THE BIG DAY
Trip Start
Sep 22, 2008
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14
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Trip End
Oct 16, 2008
Mandello del Lario,
Lombardy,
Italy
Saturday, October 4, 2008
I was really happy to take Cilla on a tour of Mandello del Lario; at the park she was really happy to find a "really cool" flying fox. So that is where we spent the morning before the wedding. Then back at the hotel everyone was running around showering, dressing and "putting on faces" for the wedding. We headed down to the church and waited, listening to the bells ringing. Right before the wedding was due to start we realised the Jess, Renee and Emma hadn't arrived, Just as they came around the corner further up the street, Now if you are ever looking for a good laugh, just ask Brigitte or Mum to show you the video footage of the 3 girls RUNNING down the streets of Mandello all decked out for a wedding
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. It's a real hoot!We all made our way into the church... the church... how amazing are those old Italian churches, I could use all the best words to try to describe it to you, but you really never could get the full impact. Not until you are standing inside one. All the boys looked just amazing, but the girls... again, WOW!
Anyone who has ever met Liz already knows she is a classic beauty, no matter what she is doing she radiates. But honestly, she put all other brides to shame (sorry to all the other brides I have ever seen, but if you would have seen her you would have to agree). She was literally breath taking.
The whole ceremony was perfect, and Padre Carlos was defiantly the right man for the job. Freda summed it up with "yurr" the Swiss use this when describing something that is just perfect (our ooooh ahhh).
The reception was great, everyone had a ball, and I had... Far too much wine (thank you Geoff for keeping that "thing only we know" a thing only we know) and far too many spills to count. We ate, danced, ate, talked, ate and even ate. But we barely made it through the first 3 courses. For lunch the next day we finished the food from the reception. It was a fantastically perfect day. I could never thank Liz and Rod enough for this experience, No matter how many times or how hard I tried.
The day after the wedding was yet another amazing day. Padre Carlos had agreed to oversee mass at the church in Mandello Del Lario so most people attended his sermon. Cilla and I headed back to the park and I read while she played on the flying fox. After mass we packed our bags sad to be getting ready to leave.
We all met up for lunch (left overs from the reception) and then headed out for a cruise on Lake Como. It was truly beautiful. I really need to find a new word to describe how amazing the sights are. Beautiful just doesn't seem to cut it anymore.
I think the 6 of us were really quite sad to be saying goodbye to everyone else, Leaving Mandello on the Train was really disheartening.
