Pickle's Christening
After a whole lot of planning and plenty of stressful moments (what's the Christening planning equivalant of a Bridezilla? Yeah, that was me!) we finally managed to get everything sorted and pull off another pretty lovely Christening, and I'm pretty sure that Pickle very much enjoyed herself too.
I think a lot of the stress in the time leading up to the day was of my own creation, mainly due to the fact I had some major 'Pinterest-Mum' moments, from a card basket and burlap and lace jam jar flower vases, to doily wrapped napkins and cutlery, plus of course finding a pretty way to display a selection of our favourite photos since Pickle arrived in the world. It was worth it though, I loved everything I put together and got some lovely compliments on it all too!
Not only this, but I also got my bake on... with a few extra sweet treats from my mum and mother-in-law to boot, I may have gone a little over board making white chocolate malteaser slices, rocky road, chocolate brownies and mars bar rice krispie treats, as well as apple and cinnamon, vanilla, lemon and chocolate orange cupcakes.
Getting the place set up all nice was not the end of it though, we also dressed up, all of us in beautiful new outfits. John looked suarve in his new TU suit from Sainsbury's (you'd never know it was a budget option would you?!) and of course I had to look my best, so I slipped into a gorgeous dress from the Quiz sale.
We had some amazing people involved in making the day perfect. From John's mum who ran the service, and Reverend Andrew Reed who did the Christening, my lovely dad who took the "official" photos (and also runs Paul Earle Photography), my Uncle Pete who played the piano fabulously to accompany our chosen hymns and of course my brother Samuel and friend Filipa from Gourmet Mum who did the Bible readings for us.
Last but most definitelt not least, we had yet another amazing cake. John's 'Aunty' Janet made both our wedding cake and Squidgy's Christening cake, so we were so glad when she agreed to make one for Little L too. With the gorgeous booties and book as keepsakes for after and the most >lush< Victoria sponge as the filling beneath the icing, we couldn't have asked for a better finishing touch to the day.
It was fabulous that our friend Fred and Lou and their beautiful son were able to travel down from Peterborough, as they were chosen as the couple Godparents for Pickle. Unfortunately my childhood friend Steph (Pickle's Godmother) was unable to be there due to her car breaking down as she prepared to drive to us, but we added her by proxy so although she's not in the photos, she's still got the honour anyway!
We were so glad our parents were able to be there., and this time we managed to get my dad in the photos (as he was the photographer at both our girl's Christenings and we forgot to ask him to get in the family ones at Squidgy's so he isn't in them! Oops) but Squidgy wasn't so keen on being in them!
Unlike Squidgy's Christening we were missing so many people that we would have loved to be there, but we still had a wonderful selection of guests, including a large group of my family, plus some new additions in my brother's other halves! As we are celebrating my youngest brothers wedding this week, some could not make it, but it was lovely that so many still made the effort to share the day with us.
Everybody had such a lovely time socialising at the party and I was finally able to relax. I had some of my closest friends, family friends, neighbours and family who had all come out to see our youngest daughter be Christened. It may have been a lot smaller an event than we had planned for, but it was still wonderful to share it with so many people that we love!
I loved planning the event, despite the stress, long days and late nights leading up to it. Now it is over I am getting started with the planning of Pickle's first birthday party in December, which is the next big event for us as a family, and I can't believe that it is creeping up on us so quickly. Time is flying by!