Wedding bells...

I came home last night to very fancy envelope which held this beautiful invitation. Apologies to the rest of my friends who have already wed, but this is the most spectacular invitation I have ever received. It's been lovingly handmade and nothing has been forgotten. From directions to hotels to menus and order of service they have thought of everything! My only (fleeting) disappointment came when I saw that the RSVP for the invitation was included inside and I don't want spoil it and send it back... the whole thing is going into my scrap book so I thought I'd perhaps photocopy the bit they need with dietary requirements but no... there's a website!! Well we are in modern times and they really have thought of absolutely everything! I can reply online and give all the information they need and not have to part with any of the actual invitation. That appeals hugely to my twitchy CDO affliction! (CDO is OCD in alphabetical order, just as it should be for those not in the know!) Brilliant!!

They, being my friends Nicki and Chris who are due to get married on Saturday 14th April 2012 and I can't wait to share their day! I've known them for about five years now and every time I see them we have such a lot of fun. They're my camping buddies and I have many fabulous memories of our camping trips over the last few years. There's a crowd of us dotted all over the UK and further afield, so we're all getting together to spend some time before the big day. The wedding is in Staffordshire so I decided to make a bit of a holiday of it and I'm taking the week off work. I found a self-catering holiday home to rent so I've booked it... it seems everyone else is coming too so it's just as well the property has two cottages... they're all coming for various parts of the week so we're all staying in the same place. It's gonna be ace!

I look at Nix and Chris and their life and relationship and they make me feel all warm and squishy inside. If anyone asked me to describe the perfect relationship then (after my parents) I'd say that they have it. Their happiness is infectious and you can't help but be a tiny bit envious of the obvious joy they get from each other. They read together every night. Out loud I mean. I think that's amazing, to share a book and enjoy it together is not something I'd have thought of before but it makes me smile when I hear them squabbling over who's turn it is to read the next chapter of Harry Potter to the other! The last time I went to stay with them, actually it was perhaps the time before, we went to this little pottery place and painted some ornaments for their garden. They have them displayed on the wall of the garage and everyone who's visited has done one. That sort of nonsense makes me smile. On our last camping adventure, they arrived late and the site was so busy they'd closed the doors to new arrivals. So I met them at the other side of the causeway, spent a nailbiting 10 minutes before the gate was closed trying to attach their trailor to the towbar of my car and then they squeezed into the boot and I smuggled them back into the campsite without getting caught. We're grown ups by the way... well sometimes! That made us all laugh a lot!

The venue for their wedding was on one of these restoration programs and in typical Nicki and Chris fashion, they wandered on down there to see if they could help. The last time I spoke to them, Chris had been roped in to do the historical tour for people who come to see the place! That's Chris all over and I bet he's an utterly brilliant tour guide! Nicki does work in her spare time for the Samaritans and I have absolutely no doubt that she's a great person to do that. They fill their time with all sorts of everything from diving to property rennovations to Glastonbury. There's never a dull moment and it's rare that they have an empty weekend of doing nothing. They're planning a three month (they never do things by half!) honeymoon round Aus and NZ in a campervan and I'm pretty sure they're going to have an amazing time! I wish them everything for the future. Two nicer people you couldn't hope to meet and I'm delighted that they're my friends and they've included me in their special day.

I can't wait!