After the ceremony in the beautiful Hawkshead parish church, Mike and Jill arrived back at Belmount Hall half an hour ahead of schedule. As the beginning of nine hours of celebrations, that created a bit of excitement… .

Their guests were greeted at the front door with a a glass of Champagne and a beautiful individual wedding cake. The cakes (from Maki’s Cakes) looked amazing and were extremely popular, although some guests decided not to eat all the icing, but just consumed the delicious cake inside.

After an hour of quaffing (the finest!) champagne, canapes were served, plus a cocktail served from vintage tea-pots into vintage cups and saucers – Amy Brunton’s suretosurpriseyou website – great fun!  It proved to be possible to ‘stagger’ the service of all these delights, so that nobody was trying to drink a cocktail from a teacup, while eating a cake and drinking champagne.

After the meal, amazing cheeses from Pong (including the largest wedge of Comte ever seen) were served, together with port and malt whisky.

After speeches and toasts, the evening party began…. .

All in all, a wonderful wedding, although I did not get my promised drive of Greg’s beautiful Aston Martin. Next time, maybe??