Spring Sunday in Bristol

 

Husband and I drove to Bristol on Sunday. We met up with my sister and Fauxbro for a little picnic by the Suspension Bridge, tasted some wines for their wedding and then headed to the Zoo, to the Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair. Sister and I pottered round the fair, chatting to vendors and selecting things for my second wedding (ha) and buying one or two bits (her, for her actual wedding). Husband and Fauxbro sat and drank coffee from teacups and then sampled wedding cake.

We then headed into Clifton, pottered in a few shops (I bought some lining paper for an old chest of drawers that we bought from a junk shop in London a while back) and then we had a cream tea in a little cafe in the evening sunshine before heading home again. 

The wedding fair was curated by Bristol Vintage (further post coming as they hire lovely vintage tea sets for weddings, and given my troubles in finding such a thing in 2009 I am keen to list as many as possible). Bristol Vintage had lots of cake stands for sale, as you can see in this photograph above. Despite owning no less than 3 different variants of cake stand, I was sorely tempted to add to my collection. A friend of my Grandmother's, knowing my fondness for vintage tableware, has sent a bag of tableclothes and the like down for me, which will be delivered by my mother on Saturday. Given that the last set included Swiss lace table mats from the early 1900s, I am most excited. And another cake stand would have been perfect for the afternoon tea for an early mothering sunday that I am planning this weekend and also for the hen party and baby showers which are approaching in May. But, I was good and resisted. And the 3 I already have will be just. fine.



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All photos by me (and not re-touched. the sky really was that blue. and yes, I need to start using a camera not an iphone)

One Half Of Them

My goodness. Where has January gone? Between work, preparing for my upcoming dance show in February and feeling like utter crap for much of the time with hormonal/endometriosis the month has just raced past.
But enough of that. My sister got engaged. And started blogging. You can find her over at One Half Of Us writing about her engagement and upcoming wedding. I sent her a list of all my favourite blogs and it has been so odd having her e-mail me things like "Cara and Nye's babies are just so adorable" and "I think I might enquire about that ... that I read on A Practical Wedding". She has been a long time reader of this blog (and did the guest post introducing our wedding when we were away on our honeymoon) so I assume she is used to reading what I have to say. I have to say though, it was strange to read her first posts - it is almost like getting to know her as a whole other adult person.A is just shy of 3 years younger than me and I remember the day that she was brought home. I remember being slightly confused by her but very pleased; A 'gave' me a doll which I called after her. That might have had something to do with how pleased I was.

2 years after A our baby sister came along. One day I might write about her too. But, for now, in honour of A's upcoming nuptials here are some of the photos that she scanned for my wedding collage. The bottom one is one of my favourite ever photographs. I still can't believe that we were small enough to both fit on one rocking chair.

Top photos borrowed from One Half Of Us. Bottom photos from our family collection.