Whoever said having a small wedding would be simple? Er, that would be me i think!
Way back when all i knew of it were the beautiful close-ups i'd seen of two smiling models posing as a bride a groom-tanned and authentic-looking in their stunning white emsembles-on wedding-based websites and in holiday brochures.
The reality is they're not quite so simple. It seems not everyone shares our idylic dream of the warm Italian sun draped across the med as the perfect wedding day. Especially not those with children. I guess the idea of dragging three of lifes most energetic creations to such a gorgeous location-which just happens to be hundreds of miles from such things as a convenient baby-sitter-is, for some, too much to bear.
And so it has begun. Some of our guests can't come to the wedding because nobody will look after the children for more than a day or two.
We considered the issue of kids for a long time before we settled on the venue for our wedding-a tiny villa which hosts private functions on the hill-side of Ravello. They can accomodate no more than 20 people on their picturesque sea-view terrace and including children in our guest-list would have meant leaving out too many adults. Or raising the numbers to such high proportions that half of us would have to sit outside!
And to my mind this is not a wedding for kids anyway. No running around in circles on the dance floor pretending to be superman here! There'll be no dancing. Just sitting, talking and eating. Something most people under the age of 12 seem unlikely to want to do for more than a few minutes.
So because our hearts literally skipped a beat when we came across this place-and because we had never planned to get married at a kids party-we decided to include in our SAVE THE DATE cards a note which said that children-unfortunately-were not included in the invite. This was ages ago, and although we had fretted ourselves silly that no one would come, the reaction turned out to be positive.
They were all only too delighted to have a romantic break and leave the kids at home!
So all was well. Or so it seemed.
Now it has gotten to the time of booking flights and making arrangements, and our first drop-outs have presented themselves. 'Please can we just bring a couple of them?' they enquired but we have to stick to guns (it says this in all the wedding advice pages!) because if we allow one couple to come, kids and all they'll all want to. And before we know it the guest list will be 29 and the menu will include 9 orders of sausages and chips!
I can't say it isn't disappointing when people say they can't come-after all when you can only invite 20 guests you make sure they're the 20 you absolutely want to come-but we surely have to be allowed the wedding day we want, just as they were. And that's life isn't it? You can't please all the people all of the time. I just hope the one's who make the effort feel it was all worth it. Everything's looking so beautiful I'm feeling sure they will.
Plans are going great guns now! I've just ordered the most beautiful floral arrangements to decorate the table and chairs. They include lemons which are typical of the region and so unusual i knew they would be perfect. How easy it is to get carried along....
The ceremony is written and Rosa has approved it. She is a star and isn't even charging us any extra money to do the add-on of officiating the symbolic part of the ceremony. The actual ceremony is very official and un-romantic and would be awful on it's own i think so we are having an extra bit with readings and exchange of rings which she will do for us.
It's such great fun to pick out all the things you like and arrange a whole day exactly as you want it, and think that's what is so special about a wedding. It's a day of celebration of your own designing and i think our wedding day is going to be a true reflection of us and what we want in life!
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