23: A Daysaver Adventure

For a birthday treat, Nom took me on a Daysaver Adventure. For the uninitiated, a Daysaver Adventure involves catching the first bus that comes to your nearest bus stop, buying a Daysaver ticket - which can take you anywhere and everywhere on the network - and getting off wherever you fancy. We began on Sutton Road with the 905 to Birmingham city centre. When we arrived at Bull Street we took advantage of our proximity to Cyber Candy to pick up supplies (see above) before visiting the New Art Now exhibition at the BMAG and drinking a swift half (or two) of real ale at the Briar Rose.

Then we caught the 47 to Cotteridge, jumping off on the Pershore Road for a canal-side walk.

We ended up in Kings Norton where we had a mooch around the green before catching the 45 back into town. On the way we ate a picnic (cheeky!) of mini pasties, Thai prawn crackers and jelly.

We had some more ale at the Wellington, before heading to Short Heath on the 7 to visit my family, who live nearby, and my grandparents who were visiting. They had prepared a lovely meal of fried plantain, followed by tuna steaks then sticky toffee pudding. My sister also made a wonderful cake which was oozing buttercream! What a day!

The New Baby

As a belated wedding gift from the “Enemy” (my inlaws, who shall not be referred to in such a way again!) we have a brand new [lens]Baby! For its first trip out we went Christmas shopping with P+V to a very snowy Birmingham.

  

D+N (Part 2)

An early service and meal meant ample time to relax in the glow of the early evening sun as it set over Aber. Some of the younger (and more well-refreshed) guests made good use of the bouncy castle, regardless of the rain water it had collected from earlier in the day.

Making no concession for the older guests, the DJ kicked off with Beyoncé's Halo for the first dance before moving straight into a full set of new dance tunes. The couple impressed everyone by keeping the party going until only the élite remained.

D+N (Part 1)

We've decided it takes more pictures than will comfortably fit in one post to tell the story of our second Summer wedding, so we're splitting Daniel and Naomi's across two.

Just how different can one Aberystwyth wedding be from another? Almost completely as it turns out! Daniel and Naomi's wedding was vivid in every sense, all the way from the personalities involved to the bride's evening dress, which was made by mother of the bride, Lindy. We shouldn't neglect to mention that Lindy also made her own dress, the bride's main dress and the cake!  

Things got really exciting in the Morgan camp when father of the bride, Dill, sprang a surprise horse and cart to get Naomi to the church. It's always a pleasure to witness Welsh weddings because everyone seems to take an interest. Half the road turned out to watch the surprised tears of Naomi and Lindy as they emerged from the house to see their new ride. Naomi's Grandad also lent them an antique Rolls Rocye to carry the new couple from St. Michael's church to the cliff railway.

 

We organised a quick tour of some sea front landmarks for the couple shots. Daniel and Naomi proved exceptionally good sports and played happily along with our silly requests, even though we'd only met them the day before.

 

S+L

Two weddings today that we wanted to share from last Summer. They happened to take place in not only the same church, but the same reception venue as well. But the similarities pretty much end there.



S+L

This was the first wedding we shot together. We were obviously nervous and this feeling was only compounded by the rain (which, really, we should have expected being in Wales), but Sam and Louise were so relaxed that we were able to enjoy it almost as much as they did. We were proud of them for their sunflowers (a relatively late change in florist plans that very much suited their style), their attitudes (if it's not sorted months in advance, or even before the morning, that doesn't matter), and their Ugandan-style bike riding. 

Memorable moments include running half of Aberystwyth's sea front promenade and abandoning a coat behind a bench to keep up with the couple as they cycled past surprised guests and passersby. One of our favourite shots shows Louise perched elegantly on the back of Sam's bike, turning to ask an exhausted Malcolm if he was ok. 

If you're trying to pick a reception venue in Aberystwyth, you couldn't do much better than the restaurant at the top of Consti(tution Hill). Its a tad on the small size for a huge wedding, but the food, even for a large group, has been amazing when we've had the chance to try it. Included in their package is unlimited trips up and down the hill on the funicular railway for all the guests throughout the day until the last person has gone home. The view across the whole town and the bay provides a perfect, typical Aberystwyth backdrop.

The meal was followed by a frenzy of creative activity: one table made their table decorations into a tin-can-style phone, others floated theirs on helium balloons or blew bubbles. There were speeches and a truly celebratory Twpath (the Welsh version of a barn dance).

For a special New Year treat we headed over to Barmouth (Wales) for a couple of days with some of our favourite people. So here's evidence of our New Year's blogging resolution, in the shape of a few photos from the weekend. Happy 2011!