Sophie and Stephen are In The Pink!

My gorgeous friend Sophie Flowers and her husband Stephen Longridge have kindly allowed me to blog their wedding, and after such a wonderful day it is not only an honour, it is a pleasure!



The service was held in St Mary's church in the beautiful village of Thornbury in South Gloucestershire, and after a slight hitch early on, everything went splendidly. The slight hitch was the tragic murder of their vicar - of all the things that they expected to go wrong, that wasn't one of them. Being the resilient girl that she is, once she had recovered from the shock Sophie waved her fist at the universe and ordered it to behave, and the universe, slightly scared, complied.

From then on it was a classic, fairytale wedding. The theme was pink, and lots of it; dresses, flowers and ribbons glowed in the sunshine. Sophie found her perfect dress in Clifton Brides in Bristol. It was important to her, especially in this Jubilee/Olympic year, to have a dress made by a British designer, and this gorgeous number by Ellis Bridal fit the bill perfectly. The groom and his ushers wore Moss Bros, and Stephen's shoes were from Ted Baker. Aren't they a darling, stylish couple?

The reception was held at Eastwood Park in Falfield - a Victorian House with the most stunning views over the Gloucestershire countryside. Unusually for this summer the weather held fine - probably because Sophie told it to - and so guests spilled through the reception room, where a gourmet buffet of vintage pic n' mix lasted for all of thirty seconds as the locusts descended, and onto the terrace to soak up the sun and admire the view.

The dining room was filled with lovely personal, quirky touches. The labels on the favours had been hand written by the bride and groom themselves, and each child had been provided with an extra special gift, including the most adorable lego bride and groom set. The tables were each named after a place Sophie and Stephen had visited together, and the seating plan was in the form of a vintage map.

 

After dinner, a succulent beef wellington, some hilarious and embarrassingly tear jerking speeches and a much needed rest, guests filled the dance floor for the first dance; Ellie Goulding's Your Song. The party continued unabated until midnight, only breaking when it got dark for some very special fireworks out in the grounds (custom loveheart fireworks!!! I nearly burst with envy!).

Eastwood Park has rooms, so it was only a short stagger to bed. Which was, I admit, a very good thing. What with the wonderful food, the dancing and the sheer emotion, it had been a tiring day. Sophie and Stephen have really  raised the bar for those of us yet to tie the knot. What a perfect wedding.

Hair by Craig Anthony, in Downend, Bristol http://www.craiganthonys.co.uk/aboutus.html
Make-up by Sophie Arnold, from Bristol
Flowers – from Hazel Holly Florist, in Downend, Bristol. http://www.hazelhollyflorist.co.uk/
The fireworks were by Firemagic Ltd http://www.firemagic.co.uk/
Chair covers and ties by South West Chair Covers http://www.southwestchaircovers.co.uk/

Cake by Sophie's supremely talented sister Alice Carter

Emoticontext

Having in the past furiously defended the use of text speak, averring that it is a natural and harmless progression of an ever evolving language, I would now like to qualify these statements a little:

1) Nobody over the age of forty should be allowed to use text speak; it comes across as artificial and rather deluded. Mutton, in fact.
2) Text speak should only ever be used in an appropriate context. For commenting on a YouTube video it is fine, for a job application cover letter it is not.

I'm really quite cross about having to having to write this blog - surely it is merely a question of common sense - but apparently people are running amok linguistically, carelessly littering the world with LOLs and smiley faces. I've been noticing it for a while; intelligent sounding people commenting on serious online articles "Sounds lyk it cud b fun!!! :p!"etc, but a recent example shocked me to the core. An acquaintance broke the sad news of his sister's death to his family and friends via Facebook. This in itself is entirely acceptable now; it is a very practical way of communicating with a large group of people at once. Soon the messages of condolence began to flood in, including one, which unforgivably read: "Sorry for Ure loss :(".

Really? I mean, REALLY??  I don't mind telling you, I almost retched. The man had suffered a terrible bereavement, and this utter ass decided that the best way to respond was with a computer generated sad face.
We all, in the course of our busy, routine-oriented, automated lives, make mistakes. I have signed off e-mails to customers with kisses. I once heard a colleague terminate a telephone call to a tradesman with the words "Love you." I have signed a birthday card to my mother "Kind regards" and I know of at least one Sorry You're Leaving card that has circulated in my company with the words "Happy Birthday" hastily scrawled in the corner by an accountant. But to actually go on Facebook, read somebody's sad news, and to decide to comment in that fashion really beggars belief. Maybe the culprit suffers from some form of social disorder? It is the only valid excuse that I can think of.

Nobody writes letters these days, do they? Apart from banks, of course. Banks love to write letters. I have what is fondly termed a "Paperless Account", but I still receive several dead trees' worth of information from them every year. Heavens only knows how the "Paper Account" people manage. They must have nearly disappeared under the reams of "vital" correspondence by now. Anyway, I can be pretty sure that if a letter drops through by door it has come on official business. There are still occasions on which a letter, or at least some kind of card, can be a nice gesture - birthdays, engagements, bereavements, that kind of thing - but it is by no means obligatory. E-mail is faster and more environmentally friendly, and sites such as Facebook and Twitter are perfect for casual correspondence with casual acquaintances. E-Cards, with their lovely, helpful reminders are a godsend as far as I'm concerned. Let's not forget too that we have many people in our lives whose addresses we simply do not know, either because we have never been to their house or because we have at some point written the address on the back of a recipe and then lost it. So Facebook, as a medium, is fine.

BUT! That does not mean that we can use the same language to condole as to congratulate, to enquire as to complain. "Hope U get the job!!!" is perfectly acceptable (again, for anyone under forty). "I am writing 2 complain re Ure service! :(" is absolutely not.
Try thinking about it as the difference in the way you would talk to your best friend, and the way you would talk to your mother, or grandmother. All of us change our speech depending on our environment - it's so automatic we hardly realise we're doing it, yet most of us are hardly recognisable as the same person. When I talk to my parents, swearing, argot and the dreaded "like" are all erased. Even my pronunciation is subtly different. This is as it should be. Our manner of speech should always reflect and adjust to where we are and who we're with. And our written communications should do the same. It's a question of empathy, and of respect; two things which are disappearing from our society even faster than basic literacy.

Right. I'm off to dig a path to my front door through all my bank letters. At least they make me feel popular.