I still do

Last week I mentioned that Mr Gertie and I were thinking about renewing our wedding vows when we were on our cruise (you can read why in ‘a new beginning’). However as I’m not yet back on my two feet following last year’s hip surgery we decided to put the vow renewal on hold.

Unfortunately Silversea must have got their wires crossed as once onboard the ship Mike, the cruise director, asked if we could meet with him to discuss finalising things for our renewal service. 

We decided the best thing would be to explain to Mike that there had been a misunderstanding and regrettably we would not be renewing our vows this cruise. Alas this didn’t go to plan either !!

No sooner had our bums touch the lounge seats, Mike went into full flow with what had been arranged for our ‘big day’. When he asked if we had any questions Mr Gertie and I looked at each other and the same thought came into our heads. As they’ve gone to such a lot of effort that it would be disrespectful to cancel so we replied ‘no, everything seems perfect’.....

Once back into our suite panic set in; what to wear? Had I known we were getting married I’d have made something suitable. Thankfully, however I did have a spare dress that would do and Mr Gertie had brought an extra suit; who to invite? Mike had said we were to let him know the names of people we would like to attend so invitations could be sent out.

  

As luck would have it we made friends with two ladies who we thought might like to attend. They were delighted to be asked, and as they were travelling with another couple, we extended the invite to them too. We’d also made friends with another couple and their companion so invited them as well.

Along with our invited guests several of the ships officers and crew attended the service too, including my 'three bridesmaids....'

Once the service had finished we were then serenaded by two of the ‘Artists of Silversea’.

Whilst the cake was delicious we knew we would never eat it all so ask that it be shared amongst the crew, which was very much appreciated.

When we retired to bed there was a lovely surprise waiting for us from our butler and suite attendant.

 

Although it was a bit unexpected I’m so glad we did it.

Have a great week.

Gertie xx

PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.

Home sweet home

Sadly our cruise has come to an end and we’re – grump, grump – back home.

If you’ve never been on a cruise before I would strongly recommend you add it to your ‘to do list’. There is though one small problem. They’re very addictive!!!!

Here’s just a small snippet of what we got up to. You can read more over on our other blog, the BOGOF blog.

We started our cruise in Rome then sailed to Sorrento for an overnight halt. As we’d been there several times we decided to stay on-board and simply chill by the pool.

 

 

Whilst leaving Sorrento it was time to scrub up and put on our posh frocks (or black tie in the case of Mr Gertie) for the Captains welcome reception.

We did try to take a photo of the both of us but the camera kept toppling over....

After a trip up Mount Eta (extremely pleased to report that whilst it is still very much an active volcano, it was quite when we visited....) and a day at sea we arrived in Santorini, Greece. Apparently it’s a very pretty town but unfortunately it’s not very Wizzy friendly.

There were three ways of getting up to the town – a funicular railway which had no Wizzy access, a donkey ride – again not very Wizzy friendly or claiming up several hundred steps up the cliff. On speaking to fellow passengers who did go ashore said we did the right thing by staying on-board as it was total chaos. An enormous ship was anchored next to us and it seemed that every single passenger decided to go ashore!!!

The next two days we were in Mamaris and Kusadasi, both ports in Turkey. In the cruise terminal at Kusadasi there were four ships side-by-side. Ours was the smallest, ending with the largest which had about four thousand passengers!!!!

Our next stop was Mytilene, Greece then finally Istanbul, Turkey.

Sadly we were running a little late getting ready for the Captains farewell reception on the penultimate evening so didn’t get a chance to take any photos of my second dress. I had thought about taking one when we got back to our suite but by the end of the night it was quite creased so wouldn’t have looked it’s best.

We’ve been going on cruises for 11 years and during that time have visited lots of delightful destinations, many are on our ‘to visit again’ list. However this is the first time that we’ve had a ‘never again’ and that was for Istanbul. It’s a bit like marmite. You either really love it or really hate it, and sadly we are the latter.

I couldn’t end the round-up of our cruise on a sour note so....

Last year I blogged about ‘a new beginning’, and mentioned that Mr Gertie and I were thinking about renewing our wedding vows when we were on the cruise.

We tentatively ran the idea past our cruise consultant but stressed that nothing was definite as it depended on my hip recovery going to plan and we’d let her know if we wanted to go ahead. As I’m not back on my two feet yet we decided to put the vows renewal on hold for the time being.

When we arrived back into our suite on the very first day of the cruise there was an answer machine message from Mike, the ships cruise director asking if we could meet him to discuss finalising things for our renewal service.

To be continued... (I think you’ll probably have guessed where this is going!!!!).

Have a great week.

Gertie xx

PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.

Come in number two

Just a quickie post this time as I’ve got a pile of new trousers which need their hems taking up ready for our forthcoming cruise – the curse of both myself and Mr Gertie being on the short side !!!!

Sorry there was no blog last week. Shortly after my last post I came down with one of those mega heavy colds that really take the wind out of your sails. Consequently that put my sewing out of action so I had a lot of catching up to do if I wanted to get my dress finished for our holiday.

Having burnt the candle at both ends dress number two is finally done. Yippee!!!

If you’ve been following my cruise dress adventures you may remember that my second dress pattern choice didn’t go according to plan. I did have number three pattern in reserve; however that didn’t go to plan neither.... The place where I ordered it from kept sending me the wrong size. Rather than find somewhere else to purchase it from, I took it as a sign that I wasn’t meant to make that particular dress.

Because time was running out I just decided to re-use one of my old patterns. I had to make the pattern a little bigger as I’ve put a few pounds in weight (middle age spread – that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it....). Plus the dress needs to be a little loose as I’ll be using Stickies to walk with and can’t have anything too tight around the arms.

The beauty of a toile is your fabric doesn’t have to match....

 Unlike the original dress which was floor length this time I’ve gone for a shorter hem. Whilst it looks like a sack of potatoes on Gertie it does look better on me.....

Have a great week.

Gertie xx

PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.