Mrs Crafty B: Baby O’s First Wedding

With eight wedding invites over the last two years I am SO feeling this. Jo's tale of wedding adventures will have a lot of us nodding in empathy!

One of the best things about being a teacher is when you’re invited to a wedding on a random Tuesday in the middle of August you can agree to go without worrying about how to get the time off work. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for my other half, but it seemed a lovely way for me and Baby O to spend some quality time together with my family. So it was agreed, the two of us would go on our own and camp for two nights with my brother and his family in the Cotswolds, whilst the grandparents stayed in the posh hotel down the road. Lovely!

As the time got closer the realities of camping with a not quite 2 year old, on my own, and preparing for a wedding started to give cause for concern. So I have to admit, I chickened out and booked us into a lovely B&B for the night before the wedding so we would only need one night under the stars. The day before the wedding arrived and we were packed and ready to be picked up for the drive down.

A fairly uneventful journey and a few hours later we pulled up in the beautiful village of Bibury. Time for a spot of dinner before heading off for an early night. By this point little man was not happy after spending three hours sat in a car so was reluctant to sit in his high chair to say the least. Luckily I had my secret weapon, when all else fails, get out the balloons. Even better, punch balloons. My G&T was taken out in one expert hit and sent sliding across the table, thanks Baby O! Drink replaced and all drinks cleared off the table to allow balloon punching space. Second G&T fell off the slanted windowsill Nana had though it would be a good idea to place it on. Third G&T was knocked over by my brother passing a plate, granddads face was a picture. Pretty sure he thought we were doing it just to wind him up. Hmmm, time to switch to wine as after 3 G&T’s, I’d managed 2 sips so obviously not meant to be. A rushed dinner and me and O took ourselves off to bed. Now Baby O is a sleepy wriggler. Fine when in the confines of his cot, but when sharing a double bed with his mum, not so great. We managed the night with only one head first dive off the side (shhh, don’t tell Daddy), so I’d say a success.

On the wedding day Baby O was up and dressed in his new outfit, me in my fanciest frock and we were ready to go. Anyone with toddlers will tell you, they won’t sit still for long, especially if there is nothing going on. We were ushered into the church minutes after arriving, and thought “Great, perfect timing”. But no, half an hour later we were still sitting there and Baby O was getting bored. In the bride came, looking beautiful and the ceremony began. On reaching the point where the vicar asks for any reason why the couple may not be married Baby O chose that moment to shout “More bic bic!” Bless the vicar for seeing the humour and replying “Unfortunately, I can’t take that as a valid reason”. As the couple said there loving vows Baby O wanted to be off so a quick exit was needed, just in time for the rain to arrive. Sat outside, in the rain, with a stroppy toddler was not how I had pictured the day.

The day went from bad to worse. Baby O refused to sit in his high chair at the wedding breakfast, refused to eat, wanted to be picked up, but when he was squirmed to be put down, shouted through the speeches, ran away when taken outside, the list goes on. Defintely not the cute little wedding date I’d imagined when we had the invite. Eventually he started to lose some of the energy, the signal it was time for bed. So while the other guests partied away we headed for our tent and tucked ourselves in. As my little man snuggled into me to sleep, the stress of the day started to melt away, especially when my brother brought me a glass of wine and hog roast bap to enjoy. Big brothers have got to be useful for something.

Baby O’s first wedding will be his last for a while, for when we get our next invite I’ll be booking the grandparents in to babysit before sending the RSVP.

Blog Name: Not a Frumpy Mum
Website: http://notafrumpymum.com/