One day to go, count down has begun. Summer wedding in Sintra was one to never be forgotten.
The Friday morning was set for more sight-seeing of Sintra and a spot of lunch in town before heading to the pre-wedding party at Coconuts in Cascais. This place was phenomenal, which boast a breathtaking view of the ocean with a gorgeous outdoor bar area. The place was spot on for a pre-wedding event.
I started the night off with a pear and caramel ice – cream, I was far too cool for cocktails. The tot by this point made his way through two ice-cream cones already. I certainly was not happy and forbid him from any more helpings.
The night involved some dancing, Portuguese dancers who took centre stage to give us a delightful show and an enormous buffet. I may have dosed up on a one too many cakes. I know, I know, I will regret it later, but when you are at a party, sensible eating habits just goes out the window.
We danced the night away until the wee hours of the morning.
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The wedding day was finally here:) I almost didn’t want it to come and for the whole trip to come to an end!
The morning involved a quick breakfast before heading out with the tot to the pool for some relaxation time. Did I say relaxation time? Well known fact: one cannot sun bath nor relax with a tot in tow.
I tried and failed. I made a quick change and headed to the hair and make-up room.
After getting my hair done, (make -up done myself, being that I am so fussy with make-up) we headed outside for the ceremony. The area was lined with beautiful trees with photos of the couple and family.
After a little browsing and a lot of ahhh, awwww expressions, we made our way to our seats to await the gorgeous bride and groom for the exchange of promise/vows. I reminded the tot of his job as a ring bearer and maybe threw in the line of ‘PLEASE BEHAVE’ a couple of times.
Brangelina:)
They read their own vows which was beautiful and touched my heart. I just couldn’t be happier for the couple.
Hard to get a photo with everyone looking, this is the best I could find.
A few speeches followed on from that including a Lord Byron poem read by me and my sister.
After speeches and the ”you may kiss the bride” line, we headed over to the cocktail reception for some drinks and canapés (stomach teaser) which was set outside surrounded by a beautiful maze made out of trees.
We later made our way to the marquee for the next part of the evening; the sit down dinner. I was delighted at the availability of nannies to keep the kids occupied throughout the dinner. I cannot tell you how nice it was to actually listen to speeches without having to run after a toddler and dancing and enjoying myself.
Some more speeches followed including ones from my two sisters who gave an awesome speech reminding everyone what a loving, caring and super ambitious guy my brother is. He is one of the most ambitious and hard-working person I know, always striving to be the best and hungry for success. Of course all the embarrassing memories were relived and many funny stories were also told which moved the crowd to laughter.
My brothers speech was phenomenal. His description of love was perfect, tears streamed down my face in his opening line. He described his love for Amal and how she makes him a better person and more importantly he talks about how he values her. This was a real eye opener for me and made me realise a few things about love and relationships. He went on to talk about how he would always ask for her advice in everything, be it business or just life in general and valuing her opinion was so important to him. It was just beautiful and so well written. He ended the speech talking about love which was something my mother had drilled into him and that is loving someone is great but knowing that this person loves you back is what is what makes it beautiful and what you can call real love. You sure are right mama (she was proud to hear him recite her words of wisdom).
Anyway enough said as I can feel myself tearing up again just thinking back to it all.
The rest of the night involved plenty of dancing.
Cake cutting with bride and groom feeding each other, (tradition at all Arab weddings).
Lots more dancing and joking and mingling oh and I mustn’t forget to mention late night dessert buffet:)
I hit the sack at around 4am and I was up again at 7am! May I emphasise I, with everyone else rolling out of bed in the afternoon for the post wedding brunch.
I was blurry eyed for the rest of the day. Thankfully the sun was shining so a great excuse to hide the bags under my eyes at the brunch.
I ended the beautiful holiday with some pool side chilling with friends before heading back to the airport.
Those four days just flew by. I wish I could re live it again.
I raise my glass and say cheers to a lifetime of happiness for the gorgeous couple:)
And that was it, four days over in a flash and on the plane I was back to London without a Euro in my pocket left. I spent every cent there.
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I had a quick glance at the strength of the pound today and it stands at 1.11 Euro to every 1GBP! Wow! Before Brexit, I was sure the Euro was hovering around the 1.30 mark. After Theresa May passed out a Brexit date in early October and outlines the timetable ahead, it fell to 1.14 so it has been following a decline trend. Now we are being faced with ‘Bankers Brexit’, what are May’s next step to deal with this? She sure has her hands full with the recent immigration issues at Calais that have plagued the news recently.
Pjs and a cup of tea with some biscuits, and off to bed soon!
