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Published: August 30th 2006
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checking out the reception venue
Not bad after three litres of wine!!!! Hello All,
Welcome to our blog (check out our command of technology!) Please please forward this to anyone you think may wish to hear of our adventures and for any of you who don’t, we are assured it is easy to unsubscribe (just don’t ask how!)
So for the first mini leg of our trip - Lake Garda and the wedding. We departed relatively uneventfully from Bristol, although we did nearly miss our flight chatting in the bar - you know how it is! We arrived in Venice and picked up our car. It was meant to be a Citroen C2 which Aled actually quite fancied driving, but it turned out to be a Fiat Panda with an uncanny resemblance to a disability car - so we renamed it the Fiat Disablo. Appearances aside it served us well and we arrived in Riva on Friday after staying overnight just outside Venice. Riva is great - really beautiful and loads to do for those wishing to take it easy and all manner of out doorsey type activities. Managed to hook up with Em and Rob and went to check out the wedding reception venue, a marvellous rustic Italian restaurant up in the
hills just outside Riva. The food was great and the wine went down a treat, although apparently it wasn’t necessary to drink 3 litres to be sure we liked it. A few bellinis (a girlie drink made from peaches and sparkling wine… oh, most bits in brackets are Aled!) later and we thought best to call it a night. Saturday (after the girls had been sorting out their hair and Rob and I decided to see what the little Fiat could do on the mountain roads. Much better down hill than up and a bit of cross country to boot) we had our first windsurfing lesson from our very own private instructor - Rob - he was a very good teacher and even I managed to spend more time on the board than in the water. Later on Saturday the clan arrived and rather predictably our quiet night turned into another 2 in the morning job. Sunday a spot of sunbathing and then ready for the hen and stag. The hen - 23 ladies a lovely meal ,wine and a few bellinis, the stag was a more alcohol fuelled affair with hats all round - my dad sporting a rather
The Bride and Groom
Enjoying the first of many glasses of bubbly on the cruise back to Riva fetching bonnet - nice! Monday and more windsurfing, which resulted in me getting marooned in the middle of the lake and a long paddle home - all part of the learning process I am assured. On to the big day - Tuesday 22nd August. Emma awoke as fresh as a daisy totally relaxed. I however hardly slept a wink stressing about how I was going to fit into my size 10 bridesmaids’ dress after all the lovely Italian grub and booze. A trip to the hairdressers and a few slices of pizza later and we were ready. I thankfully managed to squeeze myself into the dress and Emma looked amazing. Rob and the rest of the guests made their way over to Malcesine by ferry and the girls were to follow by car. The wedding was in Malcesine Castle, the most beautiful setting and the weather was perfect (Sue was sat under the shade and felt very cool, my black plastic chair was so hot by the time I sat on it that it burned my bottom and left a huge sweaty patch on my linen suit…. Just the look I was going for!). The ceremony was lovely - there
Collecting the bags
Not long to the off was quite a lot to legal stuff both in English and Italian which involved my date of birth being read out - I thought a woman’s age was meant to be kept a secret. It also involved “you may kiss the bride” approximately 5 times - well we were in Italy what did we expect. The ceremony was followed by a private champagne cruise for all back to Riva - marvellous. The speeches were brilliant and we toasted the happy couple with bellinis - you would never have guessed this is Emma’s favourite drink (much better than blue stuff)!! The food, oh my God, the food was amazing - antipasti followed by flambéed pasta (no we had never heard of it either but strongly suggest you try it) a metre of meat and roasted veg and a chocolate dessert. The wine was flowing and the day was ended by the traditional wedding disco music proved by the local 2 man band - brilliant. Unfortunately we did have one casualty on the dance floor, a fracture dislocation at the elbow and fractured wrist (broken arm to all the non-medics reading this) - Jacqui we hope you are on the mend. A perfect day and Aled and I felt that we didn’t want it to end so went on partying to 5.30 in the morning. We just managed to crawl out of bed on Wed to see Em and Rob off on their honeymoon to the Dolomites - at the time of writing I am assured they are having a wonderful time. Needless to say Aled and I did not achieve much following our late night drinking the night before. Thursday marked the end of our time in Riva and a scenic trip to Bergamo airport over the mountains. Aled managed to leave his wallet on top of the disablo (car) (whilst helping Sue gallantly with her bags, luckily it fell off the roof of the car not to far from the hotel…. For the last three days I‘ve had to ask Sue for pocket money every time I need anything and don‘t think she is quite as keen on a full joint account now) luckily, it was picked up by an honest man and it is currently in transit back to Aled via my parents.
Washing done, final packing of rucksacks complete (thanks Dyfed for looking after them) and we are looking forward to the next leg of our trip - Lima here we come.
Lots of love / Llawer o gariad
Sue and Aled
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kate
non-member comment
Hello, your house is still standing
Hi, i like this blog/blag/brag thing, makes us all very jealous but can read between patients. Sounds like the wedding was gorgeous and you all (esp Em) looked gorgeous, sunned and relaxed. Your house is fine, i opened a little of your post as looked suspiciously like bills but not,you owe no-one nowt! Off now to Hooper's for dinner and tomorrow going to SAS ball dressed up in recycled buttons. Have fun my gorgeous couple, see you soon. Kxx