Driving down to Exeter on a bank holiday is a terrible idea;but spending the weekend with family and friends celebrating a wedding makes it totally worth it.

The journey down was brutal; made worse by Matt pointing out two hours before the end that we are doing this all over again in twelve days for spring harvest!

When we arrived at the hotel we also discovered that we'd accidentally both booked rooms! Thankfully, the hotel manager saw the funny side and refunded us for one of the rooms.

Matt had a nice morning touring the quayside with uncle Ged, whilst the kids and I spent the morning with Grandma - bathing and getting ready for the wedding; and playing board games.

The wedding itself was beautiful. Pinhoe church was small and intimate, Jayne looked radiant and Rich was that wonderful mixture of nervous and happy that inevitably leads to tears.

The reception was fantastic and the fact that Rich and Jayne love children was really reflected well. They had games, puzzles, sticker books, balloons, bubbles, activity books, colouring sheets, origami... Not to mention the fact that about a quarter of the guest list were under five years old!
My children have never been so well occupied!

Elisha had a great time dancing with her cousins and William did really well with the lights and music, enjoying a quiet pint of water at the bar with daddy when it got a bit too much.

On Sunday we met an old school friend at the park, taught the kids to play 40:40, and Matt bet them all a £1 each that they couldn't walk a long a high wall without holding hands (obviously he's now out £4).

We had lunch with our family at the hotel, then Matt and Christine took the kids to the quayside to get their faces painted.

Some more games and a quiet evening, with cards in the bar, rounded off the weekend nicely.

This morning we are off to Bristol to pick up our new puppy 'Cooper'.

What a weekend!

Check out the photos...