Here is some good news in these troubled times. Last Friday, just hours before the UK went into lockdown I got married! Regular readers will have heard Mr R mentioned a million times on this blog, and now I am thrilled to officially be Mrs R. Here are a few photos of our happy, happy, happy day.

Can I get a witness?!

My parents insisted that we go ahead and we followed guidelines on social distancing as much as we could. There were 11 in the wedding party and we did our best with reducing contact. We sat my folks well away from the London crowd at the reception. My mum insisted this was a “special table” rather than a “naughty table” but my dad was a bit naughty as usual, so I think the latter stands. They loved every minute and insisted that they wouldn’t have missed it for the world, “even if they tried to lock all the Oldies in their houses.”

Up until the very last moment we really weren’t sure if everything would go ahead and we feel so very lucky that we JUST made it under the wire on the very last day of weddings in Sudbury for a while. A big thank-you to the lovely registrars at Sudbury Town Hall.

Our wedding cake was cancelled so the resourceful groom and best man constructed something beautiful with a frozen chocolate cake from Iceland Frozen Foods and four doughnuts from Greggs!

We had arranged to stay 3 nights at the legendary Wentworth Hotel in Aldeburgh, on the Suffolk coast after the big day…

not least because it was a favourite of one of my idols Joyce Grenfell. When we arrived we learned that in this enormous hotel there were only us and two other guests. The amazing and lovely staff had given us the best room in the hotel as they knew we were newlyweds. The room had a lovely balcony right on the seafront, where we mucked about quite a bit.

The charm bracelet was my mums and I wore it as my “something old” on the wedding day.

Almost everything in Aldeburgh was closed, although the legendary fish and chip shop was battling on so we had a lovely Sunday lunch alfresco in the sun.

All other meals were served to us in our hotel room as the bar, restaurant and lounges were all out of bounds. We found it all thrilling, especially when dinner arrived like this…

and I can’t tell you how much I got a kick out of dialling zero and saying, “Oh hello, this is Mrs Rathbone in room 10. Please may we have two pints of San Miguel?” Thank heavens for room service! The food was absolutely top-notch, just look at this lovely breakfast in bed!

We had a wonderful, wonderful few days even though it was surreal how places were closing down around us one by one. My only sadness is that 3 of our guests couldn’t make it to Sudbury and many of the small companies that worked hard to make our big day so special are now on hiatus. So a huge shout out to all of them follows. Please try and support your local businesses in whatever way you can in these troubled times my lovely readers. They really need us now.

Staff at The Wentworth Hotel were genuinely concerned with making sure we had a lovely mini-honeymoon despite all the restrictions. We will definitely make a return visit and request room 10!

My divine wedding suit was tailor-made for me by the fabulous Nicole of Nicole Merkerrin London Couture who lives very close to me in Muswell Hill. I loved every single minute of the design, fabric selection and fitting process and the outfit is something I will treasure and wear many times in the future for sure.

The lovely Millie and Faye from Lipstick and Locks in Sudbury were so much fun and made myself and Mr R’s sister Julia feel like movie stars. They said it was the most chilled wedding hair and make-up they had ever done! Me and Jools think we should be on the next Sparks album cover – Kimono My House anyone?

My mum was a florist so a few months ago she came with me to select flowers for my bouquet, corsages and buttonholes. Becki and her team at Juniper Flowers made such beautiful creations. They included lots of my favourite flowers in my bouquet including Hydrangeas for my “something blue.”

The gloves were made for me by the lovely Rosie of Slipstitch in Muswell Hill. Such beautiful handiwork and something to treasure forever. I have inherited my love of knitting from my mum and she said she needed a lockdown knitting project so I have ordered a jumper’s worth of yarn from Rosie which she’ll send up to Suffolk today. Remember folks, even if your local businesses are shut, there may be ways you can still support them during these difficult times…

My mum knitted a fabulous scarf to match the gloves, I was very matchy-matchy!

Last but not least, Michael and his team at The Angel With Rooms in Sudbury were absolute superstars. They were completely calm in the unfolding crisis and made sure the room we had booked looked beautiful, the food was all delicious and the booze flowed freely. We were the last people to have a drink with Michael before the pub closed its doors for a while. If you happen to be reading this after the crisis, please go and stay with Michael at The Angel, he’s absolutely the best host in the world.

So before I cry, I just want to thank everyone for ensuring we had a fabulous day just before the world went completely topsyturvy. Oh here’s one more shot of the boots!

Love to you all from Mrs Jenny Rathbone xxx