Iain and Cesca got married at the weekend in a beautiful ceremony at the Rye Town Hall in East Sussex. Freddie stole the show in an escape attempt down the aisle although Iain's very emotional vows came a close second ;) It was quite an, erm, 'interesting' time before the wedding. Cesca had asked me to help her get ready, and she discovered, about an hour before the ceremony, that her suitcase with all her underwear, makeup, jewellry, shoes etc etc etc had been left at home and there wasn't time to go and get it. She had the dress, and the boots/clothes she had arrived at the hotel in.

Cue the most frantic 30 minutes I've had in quite a long time, trying to find alternatives and solutions! God knows how Cesca was feeling, but she admirably didn't go to pieces and started working out how to fix things. Makeup was pretty much sorted as I had all mine with me but Cesca needed powder so that was first on the emergency shopping list. Shoes - I'm a 9, Cesca is a 5 so no go there, add those to the list. Underwear - Rye is a small tourist-type town, I didn't rate my chances of finding anything suitable, but luckily the 'natural' approach (!) looked absolutely fine on the very slim Cesca, though as it was freezing tights were also put on the list. I had a wool wrap in blue that I use as a scarf which doubled up as the something borrowed and the something blue, and which kept Cesca from developing frostbite on the day, and Steph loaned Cesca a pair of silver earrings. So, out I went in my high heels racing up and down the High Street in Rye, the very cobbled, uneven, narrow pavemented high street! Stu had already been sent out to find a shoe shop which he did in record time so I ran inside and starting throwing shoe boxes around, much to the consternation of the owner, who, once I'd managed to explain things in my out of breath state leapt into action and helped me find two potential pairs, one in cream and the other in silver. Then over to the chemist, who had the smallest range of stockings I've ever seen but I managed to find a really basic pair in Cesca's size, as well as some powder from their makeup section. I went straight to the front of the queue, puffed out my explanation (sister-in-law...getting married in 30 minutes...suitcase left at home...) and was out of there very quickly! The shoes were very tight but Cesca made do with them, and running only ten minutes late, I had the privillege of escorting the very beautiful bride along the streets of Rye to the Town Hall. So, congratulations Mr and Mrs Bell, on a very beautiful and eventful wedding! (And if anyone reading this ever finds themselves in Rye, I can highly recommend the Fish Cafe, where the reception was held - just delicious seafood!)