And then the skies opened up...

Other than feeling a little tired this morning, we all survived wedding day. We had arrived at the venue yesterday around noon, and had an hour and a half or so to get ourselves cleaned up and into our fancy dress clothes.

Obviously Ruth and I don't carry around fancy dress clothes! However, when we went to the wedding in Ireland last year,  we had Max the motorhome with us and we were able to transport our clothes to Helen and Tony's where they were stored until we needed them yesterday.

The venue is a beautiful private estate and golf course called Orchardleigh House.

We were staying overnight in the Elmhay courtyard.

Tony, unpacking the car at our "cottage".

It was quite nice, and had a full kitchen.

Living area.

Our bedroom. Tony and Helen had the master bedroom.

The facilities.

It was nice enough, but we all thought it was a little overpriced, at £260 ($330 USD, $450 CAD) for the night, which we split with Helen and Tony. Of course they have a kind of a captive audience and know that anybody attending the wedding who wants to stay overnight will pay the price... as we did.

Pheasant on the grounds.

We were seated at about 1:45pm, ready for the 2:00pm start date.

And then the skies opened up...

It poured for about 15 minutes.

And delayed the start of the ceremony for 20 minutes.

They requested that nobody take photos during the ceremony, so we didn't. Fortunately the skies cleared enough for them to be able to do the photos outside.

Helen and Tony with their son Stu and new daughter in law Harriet.

Helen and Tony with the groom.

I think some of the Peaky Blinders cast was there!

(Actually, Helen and Tony's grandson Rorie, and their daughter's boyfriend Wayne)

Tony, Helen, Stu (son), Harriet, Kelly (daughter), her son Rorie, and boyfriend Wayne.

Tony, Helen, Ruth, and Kevin.

Bride and her crew.

Groom and his crew.

Our table. We were seated with Helen's brother Clive (also Ruth's cousin) and his family.

Roast pork dinner was really good.

The wedding cake.

The topper on the wedding cake was cute.

Dessert was yummy.

Ruth's gluten free.

Stu doing his speech.

And Stu played one piece with the band later in the evening.

We didn't know Stu is a rock star!

We managed to get to bed around midnight, but we heard that some of the young people were up until 5:00am when the sun came up!

Today is a nice sunny day and we wandered around the grounds for a bit.

The courtyard where we stayed.

The main house on the estate was built in 1856.

People out playing golf.

We say goodbye to Helen and Tony this evening as one of the wedding guests is driving us up to the outskirts of Birmingham where we have a hotel room booked.

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