Saturday - Day Four - Cessnock and The Wedding

It was a leisurely start to the day - having another go at resetting Ravi's dash cam. Luckily Wayne had a sim pin/reset pin he carries around so I was able to do the reset and we'll see how that works now.

We were back down to the town this morning after breakfast - there was a script to fill at the chemist, a wedding present to get, and some AA batteries for Mum's radio. Our first stop was Cessnock Village - and while we were there the heavens opened - giving us a good excuse to sit back, relax and have a drink while we waited for the downpour to stop enough for us to make it to the car so we could drive down the block to the Reject Shop. There is lots of Christmas stuff there but I restrained myself and ended up with only some light-up holiday glasses (for Sooz and I).

And speaking of Christmas, since yesterday metres and metres and metres of red tinsel has been wound along the tops of the guard rails down the main street. They go in for large inflatible santas, elves, reindeer and canes in the area. Hopefully they'll also light them because they would look amazing lit up by night.

On the way home from the shops, we grabbed some lunch from 'the best takeaway in Cessnock' (it was good!). We wanted to be to the church for the wedding by 2.30 pm and left the house at 2.28 pm - and made it on time. We knew we still had plenty of time too because we passed the wedding cars on the way. How many weddings were there going to be in Cessnock today - we did wonder. But they were the cars for A & C because they were at the church when we came out!

 

The stone church - St Patricks, was lovely. Stained glass, wooden pews, and a three piece instrumental group to set the tone. It is a while since we have attended a wedding in a church but the service wasn't too religious - and the deakin performing the service did a wonderful job of moving the ceremony along at a 'lively and compelling' pace.

It did feel strange, though, not to be taking photographs. There was a 'no cameras during the service' policy and and it felt odd not to have the phone or the camera out, but it did mean I could focus on the words of the service not just the pictures.

Congratulations Chris and Abbie!

The GPS failed us again on the way to the reception - but luckily we found the wedding cars along the way, but decided not to follow them in to a vineyard which was no doubt going to provide the backdrop for more photographs of the bridal party.

The reception venue was lovely - amazing staff, food, and atmosphere. There was also a table tennis table out the back of the bar room - and someone had left two bats and a ball, and a net that was up on the table - and we needed no moreinvitation to play than that. Others wanted to play so we made sure to share!

A 'Happily Ever After' sign greeted us as we entered the reception hall and shone over us all for the night - the eating, the speeches, the eating, the speeches, the cake cutting, the dancing. I'm going to say that it was possible to have the best time and if you weren't able to, there wasn't anyone else to blame.

It was dark as we drove home through the wine country - there were patches of fog on the roads and we had been warned to watch out for kangaroos (stay to 70km/hour regardless of the posted limit, and keep the high beams on). We didn't see them but we did see an illuminated ferris wheel and a rather large Christmas lights display.