We had a gorgeous, sun-drenched day for our wedding at Yarner.  The festivities kicked off at 3:00 p.m., with a traditional Devonshire Cream Tea served on the front lawn of Yarner House.  The bride and groom were in attendance, without the flashy clothes though!  At 3:30 p.m., Galia and Denise went upstairs to get transformed, with the help of Angie Holmes, our professional make-up artist.  Of course they had with them a bottle of champagne to help calm the nerves!  Rose was in attendance as well, to help out and take (incriminating!) "getting ready" photos.

The bride had been calm, cool and collected all day.  However, upon seeing her soon-to-be niece and nephew all decked out in their smart garb, a few tears were shed.  They looked so adorable!  Melis (age 3), had on her fairy dress, complete with wings and rose petals ready to be tossed down the aisle.  Josh (age 5) was very handsome, and held his ring-bearing pillow with much pride.

The ceremony took place at 4:30 p.m., presided by Leni Eves, Devon Registrar.  The music chosen to walk down the aisle to was Groove Armada "At The River", a song we first heard on a Chill-Out CD that we played constantly in our flat in Kew, London.  Josh and Melis walked down the aisle first, with the help of Denise.  I walked down the aisle holding my mom, Shulamit, by the hand.  I first looked at all the smiling faces, and then locked eyes on Paul.  He looked incredibly handsome, and so calm.  I was the one who was emotional!  When we got to the front of the room, my mom lifted my veil, and I kissed her cheek.

The ceremony was lovely.  Grandad Harry told a short story  about a young man who loved his bikes, and went biking all over Devon, until he got tired of that, and then went biking in Morocco, and then fell in love with a young woman who loved biking too, but really the both of them were just looking for each other.  We asked Denise (my maid of honor) and Sally (Paul's sister) to do a reading as well, and Leni finished off the ceremony by reading an American Indian poem we chose.

At 7:00 p.m. we sat down to a fantastic Middle Eastern buffet dinner provided by Caroline Bowser.  The food was absolutely out of this world, and we highly recommend the Bowsers' for catering.  We chose a complicated dinner, with starters of hummus, tzatziki, tabbouleh, dolmas (stuffed vine leaves), hot borek, calamari, grilled garlic sausages and pitta bread.  The calamari literally melted in our mouth, the borek was spiced deliciously, and all the food was fresh and hot.  For our main course, we had chicken tagine (a tribute to Morocco!), lamb meatballs, rice, sauteed potatoes and salad.  All of it was succulent, fresh, hot, and spicy.  The catering staff were very professional, and explained what each dish was as they served it.  We were a bit worried that some people with less than adventurous palettes might not like the meal, but we had lots of compliments on our choice of menu.  We took the left-overs home, and they were even better re-heated the next day!  Caroline, I need the recipe for those lamb meatballs!  Our meal was complimented by wines chosen by Julie Byrne, a good friend who is taking a wine diploma course. She recommended Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, and Penfold's Kununga Hill Shiraz Cabernet from Australia. 

We thought it appropriate to serve New Zealand sparkling wine for our toasts, by Lindauer.  The speeches were fantastic, probably my favorite part of the evening.  It was great to hear all the stories everyone told.  Sarah did the ceremonial handing down of the first aid kit to Paul, and Suba relayed the story of my confusion over the British vs. Canadian language, in particular when it comes to "pants".  The girls and I re-played a portion of the game "Blind Date" which was played on my Hen Night.  Denise made a toast and finally Ian, the Best Man, gave a very amusing speech about the hidden qualities of my new husband.

We danced our first dance to Louis Armstrong's "All The Time in The World", from the James Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  I tried to spend as much time as I could talking to the guests, but the time just disappeared!  Before I knew it, we danced our last dance, again to Louis Armstrong, but this time "What a Wonderful World", and hopped into a taxi, which took us to The Holne Chase Hotel, were we spent our wedding night. 

A couple of days after our wedding, we flew home to Scotland, and drove to the West Coast for our honeymoon.  We saw Loch Ness on a misty, grey morning, and then drove on to  Ballachulish, where we stayed at The Isles of Glencoe Hotel on the shores of Loch Leven, near Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in the U.K.).  We had a fantastic week, eating good food, drinking lots of champagne, and doing short walks in the hills.  We took advantage of the spa facilities and both received very relaxing aromatherapy massages.

Overall, it was a relaxing and magical wedding and honeymoon.  We'd like to thank all our guests who travelled to get there, they came from all over:  Scotland, Canada, Norway, Russia, and the US.  It was the kind of day that should have last for another 72 hours.

All photographs were taken by Alan Craig Photography, except where noted.