Interesting Times - a wedding

In my last attempt to blog I made mysterious noises about the Interesting Times and how the Interesting Times have been interfering with my blogging time/inclination. Essentially, what it comes down to is that I was rather thinly stretched between making a bolero for Nat for her wedding, getting my stuff sorted to go away for the wedding (think, primping myself so that I was suitable to wheel out as a bridesmaid) AND also packing my stuff (so much stuff) before Shannon and I moved house. Oh, and also I had to read something for book club. I got to a point where all my spare time was taken up with doing Very Important Things. Or being lazy after all the important things I had been doing.

Anyways, enough with the bemoaning already. Let me tell you about the wedding! Natalie and Mark were both totes gorgeous and I could have bitten them both. Shannon wore a suit. It was the first time I'd seen him in a suit and it was a rental and it was slightly too big, so all in all it was a bit of a disappointment insofar as seeing your boyf in a suit goes. I am prepared however to scratch the mental image and start again so that the next time I see him in a suit it will be a beautiful tailor made suit, and that will be the first suit I've ever seen him in. Sounds like a good compromise to me.

I'm the one with the glasses on.

The bolero I was knitting for Nat? - I completely screwed it up in the end. I kid you not, I was knitting like a demon in the last week before the wedding (I was knitting at Webstock) and when I went to block it out and sew it all together I discovered what a complete mess I'd made of the entire thing.

Here I am, knitting at Webstock (count six people back) - this image from the Webstock 2012 Flickr stream

It was literally about four sizes too big and somehow, I'd knitted one of the front panels much longer than the other. Did I mention that I discovered this balls up two nights before the wedding, and that the thing had taken me the best part of six months to knit? I couldn't do anything with it except frog the lot and start again from scratch. It was one of those moments where one feels suddenly, spectacularly, unreliable, and awful and pathetic.

Imagine: I had to call Nat with my tail between my legs and admit that I'd made a horrible hash of her wedding bolero and that she was actually going to freeze on the night of her wedding. Could she ever forgive me? And, because she is awesome, she totally could, and told me to stop worrying. What a wonderful woman! What a spectacularly blessed friend I am!

Two valuable lessons: one, Nat rocks my world. Two, always always knit a swatch. I have unravelled the lot to reknit, and am knitting a swatch now.

The wedding itself was super great: amazing food, fabulous venue (maitre'd was pretty much the most awesome man ever), great wine. The photographer was a crack up. Anna, who Nat and I also went to high school with, was the other bridesmaid and guided me in my duties as maid of honour. I wasn't that good at all, as in, every time I tried to reapply Nat's lipstick I kind of just smudged it more over her face? Anna is good at applying lipstick though. Yay Anna!

Here is some bride and groom action for you:

Also good about Martinborough: when I was hung over the next day I ate a croque madame with extra bacon and felt a million times better. Wedding/bacon/cheese sauce/sunshine = perfect weekend. Yuss.