Finnish wedding cake (OMGlovely – sponge and cream and fruit, oh my), and silver birch wine, and purple aliums everywhere, and we met some really nice people and had a good chat about life, the universe, and everything, and watched the kids playing on the bouncy castle, and decided to hold an annual recreation of the hen weekend in Brighton, and danced to the Scissor Sisters, and... *happy sigh*

 

It was so romantic, and thoughtful, and loving, and just how a wedding day should be. Really beautiful.

 

And on Sunday I slept a lot, ate the elephant garlic (roasted and mashed into potatoes), watched Doctor Who (which confused me), Sharpe (which didn't), and customized my lj a bit. Like the pic? It's by Whistler. If I could own one painting, that would be it.