My best friend's bonfire wedding

I mentioned earlier this week that I was attending my friend's wedding on bonfire night as a bridesmaid.  I've known her since we were about 4. We met on what we like to call 'hula hoop day'. We lived on opposite sides of the road and neither of us were allowed to cross, so we'd play with our hula hoops and shout our conversations between traffic.

The date of the wedding had extra significance because here in the UK it was Bonfire Night.  On bonfire night we celebrate the failure of a plot to blow up the House of Lords in 1605.  There are lots of national and local traditions that she worked into this super fun day...

♥ Fireworks

All over the country spectacular firework displays were taking place and this was the major part of the wedding day.  We were so glad the weather stayed nice.  The fireworks ended with their initials 'M' and 'A' alight with a love heart in between.

♥ Sparklers

Sparklers are like a mini firework you can hold in your hand.  At the party we all have a gold indoor sparkler each in a heart shape! Super cute.

♥ Toffee Apples

Another nation wide tradition, apples are stuck on a stick and coated in delicious bonfire toffee.  Bonfire toffee is much harder than regular coffee, and almost black.  Here the toffee is red in colour which is a little more appetising to look at.

♥ Parkin

Parkin is a more local (Yorkshire) tradition for bonfire night.  It's a cake that includes oats in the dry ingredients and black treacle in the wet ingredients.  Do not be fooled or allured by the parkin pig. This is merely a gingerbread pig-shaped biscuit.

♥ Pie and peas

I didn't get a photograph of this but the main food served in the evening was our local bonfire night delicacy of a hot pork pie with mushy peas. I chose not to eat and just get bladdered instead ;-)


And a couple of other things...

♥ The wedding flowers

Some of the nicest flower arrangements I have ever seen - they had crab apples and berries amongst roses and twigs. Very autumnal.

It was a beautiful, emotional but happy ceremony.  My friend cried as she said her vows which set us all off, and the speeches made us all bawl our eyes out too... thank heavens I wasn't wearing eye make up (more on that later!).  I couldn't be happier for her, she's married a really great man.

...and my hair? I did get the SJP do (it's fallen out of place a little at the back here due to dance floor movez)...

(parkin's great!)

Where's the bride? She looked magnificent, you will have to take my word for it. She's not an internetty girl and I respect that...

xoxo

♥ Colourful ♥ Kitschy ♥ Funky ♥ Fun...

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