The Wednesday before the wedding was a fun and busy one. It was a stag day planned in honor of Sam and hen activities for Jenni and her friends who had traveled and thus hadn't been able to attend her earlier hen party hosted by her local friends.
The guys started with breakfast and dressing up the unfortunate groom-to-be.
In order to take full advantage of the horrid outfit, apparently they invented some excuses to have him run errands and otherwise be seen publicly, thus attired.
They went on to some go-cart racing! The gentlemen were kind to include John and Logan, despite the fact that we'd all just met Sam. So, we divided forces that day, John bringing Gemma along with the men and Ruthie tagging along with me. It certainly wasn't an ideal arrangement, and we greatly appreciated everyone's graciousness to us in that regard.
This was also the only day in which it truly was an inconvenience that Sarah and I weren't insured to drive our rental cars. It made transportation a bit complicated, and long (poor Ruthie!).
The men went on to play "football" at an indoor gym.
Meanwhile, the ladies had a much more refined girly day together! We all met at Ballydougan Pottery, one of those delightfully old buildings which we just don't have everywhere in the US! After coffee and scones in the restaurant, we were escorted into the workshop for pottery painting. Thankfully other people took photos, because somehow I didn't take a single one! (This may be because of the difficulty monitoring an 18-month-old in a room with rack after unstable rack of gorgeous unfired pottery! The others were so kind as to take turns holding her, so that I actually was able to paint a mug!)
We then carpooled into Belfast city for high tea at the Merchant Hotel.
There was a tiered stand for every two or three of us full of dainty finger sandwiches, scones, and mini desserts I'd never heard of before. All this, of course, was to accompany as many refills of Earl Grey as anyone could wish for. There were actually maybe half a dozen beverage options, with Earl Grey seeming to be everyone's favorite. I don't know if I'd even had Earl Grey before! It has a very genteel taste . . . ahh, lack of sparkling adjectives by a non-tea connoisseur here! My favorite is still a hearty "Assam," typical of what we know as Irish Breakfast Tea.
The wedding party!
I've hardly ever met more precious, loving young ladies than Jenni's nieces. They were eager to help with Ruthie, who readily poured affection back on them. Meek but not shy. Ladylike and yet unsullied by the grown-up world.
The big camera got passed around quite a bit, which is so much fun! I love this photo of Jenni, though I have no idea who took it. Sam's sister, Yolanda, maybe?
Ruthie may not have been the only one feeling a bit tired after all the fun. I might also note--as little as she belonged at a high tea, she certainly had a good dress for it! I'd heard that the dress code for such an event was, well, "a dress." We'd packed light and I was saving the only actual one-piece dress I'd brought for the wedding day, so I paired my fanciest top with my brown knee-length jersey knit skirt and decided it was ok (the only other option being a maxi skirt, which did not feel right at all).
My journal from that day was bare-bones, but I think by the time we all crashed at our house back in Castlerock, we Burchetts had a frozen pizza for dinner and quickly put the girls to bed.
Ah. So, quite a day of memories all around! Some tell me that this may have been more properly a "formal tea" vs. a "high tea." Do you know the difference?
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