G&T at the Rorke's Drift

Yet another road trip along the M4 led Mrs MDS to attend a family wedding in Brecon. Brecon is a glorious market town in mid Wales. It is perfect for exploring the Brecon Beacons (where the SAS train) and provided a perfect geographical point when a South Wales lass marries a North Walean lad.

Handily upon arrival and opposite the church was a pub. It was the prefect pub for a pre ceremony G&T for Mrs MDS and the groom, ushers and the rest of the guests - The Rorke's Drift. Named after the 1879 Rorke's Drift battle when 140 of the South Wales Borderer's regiment faced more than 4000 Zulu's and resulted in the most posthumous awarded Victoria Cross's, eleven in total. And of course the marvellous British film Zulu (1964) starring Michael Caine with excellent narration by a great Welshman Richard Burton.

The wedding was a wonderful affair, at the Catholic church opposite our pub! Which some of us retreated to for an after ceremony drink! I refrained as I was the drive and continued to refrain for the whole day and evening. Mr MDS was rather worse for wear.

I managed to get a quick pose in by the car. My outfit was a Whistles pleated skirt, a Warehouse shirt, Zara shoes (£14 in sales in January), a years old pashmina and a 6 year old Zara gold clutch bag

The reception was at the utterly gorgeous Penpont estate. It was a day of spectacular showers and sunshine. The house was charming and reminded me of a French château with its eclectic mix of old and new and country. All in all a lovely event and had I been drinking you would have found me doing Irish dancing in the marquee in the evening but I had some rather inebriated people to drive - you can imagine the fun that was!

The beautiful green Welsh land and the Usk river

Wonderful Weekend Wedding

Sometimes there is nothing better than a wedding. Mr MDS and I repeated last weekend in wedding number 2. We donned exactly the same outfits given we were friend invitees this time, so no family present to remark on our ground-hog day appearence. I made one change from last week with the addition of a headband, although my hair isn't long enough to create the desired beehive affect.

It was a beautiful day, the bride and groom were suitably beautiful and handsome on their special day and Dulwich College was a wonderful location. The attention to detail at the wedding was down to the bride whose choice of floral colours and design were glorious. We ended the perfect day dancing madly to a great live band with a female singer who covered everything from Sister Sledge, Gloria Gaynor to Kings of Leon and the Killers to name some. The eclectic mix was such fun, one moment you were doing your best funk soul dancing to bouncing around like a indie mentalist! It felt great in Prada shoes.

M&S cardi, Moschino dress from the Outnet, Prada Shoes

Champagne in hand (tick) confetti in hair (tick)

The beautiful hall in Dulwich College

Nice touches home made jam - how cute!

An array of gorgeous flowers everywhere

The band

Bride & Groom

Family and Fashion

There is a lot to be said for family and friends. It is only with family you can often share moments of emotion about loved ones who are long gone, even when it is a happy occasion such as a marriage. So when my uncle gave a speech at my cousins wedding and mention our departed grandmother and their other departed grandmother, my cousin and I (who incidentally were both born on the same day), our sisters and brothers, my dad and her mum (my dad's sister) all welled up with tears. I was also wearing my grandma's necklace so she was there.

Equally in the comfort of family you rediscover the similarities. So when a group of six Dutch cyclists touring the British countryside appeared in their everyday attire of jeans and t-shirts for the wedding, none of the family and friends who know the family well batted an eyelid. In fact they were staying at the castle (which is a youth hostel) opposite the village church and had got talking to my aunt as she was doing the flowers in preparation for the wedding. Naturally, she invited them along to the service. Naturally we all had a chat with them afterwards before going to the reception.



And of course at the reception we had a wonderful view of the Kymin a white towered building above Monmouth where Admiral Nelson breakfasted with his lover Lady Hamilton and her husband Sir William Hamilton (who was quite old) and greatly admired the views.

The location for the reception was the marvellous modern Sports Pavillion of Monmouth Boys school. With its splendid space and views of both the English and Welsh counties.


There was something lovely about the blend of old and new, which is a good reminder why the changing nature of fashion when it comes to taste and new ideas is something to welcome. Yet the story of Nelson and Lady Hamilton is a reminder how little we change as people.