10th Anniversary Party

That was quite a weekend! Dominated by our 10th Wedding Anniversary celebrations.

We decided ages ago that we’d like to have a bit of a party for our 10th anniversary and get people together so that we’d remember it. You know how these things are, a simple barbeque in the back garden was planned, nothing that would be too much work or would cost too much. Once the plans began though things escalated and we were soon rushing around like mad getting things prepared.

Getting Ready

Before we even started doing anything there were invitations to write and send. We didn’t want a huge party but ended up inviting a really eclectic group of people; close family of course, of which there are quite a few, several ‘locals’ from various groups of people we know such as triathlon friends, beekeeping friends, mountain-biking friends, work friends and band friends. The neighbours, who were all quite happy about us having a party in the back garden, were invited too and then quite a few friends that we hadn’t seen for ages.

Once the invitations were sent and people from far and wide replied to say they were coming, we thought we’d better make a bit of an effort too. We live in Wales for a start so a party planned in advance that is to take place outdoors needs some shelter. As Leaders of 2nd Borth Scouts we had access to a large mess tent so we had to collect that and put it up. There were gazebos to erect, final tidying in the garden, bunting to put out, cakes galore to bake and other food to prepare, entertainment systems to put in place, portaloos, barbeques, charcoal, furniture to be moved, tables, chairs and benches for the marquee, the list was endless. So much for an easy, inexpensive barbeque in the garden, we soon had a full-scale party to pull off. With loads to do and guests to impress we were rushed off our feet for the entire week before the party.

First Arrivals

We had got most things in place by Thursday though as that was when the first guests arrived. First was Anna’s Mum who arrived that evening. She came from the peace and quiet of the Isle of Man into a maelstrom of activity with Anna and I rushing around getting things finished off and and a full-on bake-fest going down in the kitchen.

Rebecca, Pete and their children Anna and Jay arrived from Southampton on Friday. They were camping in the garden and we’d already set up a tent for them. We hadn’t seen them since Anna was born and had therefore never met Jay. Anna was now 4 and very chatty. She was brilliant ‘actually’ and was soon chatting and playing with us as if she had known us all her life. Jay was just as friendly and just as lively and it was good to see them all. With children running around and extra people about, the party had sort of begun.

Garden Camp Site

Garden Camp Site

My parents arrived at about the same time as Rebecca and Pete. They were staying in a self catering cottage just down the road. Now that there were a few extra bodies about we got everyone together to help put up the marquee. Anna and I had done most of it but needed extra people to lift it up to full size as it requires about 6 people to do so. Once it was up and the canvas was on things were beginning to take shape. My parents headed off to their cottage and we continued with the preparations in gorgeous wall to wall sunshine. We all then ate together in the garden, which was just one more thing we had to organise so we kept this meal to a simple help yourself salad buffet.

We finally got to bed late on Friday evening with what we thought was most things done. We had been checking the weather forecast of course and it looked like rain for Saturday afternoon. Typical!

In fact, the party was due to start at 2pm and we had planned breakfast in the garden on Sunday morning with those that were staying over as well. The weather forecast was for sunshine all week until Saturday when it would be cloudy followed by rain from about 2pm. It would then be cloudy on Sunday morning and the sun would come out again at around Midday on Sunday. Oh well, there was nothing we could do about that, even if it was a little frustrating.

The Morning Before

Saturday did indeed dawn cloudy and we continued with the preparations. I was up at 4am and started on cooking our special home-made bean ragu and paprika chicken. I iced the chocolate celebration cake too and baked oaty banana breads for Sunday’s breakfast. Once the others were awake, gazebos were erected as extra shelter from the imminent rain, bunting put out, and final preparations were put in place. Rebecca, Pete, Anna and Jay headed off to Aberdyfi for the morning while we finished off. By about midday we were finally ready. So was the rain as it had just started to get misty and feel a little damp. I was wandering around the garden checking that all was in place and getting excited about the party to come as I felt the first drops of rain start. It had been a lot of work, but things were looking good and our garden had been transformed into garden party central.

Afternoon Barbeque

People started arriving at 2pm and things were underway. Helen, Steve and Willow were some of the first arrivals. They had travelled up from just south of Bristol and we hadn’t seen them for ages. We’d never seen Willow so met her for the first time. They brought us a present in the form of a variegated Cordyline for the garden which was nice. In all the excitement of getting things ready we’d forgotten that people might buy us presents!

The barbeques were soon fired up and I manned them for a while with burgers, sausages, kebabs, chicken fillets and all sorts of other goodies soon sizzling away. As more and more people arrived though I couldn’t really stand behind the barbeques and meet and greet at the same time so Brad and Mike soon took over. I did intend to go back and help them out but guests needed mingling with and chatting to so I never quite got around to it. Brad and Mike did a good job though and didn’t seem to mind. I guess it meant they had easy access to the food and seemed well supplied with beer too so they were fine!

Trudie and Nick probably win the prize for the people who we hadn’t seen for the longest. In fact, Anna had never met them, we weren’t sure if I’d ever met Nick, and Trudie seems to think it was getting on for 20 years since we saw each other! It was of course great to catch-up and weird how you just get on in exactly the same way as you always did with friends like these. They had travelled up from Bideford and had made a holiday of it, weaving their way through Wales over the past week before arriving with us.

We had wondered how it would go with such an eclectic group of people as most of them wouldn’t really know anyone other than the people they came with, but it turned out good. Most had at least met another group of people at some point in the past and if not they were soon chatting to others anyway. Dennis and Sophie came up from Cardigan. Now that they live a little closer we do see them a bit more, but still not enough. Dennis had met Trudie before but didn’t click as to who she was until she was leaving later in the evening.

Everything seemed to be going well, food was being consumed, drinks were going down well and those that managed to get some of my new Mango and Avacado salad were raving about it. Some people were simply waiting for the arrival of cakes, but everyone was commenting on what we’d done with the garden and how nice it looked. It had of course started to rain quite a bit by now so people were sheltering under the mess tent or gazebos much of the time, but there was time between the heavier rain for a wander around the garden.

Garden Party

Garden Party

Paul and Anne-Helen who had travelled from Buxton brought brollies with them just in case but were pleased to see that we had thought of this and had suitable shelter. They were staying overnight in Aberdyfi so had a little bit of a drive after the party, but we did manage to have a bit of a chat with them as we checked out the garden. That’s the trouble with parties though, even though we started at 2pm and went on all night there still just isn’t enough time to catch up with everyone and chat to everyone properly. Especially when you haven’t seen some people for so long. We say it everytime but we really should make an effort to see these people more often.

Other people we hadn’t seen for a while included Andy and Jules. They travelled over from Shrewsbury and were staying in Talybont. Again, not only should we make more of an effort to see such people more often, but both Andy and I should make an effort to get out windsurfing a little more like we used to as well!

We broke down and brought some cakes out once people had stopped eating from the barbeque. The rain got quite heavy at times but no one really go wet and as darkness fell everyone who was left managed to squeeze into the main marquee. Jon arrived in the evening having got the train from Aberystwyth and then cycled up from Borth in his jeans. He couldn’t stay long as he had to get the train back as well, but somehow it doesn’t quite look right to see someone on a bike like Jon’s wearing jeans, normal shoes and no helmet. Tch tch tch!

Typically, the ‘locals’ who knew each other and had planned to drop in for a short visit all seemed to arrive at different times and leave before the others that they knew were here, so Jon wasn’t here whilst Sarah and Rhys were and neither was Jackie, Cameron and Eva but it didn’t really matter.

Owain, Fleur and their girls were here for a while and brought us a voucher for the Marine Hotel in Aberystwyth so we’ll be heading there for a Sunday Carvery and their infamous ‘Pudding Table’ soon which will be nice. Others’ from the local ‘triathlon community’ included, Pete, Helen, Andrea and her friend (but no Frank) and Helen who doubles as a beekeeping friend too. She seemed intent on reminding us about our impending beekeeping exam next weekend. Dennis and Doreen and Dave and Sarah were here too as representatives from the neighbours, but I don’t think I even got around to chatting to Dennis and Doreen. Anna did though and they seemed to be enjoying themselves so I think they’ll forgive me. Dave and Sarah had let us borrow fridge space during the preparations and let the younger boys play football in their garden so as not to cause too much trouble and damage in ours.

I barely saw Morgan all day though, but he was having fun playing with his cousins, friends and new found friends, so probably preferred it that ‘Dad’ wasn’t hassling him anyway.

Jay, Jennie, Harry, Charlie, Megan and Jack arrived in the afternoon having driven up from Bristol. They couldn’t get dog-sitters so had to leave haflway through the evening in order to drive all the way back to Bristol again. My other brother Brad and his wife Eloise were staying over though so had the living room floor which had initially been reserved for Jay and his family. My sister Trudi, Mike, Kia, Max and Shaun were all sharing the cottage down the road with my parents.

Evening Buffet

Anna put the baked potatoes in the oven and I cooked the paprika chicken so at around 9:30pm there was another load of food. Everyone was stuffed and we had over-catered a little but once it was on the table people soon got stuck in. Both the paprika chicken and the beans which had been slow-cooked for 14 hours went down well, followed by the ‘proper cakes’ as out came the gooey butter cake, nanaimo bar, bread pudding, chocolate celebration cake and yet more lemon lime and poppy seed cake. We didn’t quite get around to the cheesecake though so decided to save that for breakfast.

As the evening came to a close and everyone headed off to their respective beds, Anna and I opened our presents and went through the cards we had received. We decided that it had all gone well. It was a shame about the weather but that was the only thing we couldn’t control. Everything that was within our control had worked just as we wanted it to and it seemed as though everyone had enjoyed celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary with us.

The Morning After

I was up early the following morning and by the time everyone else was awake I had cleared everything away, done the washing up, cleaned the kitchen, sorted out the garden and the marquee and had everything ready for breakfast. Tables and chairs had been rearranged and laid in the marquee, flasks were full of boiling water for coffee and tea, the toaster was moved to the marquee and breakfast consisted of toast, banana bread, chocolate celebration cake, pancakes and of course the delicious and very moreish blackcurrant cheesecake. There was quite a bit of leftover bread pudding too which is actually very nice as a breakfast dish.

We all sat around eating and chatting and made a few plans for the impending JOGLE challenge that we are doing. Before we let everyone go though we got them to help us take down the mess tent and gazebos. The weather had improved overnight and the sun was making an appearance by now so the tents were dry and it made sense to get them packed up whilst we had additional hands to help. It didn’t take long at all with so many helpers and soon the garden was pretty much back to normal.

Helen and Steve joined us a little later and we then all headed over to the beach for a quick dip in the sea. Morgan and I took surfboards and had a little paddle.

A Morning Surf

A Morning Surf

It was then time to say goodbye to everyone as they all headed off home. There was still some tidying up for us to do, tents to take down and leftovers to start consuming, but by the end of the day we had most of it done. We were exhausted but it had been a brilliant way to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary and well worth doing. It was certainly a lot of work but fun to do and we did manage to keep the costs down fairly well. I didn’t manage to keep my weight down though and certainly gained a few kilos over the weekend. The leftovers that still remain will ensure that this continues for a few more days yet!

Thanks to everyone who came and to those who couldn’t make it, it’s a shame you didn’t get here, but don’t worry, you’ll be invited again next time. We’ll need a while to recover and forget the effort involved before doing another though!

As you can probably tell I managed to neglect to take any photos once the party got started which is a bit of a shame as Anna was in a dress which in itself is an unusual occurrence the likes of which we should have documented so if any of you took photos let us have a copy of them and I’ll add them to this post when I can.

 

 

2 Responses

  1. Avatar forComment Author mum says:

    Lovely week end..think dad has sent you some photos

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.

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