Askham, near Penrith – 13th July

Captain Caveman’s cousin, Hugh, was marrying his girlfriend of 10 years, Maddi, on the afternoon of Saturday 13th July at Askham Hall, near Penrith. After a great night’s sleep at White Cottage, Captain Caveman got up to make me a cup of Yorkshire tea and start on breakfast. I was glad of the duvet and extra cover as it had been pretty cold in the night so I was reluctant to get out of bed. After a lovely hot shower, which I had started to get used to them being hot and powerful in England, I went downstairs. Captain Caveman had made a full English for me, him, Ben & Lola and it was lovely. Lola and I chatted about what we were going to wear as neither of us had brought warm clothing and it was cold and a bit rainy outside. Captain Caveman hadn’t told me that the theme was summery or flowery, obviously I had never seen an invite!
Our cosy cottage supplied fleecy tartan blankets on the sofa so Lola read her book under one and I did a couple of hours of work under another. Anna and Captain Caveman’s dad had both said they would be over early to iron their outfits but by 12 noon they hadn’t arrived. I tried on all dresses available to me, including my new ones but in the end, after getting 4 ‘nos’ from Captain Caveman, Ben and Lola, I wore one I had for when I’m in back in Turkey. When The Sprouts did arrive we got a few photos of some of us. I even attempted a family photo outside the cottage despite it drizzling and me shivering a bit. We walked to the venue, it was probably only 15°C and we hoped it didn’t rain too much as none of us had an umbrella.

There was a bit of milling about as we were early and Captain Caveman isn’t good at introducing me to anyone. I sussed out the mother of the groom and said hello, she was wearing a lovely green dress and was with her husband, Paul, who I recognised from Aunty Marge’s funeral. Luckily we got to wish cousin Hugh luck and all the best, just before the ceremony. He looked very smart and my dress matched the pattern on his tie which reassured me I’d fitted the theme, after all.
By 1.55pm we were all waiting for the bride, it was time for the wedding!

I had not yet met Maddi and she looked really stunning as she walked down the aisle. The service went well and was fairly amusing from the quite jocular wedding officiant. We were asked not to take any photos so I managed to make the whole day without taking one photo of the happy couple.
After the ceremony, there was Pimm’s or beer and we were gathered on the garden for a group photo. We also got to chuck rose petal confetti on to the beautiful newlyweds, which was great. I managed to get a few photos of some of the family messing about and everyone was really happy. The canapes and champagne were very nice, then it was time to go back in to the hall for the wedding breakfast and speeches. We all were given a pair of sunglasses with our names on which we popped on as Hugh and Maddi came in to the room to a song from the musical, Greece.

The sit down dinner was lovely, we had a Turkish style köfte with salad and pitta for starters, lamb or veggie option for main and sticky toffee pudding for pud. I don’t like lamb or mashed potatoes so Captain Caveman went to ask if there were any spare veggie mains for me to swap. There was and it’s probably one of the nicest meals I’ve had in a long while; miso flavoured baked aubergine with roasted peppers, edamame beans and broccolini – amazing! The wine was provided too and we toasted lots of very funny speeches. Captain Caveman had chosen well with an extra wedding gift of Vietnamese coffee and phin cups for the happy couple. They both share a massive love of coffee and had even named their guests’ tables after their favourite coffee shops. We were given word puzzles on the table which Captain Caveman was keen to do and I helped. After dinner, we went in to another area for a hot beverage and were given a lovely piece of fudge. Captain Caveman and I continued with the wine from the table and then it was time for the live band. By this time Captain Caveman was flagging a bit as he was still on Vietnamese bed times. At 10pm pizzas were brought out so we had a couple of slices, they were really good. After a couple of glasses of water to try to keep Captain Caveman and I awake, we decided to walk back to White Cottage having had a lovely day.