Paul's Wedding
Aug. 11th, 2022 06:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crystalcazzieThis time last week I was up in Oxford for Paul's wedding. And, amazingly, I'm going to post about it in a reasonable timeframe rather than six months later. What is this madness?
I took the train up to Oxford on Thursday afternoon. And when I say train, I mean three trains, but they were all on time and not crowded so it was a very pleasant journey.
After checking into my hotel I had a bit of free time to wander and had a look around Westgate, where I found...
Giant balloon dog sculptures doing yoga poses. Because of course.
I also admired the view from the roof terrace:
Which is where I met up with Paul and his family. We did an Alice in Wonderland-themed escape room and I'm choosing not to read too much into the fact that Paul wanted to do an escape room the day before his wedding! The room was pretty good, although there were some frustrating moments where we'd clearly got the puzzles correct but weren't credited for them until we made it clear to the person watching what we'd done.
Still, we escaped with two minutes to spare! That's a win.
We had a celebratory drink afterwards but I had to head off quite quickly cos I'd arranged to meet Denise for dinner. We chose Mowgli, an Indian street food restaurant which had a very pretty décor complete with fairy lights.
A lot of fairy lights!
We had cocktails:
And a variety of interesting dishes:
I mostly liked them, although there was a taste of something in a couple of the dishes that I didn't like and I wish I could have identified what it was.
Dessert was good though:
Mmm. Tasty goodness.
Denise headed off quite early and as we were waiting for her bus a wasp stung me. It's the first time that's happened in years and it really hurt! I'm also quite offended cos I wasn't even doing anything. Mean wasp.
It was a lovely evening so I wandered around Oxford a bit looking at all the pretty sights. It really is a lovely city and very much my kind of place.
~*~
The next morning I didn't have any plans until the wedding itself, so I went and got a coffee and pastry and sat next to a pretty church tower while planning my next move. I decided to go to the Oxford Castle and Prison cos that looked very much like something I would enjoy. I booked myself on the 10:20 tour and thought I'd spend the hour or so before that looking at the shops. Turns out hardly anything in Oxford opens before 10am!
So I headed to the Castle early and sat near the Castle Mound reading for a while.
Trees on the Mound!
The Castle/Prison!
Entrance was by guided tour only and the guy told us various disgusting and gruesome tales as he took us around. We went up 101 steps to the top of St George's Tower and took in the view.
Just in case we forgot where we are.
Arty Picture Attempt!
Selfie at the top of the tower.
I don't know if the bird statue is significant, but it sure is cute.
From there we went back down the 101 steps and even further down into the crypt:
This does very much look like I was taking a photo of that random couple, but honestly it's supposed to be the crypt!
After spending far too much money in the gift shop (I like stuff and I can't help it!) I went up the Mound:
It's the same trees I took a picture of earlier but up close and from a different angle!
Looking down at the Castle from the Mound.
By this point it was lunch time so I decided to be super healthy and go to Wendy's. Mainly because we hardly have any Wendy's here and I was really excited to get a Frosty! It turned out to be a very good decision cos fries and a Frosty are a very good combination!
I then made my way to John Lewis to pick up a gift card as a wedding present. I went for this design, cos it looked nice and pretty and better than a lot of the boring black and white ones they had:
Lovely, right? Yeah, what I didn't realise until after I'd taken it back to the hotel room and opened it up to write in it was this...
It's a Christmas gift card! I crossed out 'Christmas' and wrote 'Wedding' and put a little message that that was not clear when I bought it! I hope it gives them a bit of a giggle anyway.
(They probably think I'm a disorganised mess, between that and not having their actual card with me on the day. I have since posted it to them separately and asked that they be kind and pretend I gave it to them at the same time!)
I then got changed into my wedding guest outfit, which I thought looked pretty nice:
I got quite a few compliments on the dress and even more on the shoes! I've had those shoes for years and always wanted an event to wear them to! And it's a bit hard to see but I'm also wearing a bee bangle that I bought in the Castle gift shop earlier. I thought it looked very pretty, and it seemed sort of appropriate after the wasp sting the day before!
The ceremony was at Oxford Town Hall:
A very pretty building. Denise and I arrived together and were pleased that we looked appropriate enough for the guy on the door to immediately identify us as wedding guests!
The ceremony was lovely. I was a witness, which meant I had to go up and sign my name on the paperwork and certificate. I was so worried I was going to mess it up, but I think it went all right!
There were a few photos in the room next door, where I probably look like I'm in pain cos my smile was so awkward, and then it was off to the rooftop terrace at their hotel for drinks.
This is what awaited us when we arrived.
I thought this was a very nice photo.
The weather was absolutely glorious all day and I'm so happy for them that it worked out that way.
Because I had a role in the wedding I got a flower corsage, which was a lovely touch:
I'm trying to show how the corsage looked pinned to my dress. All I can see is how many grey hairs I have!
We sat and chatted for a while. I signed the guest book. Jennie did the traditional bouquet toss and Claire is apparently going to be the next one to get married.
After quite a few glasses of prosecco we walked back along the streets of Oxford to dinner at The Ivy:
Very pretty building.
I had a prawn cocktail starter and steak for my main, both of which were all right. But the real star of the show was the chocolate bombe for dessert:
So theatrical. So delicious.
The happy couple had a very nice looking cake too:
Naturally we were all too full to eat it that night, but I had my piece the next day and it was lovely!
I got back to the hotel around 11 and promptly fell asleep. Then I woke up around 1 and realised I hadn't played Sporcle. I must admit that I did try and trick the site by changing the date on my phone before playing but it didn't work. Alas.
The next day I had brunch with the rest of the Wednesday crew sans Paul but plus Ellie. That was nice. Then I had to get three trains home and Saturday trains are a lot busier than Thursday trains! That wasn't so nice.
But when I did get home this was waiting for me:
A thank you present for being part of the wedding. How thoughtful!
So yes, a very lovely few days and a beautiful wedding! Which hopefully bodes well for their future together!
I took the train up to Oxford on Thursday afternoon. And when I say train, I mean three trains, but they were all on time and not crowded so it was a very pleasant journey.
After checking into my hotel I had a bit of free time to wander and had a look around Westgate, where I found...
Giant balloon dog sculptures doing yoga poses. Because of course.
I also admired the view from the roof terrace:
Which is where I met up with Paul and his family. We did an Alice in Wonderland-themed escape room and I'm choosing not to read too much into the fact that Paul wanted to do an escape room the day before his wedding! The room was pretty good, although there were some frustrating moments where we'd clearly got the puzzles correct but weren't credited for them until we made it clear to the person watching what we'd done.
Still, we escaped with two minutes to spare! That's a win.
We had a celebratory drink afterwards but I had to head off quite quickly cos I'd arranged to meet Denise for dinner. We chose Mowgli, an Indian street food restaurant which had a very pretty décor complete with fairy lights.
A lot of fairy lights!
We had cocktails:
And a variety of interesting dishes:
I mostly liked them, although there was a taste of something in a couple of the dishes that I didn't like and I wish I could have identified what it was.
Dessert was good though:
Mmm. Tasty goodness.
Denise headed off quite early and as we were waiting for her bus a wasp stung me. It's the first time that's happened in years and it really hurt! I'm also quite offended cos I wasn't even doing anything. Mean wasp.
It was a lovely evening so I wandered around Oxford a bit looking at all the pretty sights. It really is a lovely city and very much my kind of place.
~*~
The next morning I didn't have any plans until the wedding itself, so I went and got a coffee and pastry and sat next to a pretty church tower while planning my next move. I decided to go to the Oxford Castle and Prison cos that looked very much like something I would enjoy. I booked myself on the 10:20 tour and thought I'd spend the hour or so before that looking at the shops. Turns out hardly anything in Oxford opens before 10am!
So I headed to the Castle early and sat near the Castle Mound reading for a while.
Trees on the Mound!
The Castle/Prison!
Entrance was by guided tour only and the guy told us various disgusting and gruesome tales as he took us around. We went up 101 steps to the top of St George's Tower and took in the view.
Just in case we forgot where we are.
Arty Picture Attempt!
Selfie at the top of the tower.
I don't know if the bird statue is significant, but it sure is cute.
From there we went back down the 101 steps and even further down into the crypt:
This does very much look like I was taking a photo of that random couple, but honestly it's supposed to be the crypt!
After spending far too much money in the gift shop (I like stuff and I can't help it!) I went up the Mound:
It's the same trees I took a picture of earlier but up close and from a different angle!
Looking down at the Castle from the Mound.
By this point it was lunch time so I decided to be super healthy and go to Wendy's. Mainly because we hardly have any Wendy's here and I was really excited to get a Frosty! It turned out to be a very good decision cos fries and a Frosty are a very good combination!
I then made my way to John Lewis to pick up a gift card as a wedding present. I went for this design, cos it looked nice and pretty and better than a lot of the boring black and white ones they had:
Lovely, right? Yeah, what I didn't realise until after I'd taken it back to the hotel room and opened it up to write in it was this...
It's a Christmas gift card! I crossed out 'Christmas' and wrote 'Wedding' and put a little message that that was not clear when I bought it! I hope it gives them a bit of a giggle anyway.
(They probably think I'm a disorganised mess, between that and not having their actual card with me on the day. I have since posted it to them separately and asked that they be kind and pretend I gave it to them at the same time!)
I then got changed into my wedding guest outfit, which I thought looked pretty nice:
I got quite a few compliments on the dress and even more on the shoes! I've had those shoes for years and always wanted an event to wear them to! And it's a bit hard to see but I'm also wearing a bee bangle that I bought in the Castle gift shop earlier. I thought it looked very pretty, and it seemed sort of appropriate after the wasp sting the day before!
The ceremony was at Oxford Town Hall:
A very pretty building. Denise and I arrived together and were pleased that we looked appropriate enough for the guy on the door to immediately identify us as wedding guests!
The ceremony was lovely. I was a witness, which meant I had to go up and sign my name on the paperwork and certificate. I was so worried I was going to mess it up, but I think it went all right!
There were a few photos in the room next door, where I probably look like I'm in pain cos my smile was so awkward, and then it was off to the rooftop terrace at their hotel for drinks.
This is what awaited us when we arrived.
I thought this was a very nice photo.
The weather was absolutely glorious all day and I'm so happy for them that it worked out that way.
Because I had a role in the wedding I got a flower corsage, which was a lovely touch:
I'm trying to show how the corsage looked pinned to my dress. All I can see is how many grey hairs I have!
We sat and chatted for a while. I signed the guest book. Jennie did the traditional bouquet toss and Claire is apparently going to be the next one to get married.
After quite a few glasses of prosecco we walked back along the streets of Oxford to dinner at The Ivy:
Very pretty building.
I had a prawn cocktail starter and steak for my main, both of which were all right. But the real star of the show was the chocolate bombe for dessert:
So theatrical. So delicious.
The happy couple had a very nice looking cake too:
Naturally we were all too full to eat it that night, but I had my piece the next day and it was lovely!
I got back to the hotel around 11 and promptly fell asleep. Then I woke up around 1 and realised I hadn't played Sporcle. I must admit that I did try and trick the site by changing the date on my phone before playing but it didn't work. Alas.
The next day I had brunch with the rest of the Wednesday crew sans Paul but plus Ellie. That was nice. Then I had to get three trains home and Saturday trains are a lot busier than Thursday trains! That wasn't so nice.
But when I did get home this was waiting for me:
A thank you present for being part of the wedding. How thoughtful!
So yes, a very lovely few days and a beautiful wedding! Which hopefully bodes well for their future together!
