Too much of a good thing

I think I need another day off…this weekend was so rammed, I’m not sure I’ve recovered.

It was my friend’s wedding on Saturday in Dorset. I live in Southampton so that’s about an hour and a half away. Originally I was going to camp there overnight as that’s what the invitation stipulated guests to do as they had an entire field booked for the wedding where the marquee was set up. Then I (thankfully) found out my couple friend and their one year old son were driving up and back. So I scored a lift with them, hurrah!

I sadly couldn’t make parkrun (breaking my 18 week streak *sob*) but I got up early to get in a four mile tempo run. I warmed up on the first mile and then aimed for 7min/miles for three miles and I was meant to cool down on the final 0.75 but I was really pushing for time and needed to get home quickly. Standard Anna procedure: only give yourself the very bare minimum of time and end up rushing like a madwoman.

The run went well though and I felt strong. I did miss parkrun but it was an OK alternative, even if I was running in the opposite direction to those running to the local parkrun 🙁

IMG_2001

It was so warm and then having to have a shower and blow dry my hair was just a nightmare. Nothing like feeling super hot and sticky while trying to get into a nice dress.

Like I said previously, I went for a very simple dress so I could jazz it up with accessorises. My mum has lots of lovely fascinators so I went for a cream one and added pretty statement necklace.

IMG_2003

For the first time in ages I wore heels! I sensibly took a pair of flip flops with me as well for after the ceremony when we got to the field – there’s only so much heel wearing I do.

The ceremony was gorgeous, set in a beautiful courtyard on the grounds of a castle.

IMG_2005

It was fairly windy though which was slightly problematic for my skater skirt! It was a beautiful ceremony with Sarah, the bride, arriving on her horse (seated on it in the traditional side-on way ladies used to back in the day) and I felt a bit emotional – which is so unlike me! It was such a lovely touch as Sarah is very into her horse riding and the couple are both very outdoorsy (they were camping that evening too!).

IMG_2007

Her dress was beautiful too. Nicely fitted with lots of lace detailing – she looked stunning. Afterwards we had the usual photo session and there was homemade elderflower champagne – oooh er!! Delicious.

We then left for the field for the wedding breakfast. My best friend (and lift), Louise, looked lovely in a white and blue dress with matching blue heels. Yummy mummy indeed!

IMG_2013

We both enjoyed a glass (*cough* or three) of Pimms and I felt far more relaxed in my flip flops. Unfortunately I’d applied my suntan lotion a little too late and could already feel the slight sun burn tingling. Gargh!

The marquee was fantastic. They’d done everything themselves in terms of arranging furniture, catering, doing all the decorations and flowers. Honestly, Pinterest would have exploded.

IMG_2108Outside there were hay bales to sit on and space hoppers, giant Jenga, balls…it was brilliant.

IMG_2103

They had handmade jam favours that had labels saying “Spread the love”. I mean, wow! Such great attention to detail.

The food was BBQ food which was very tasty indeed. The sausages were really good quality and the beef burger handmade.

IMG_2104

Lots of salad and BBQ sauce as well, of course 😉

IMG_2105

The pudding was Eton mess, very light and tasty.

Ohh another glass of champagne, a sneaky gin and tonic…I was quite on my merry way. We played with the balls and space hoppers outside, danced lots and basically just enjoyed ourselves.

Then the fish and chip van turned up as the evening guests arrived. Now I don’t even like fish and chips and somehow there I was in the queue waiting my turn for a battered cod and greasy chips.

IMG_2106 The portion was huge. Though that didn’t stop me from consuming all but three chips. Honestly, I have no idea what happened! But it tasted good and I enjoyed it. The chips weren’t those horrible soggy ones, they were nice and crispy. Not quite content with consuming a ridiculous amount of stodge I then proceeded to eat three (albeit small!) slices of wedding cake. I can only blame the good atmosphere, my lack of self-control and the alcohol. But you know what, it was bloody fantastic. I did feel sick though and far too full. And massively regretted wearing a belt 😉

As I headed outside to walk to the nearby toilet facilities an elderly man was staggering back. He stopped in front of me and said (quite politely) “Excuse me, but you have lovely legs”.  I sort of laughed and said thank you and he continued saying “you made an old man feel young earlier in the courtyard when your skirt blew up. My pacemaker went wild”. I’m pretty sure I just stood there laughing awkwardly. What do you say to something like that?? It was somewhat flattering I suppose…

I have to say, there’s nothing like a wonderful wedding to make you feel quite significantly alone. I wouldn’t say I’m lonely at all right now, being newly single, but being at a wedding where there are lots of couples and love-themed things…well it does sort of salt the wounds a bit. I tried not to dwell on it and just enjoy myself.

Eventually though it was time to head off home around 10pm. I had nicely sobered up by this point (well, I had been drinking since 12) and felt very tired. When I got home and collapsed into bed I fell asleep immediately. Only to wake up at 1.30am to be sick several times (sorry if this is TMI). Not my finest hour. Especially considering I had a half marathon the next day, though thankfully it was at 10.45am and not far away so I would get a lie-in at least. But honestly, I felt so ill. Being sick did help but I also felt very cold and shaky. I reckon being in the sun all day and not hydrating properly along with the alcohol and stupid amounts of food really did a number on me. But hey ho, life is meant for living right??

Not the best way to prepare for a half marathon for definite, but I wasn’t planning on going for it anyway. It was just a nice catered training run on hilly and off-road terrain. PBs were certainly not on my mind! I’ll leave it there for now and recap the race in another post!

Do you enjoy weddings? What’s your favourite part? There’s a lot of standing around…but there is also cake 😉

What handmade touches have you noticed at weddings before?

Have you ever gone to a race hungover and feeling delicate?

13 Replies to “Too much of a good thing”

  1. What a lovely wedding! Looks like a perfect british summer day too! You lucked out! That is awesome! And yes, getting dressed when hot and sweaty still from your run is just horrible. When you come out the shower sweating, you know you are in trouble! I think you made the right choice though 🙂
    Tina muir recently posted…Meatless Monday- Lemon Butter Stir FryMy Profile

  2. Haha love the dirty old man’s comment! Yeah I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t know what to say to that/would have replied with something equally inappropriate.

    Sounds like a standard wedding to me – they’re all about overindulgence! I used to berate myself for having a bit ‘too much’ of a good time, but now I just let my body do that and give my mind a rest. We’re only young once 😉
    Cat recently posted…5 Foodie Documentaries You Need To SeeMy Profile

  3. That looks like such a fun wedding, love the idea of having guests camp it out! I think weddings can either be sucky or awesome as a single, my Sisters wedding was a couple of months after a spectacular break up with my ex (who I’d been with for several years and was about to buy a house with) and I was not looking forward to it, however I met James there. Weddings can be good if there is a decent dose of other singles!

  4. I hope you felt better later on!
    I am not a massive wedding fan- for one I don’t like dressing up so feel awkward from the beginning, plus the services can go on for ages, and I don’t really like dancing, I don’t like drunk people (especially drunk men, they can be so creepy), and the speeches can be awkward. If it is someone very close (friend/family), or a small wedding, I don’t mind and generally have a good time. The nicest ones have been the smallest ones. The setting there does look beautiful.
    One of my friends did most of her wedding herself, including making chilli jam and mini scones for the favours. One of my friends went to a wedding and the bride made every guest a gingerbread man that she decorated to look like them (so my friend, who likes handbags and baking, had a gingerbread lady with a handbag and holding a cake- amazing.) It is amazing that sort of thing, but so stressful too. One of my other friends had scratch cards for a local children’s hospice which was a lovely touch I thought.
    Maria @ runningcupcake recently posted…Ware 10 miles- race number 45!My Profile

  5. 18 week streak?! That’s some going! Life always ends up getting in the way for me but I have been running 2-3 a month just lately. I was rather frustrated that I couldn’t make it last week as my parents changed their plans to visit us at 9am instead of 10am as originally planned! Couldn’t stay mad at them for too long though and I still got a run in, so it was all good in the end!
    I went to a wedding last year where the bride arrived side saddle on her horse as well. There’s something so lovely about outdoorsy weddings – that marquee looks beautiful! My best friend’s Nan made me promise that I wouldn’t have straw/hay bales for people to sit on at our wedding last year because they would pluck her tights!
    What a comment from that old man! Every wedding seems to have one of those uncles…! 😉 Hope you managed to avoid him the rest of the evening!
    Mary recently posted…A few more seconds over 5 milesMy Profile

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.