I cannot believe that over a week has passed since our wedding day, the day I finally became Mrs Jennie Henley. Now our family is truly complete as I have the same name as my husband and our beautiful children. … Continue reading
After the church service our wedding was in two parts, afternoon tea with barn dancing and then our evening meal. For each of these parts we wanted to create a completely different style and atmosphere. The afternoon tea was in … Continue reading
The morning of the wedding I woke up early. It was strange not having the babies to tend to. I had all my maids around me and the girls doing my hair. The time went so fast and we were … Continue reading
Our wedding really started on Friday 9th September. Months and years of hoping, wishing and precision planning began to come to fruition. David had an army of helpers, family and friends, timetabled for every second of the day from 7.45am … Continue reading
Music plays a vital part in our wedding and indeed our marriage. Music is important to David and I. We love good music and have a lot of songs that mean something special to us. A lot of songs that … Continue reading
I have always been a lover of lists. As a student, as a teacher, as a mother and and now as a bride to be. I always have a list open and am always making new lists, collating old lists … Continue reading
In just 5 months David and I will be getting married. To help us prepare for the day and be with us on the day we have carefully chosen our wedding party.
Today I would like to introduce you to the bridesmaids.
I have chosen five bridesmaids, two flower girls and two page boys. They were all very easy decisions as I would not want to have our big day without one of them there.
Firstly my little sister, Julie.
Julie will be almost 32 by the time we get married but she is still my baby sister, my wee sis. I love her dearly and miss her very much when she is away, which is most of the time as she lives in Australia, with her husband, Hugh. Julie and I are close sisters and good friends. We are very similar in lots of ways and strikingly different in others. Julie is a Vet Nurse and an animal lover. She is always adopting waifs and strays into her home, cats mostly. Really though we are dog people and have both wept buckets reading and watching Marley and Me. Julie makes me laugh more than any other person I know, apart from David actually, and apart from David she is the person in the world I can most totally be myself with, and she loves me no matter what. Just as I love her. She is also a fabulous aunty to Esther and William and is always in our thoughts every day. I really am very lucky and I know that I would not want to have anyone else standing with me on my wedding day. My beautiful wee sis.
Next is Michele.
Michele I have known now for about 6 years and she has played a huge role in my life during those years particularly since meeting David and the birth of Esther and William, her Godchildren. Michele is my rock. She is who I turn to in a crisis knowing that no matter what she will be there. Michele is like the big sister I never had with a bit of motherliness thrown in. I know I can write that and it be okay as I have tried to explain all of this to Michele in the past. She is everything that a person looks for in a friend and more. I cannot imagine my life without her now. She helps me make decisions and advises me on all manner of things. I tell her all my thoughts and ideas, my insecurities and worrries, my hopes and dreams. I cannot find words enough to say how much she means to me and how I would not be where I am today without her constant friendship and support. She is someone else who makes me laugh and can brighten up my day by knowing exactly what to say and when to say it. My friendship with Michele started when she was my Teaching Assistant at Kings Hill. She looked after me in the classroom and then took me in when I had nowhere else to go. She made me believe in myself and helped me to discover the parts of me that David fell in love with. For that I will always be grateful and that is one of the many reasons why our wedding day would not be complete without Michele. And why she was chosen to be Esther and William’s Godmother. Thank you, Michele x
Petra.
Petra and I have been friends since first we met in 1987. We were at school together for the final year of primary and right through to GCSEs. We did everything together for many years and got into all sorts of scrapes and bother. We also had the most wonderful times and made magical memories that we cherish to this day. I am now very proud to call Petra’s daughter, Maia, my Goddaughter and cannot believe that we have changed from little Girl Guides to fully grown up responsible mothers. In what seems like no time at all. I am so so glad that we have stayed friends for over 20 years.
Hannah
Hannah and I started out as colleagues and soon became friends but it was not until leaving the school where we worked that our friendship really began to blossom and grow. Hannah is great to talk to, she is very funny and she has a good heart. Hannah will go out of her way to do things for others and she made sure that after I left Frittenden I was not forgotten and still involved in school and social events. Since the arrival of Esther and William she has been wonderful visiting us in hospital and at home. She is the making of my social calendar!! Hannah is so good with Esther and William, they really do love it when she comes to play. We are hoping to spend lots more time with her in the holidays now we are able to get out and about more.
Francoise
Francoise lives in Grenoble with our best man, Mr Rew. Together they have a beautiful baby boy, Mael, who will be Esther’s and William’s playmate, penpal and friend in the years to come. It is such a shame that this family live so far away as we enjoy their company very much. Francoise is my bridesmaid because she is someone who I can always rely on, day or night, to say something to make me feel better. She is kind, caring and compassionate. She is funny and calming to be around. She is a great friend because she is so thoughtful and very naturally makes you feel at ease. She is creative and we share a passion for theatre and books. And now babies!!! I know that she will make valuable, memorable contributions to our special day.
I am so excited about our wedding, it has already been postponed once when Esther and William came so early, I am so looking forward to our day.
Girls; Let the countdown begin!
Today was supposed to be a day of retail therapy. Esther, William and I were going to Blue Water with their Godmother and my best friend, Michele. We had a very important brief for the day to look at navy blue dresses to identify some bridesmaid possibilities for our wedding in September. The date had been set for weeks.
David dropped Esther, William and I at Michele’s. We enjoyed a lovely hour of playing with the babies and catching up on news. We began to plan our day.
Just after 11.00am we got in the car and headed for the M25. We were on our way.
On the motorway Esther began to cry. This is something that she does not do. I was trying to soothe her and wondering what could be wrong. Most likely diagnosis, dirty nappy! There was a noise getting louder. It sounded like it could be the exhaust of the sports car over taking us at first, but the car accelerated away and the noise lingered on. In fact, it got louder. Michele began to worry that there was something wrong with her car. We were in the fast lane, thankfully not going too fast. Michele saw the smoke. She realised that she must have a flat and proceeded to make her way calmly and safely across the lanes of the M25 to get us safely to a stop on the hard shoulder. As I got out of the car I did see the smoke and I just said, without thinking, “We have to get the babies out of the car.” We took the babies behind the safety barrier and settled on what little grass there was. The babies were calm, William was fast asleep at first, soothed by the lorries thundering by!
It was very annoying for Michele that her new car had lost a tyre, she was shaken thinking about what could have happened, but we were safe. The babies were safe. We took them behind the barrier and waited for our rescuers. Michele did not have a spare tyre and so she had to call a recovery company whilst I called David who came to collect the babies and I.
While we waited we sang songs for the babies, took photos, talked about dresses and decided that dress shopping is safer online. We were lucky that it was a warm sunny day or I am sure that we would have been feeling far less jolly than we were. The babies were so well behaved, they didn’t cry, but then why would they? They didn’t know anything was wrong. The Mummy Milk Bar was open for business and there were cuddles aplenty for everyone. We even had music and toys!
At the end of our wait poor Michele was towed away to get a new tyre and David took us home.
Once we got home, David and I decided to do something together as his planned day of work had been so disturbed already. We decided to roadtest the buggy with the forward facing seats. And guess what? Esther and William loved it! They loved looking out at the world around them and they were also able to nap safely and soundly in the reclining seats. I think that we are going to pack away the carry cots and move to this new mode of toddler transport permanently. Another milestone, a proud but sad moment for Mum!
The walk we did this afternoon made me realise why it is so lovely to live in Kent. We walked up the hills behind our village to a pub called The Bowl. We had planned to have a quiet drink in their extensive rural beer garden. When we got there though we found that there was a country dancing festival taking place and so we introduced William to the delights of Morris Dancers. Esther slept through the entire thing, in her new forward facing buggy seat!
As we walked home through the pretty country lanes on a glorious Spring afternoon I felt glad to be alive and so proud of our little growing family.
They say that good always comes out of bad. David and I badly needed an afternoon like this one. Some time out together, as a family. It was great!
Where we live in Kent is a beautiful, peaceful place to be and days like this one serve to remind us of that, particularly in stark contrast to an hour beside the terrifying roaring of the M25.
So Motorway blowout to country dancing extraordinaire, what a lucky people we be! Everything happens for a reason and good does come out of bad.
Oh! And I am certain that in that car Esther knew. She had not done a poo, she knew that something was wrong and that is why she cried. I know! She knew. She was crying to let us know that something wasn’t right. I am sure of it x
Here is another pick of The Gallery archives from me. This time I have chosen to illustrate the theme of celebration and to do this I have chosen the bittersweet event that was our engagement party. It was held in May … Continue reading