Wedding Weekend

I went to a wedding on Saturday morning.

In Ottawa!

My niece Emily had been due to marry her Canadian fiancé in Ottawa in the Canadian summer, 2020. We were going to go. I've never  been to Canada and had been looking at things we could do before or after the wedding. Then covid struck. Jim and I had to make that hasty return from England in the March and the wedding was postponed to the Canadian autumn. 

Then it was cancelled. International borders were closed. And not only was Australia's border closed to incomers, those of us who were in Australia couldn't get out unless you had an exemption permit, which were very hard for ordinary citizens to get hold of.

Eventually, a few weeks ago, Emily managed to get an exemption permit which meant she could get a visa that let her into Canada and off she went.

The wedding finally took place, in Ottawa, on Friday afternoon, Ottawa time. 9:00 Saturday morning, Mount Helen time. We were all invited.

Ian brought Stella up to Mount Helen on Friday and she was ready, all dressed up in wedding clothes, with Lindsey and Ian at Hill House. I was dressed and ready to go at Tani. Tabitha and Gareth were there in Sheffield, Austin in Gifu, Freyja and Simon in Westgarth. I think pretty much the whole Australian family was there, plus many of the overseas bits of family, plus the groom's  family in the Caribbean. There were 30 or 40 people actually at the venue and just under 90 logins from around the world so perhaps 150 - 200  virtual people.

Grandmother and parents of the bride, ready and waiting

Me, wearing my best summer jumper, ready  and waiting
It was not a summer temperature!

It was a lovely wedding. Lots of fun. The venue was beautiful. But cold. If I was a bit chilly in my summer jumper in Mount Helen I imagine that Emily was positively frozen in Ottawa where there was snow falling!

Have a few screen shots. They are a bit fuzzy but you get the idea:

As I said, it was a lovely wedding.  Really happy. And it is a perfect way to attend a wedding. You don't have to get properly dressed if you don't feel like it, although I did. You don't have to leave home. You can have champagne if you are minded and no need to drive afterwards (I had a cup of tea; 9:00 in the morning is a bit early for champagne for me!) No need to hang around in the falling snow while interminable numbers of photos are taken. The virtual guests were all projected onto a large screen so the bride and groom could see their world wide attendees.  Perfect.

Ian had organised a High Tea from the Westin to be delivered on Friday, ready for post-wedding celebrations. Very generously, he had bought servings for Jim and me to have at Tani.

Post wedding celebrations:

At Tani

and at Hill House

Jim stayed in bed for the wedding ceremony but got up with enthusiasm when I set out the High Tea for brunch. The lure of tiny sandwiches and cakes is very strong!

We continued the celebrations on Sunday with lunch at the Swiss Mountain Hotel in Blampied on the way to Daylesford. They have only recently reopened after the recent lockdowns and density restrictions and people have returned in droves. It was a lovely day on Sunday and the restaurant was very busy. Nice to see people venturing out again and returning to the pubs, cafes and restaurants - but it was a bit noisy and there was quite a wait for our food.  Worth the wait, though. The food was lovely.

Ian and Jim were also with us

The Weather Dogs seem to have heeded my request for some nice springlike weather. It was beautiful yesterday and is shaping up to be a nice day again today.

Sunday morning sunshine:

Stella is going home again today. We've got the district nurse coming to give Jim his Monday morning shower, then someone is coming mid-afternoon to put a new grab rail by the door onto the back patio. Life goes back to normal after the excitements of the weekend