Civilised!

Mary and Helen are civilised! We had an absolutely blissful day on the 8th of August. Our talented and generous friend Niall captured the day beautifully in photographs, and we'd love to share them with you here.


We've created a Flickr group called civilisation080808, and we would absolutely love it if those of you who have photos of the day could add them to the group there! If you are not on or don't like Flickr, it would be wonderful if you could mail us any particularly hilarious
or touching photos.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support, good wishes, messages, generous presents, and for contributing to make our day so wonderful, whether in person or from afar.

Picnic, 9 August

Dear All

As some of you are aware, we're going to be staying in York the weekend after the ceremony and hope to see some of you. On Saturday, we're planning a picnic at Rowntree Park () to which anyone who is staying in York on Saturday is invited. The 10-day forecast is currently saying 20 degrees and intermittent sunshine, which sounds promising! We are aiming to be down at the park by about half-past twelve, armed with some provisions. We'll probably pick up a couple of bottles of wine, beer, soft drinks, bread and things to put on it, crisps, fruit and plastic cutlery, plates and cups. However, we aren't going to try and cater it fully, so if you would like to bring something edible or drinkable along as well, that would be very welcome.

We will have one or two blankets, but please do bring more if you have them. (We also aspire to coolbags/icepacks, but that's probably not possible.) This is all going to be very casual, so please feel free to just drop down to the park if you have time, chat to us for a bit, have a wander around and then wander off again. Do also feel free to bring frisbees, kites and so on.

Look forward to seeing you next week!


Good places to buy food:

Sainsburys, Foss Bank (map)

M&S, Parliament Street (map)

York Market, behind M&S, between Parliament Street and the Shambles
(There is also a great delicatessen just by the market, which wins many awards and does particularly fine pork pies! And I say that as someone who is generally disturbed and disgusted by pork pies...)

Betty's Tea Shop, St Helen's Square (map)

the Yorkshire Brewery Shop and Little Bettys, on Stonegate (map)

There is a also Cornish Pasty shop on Coney Street - but I have no idea whether or not this is dire! There are also off-licences on Church Street (Threshers, I think - I'm doing this from memory!) and a slightly nicer one on Picadilly. There are also various other convenience stores, supermarkets, bakers &c dotted around the centre of York, and car-accessible ones outside the city centre.

If there is anything particular you would like to find that I haven't thought of, ask me or one of the York residents for suggestions on Friday night!

Nimble Fingers

Those of you who have clicked through to my other blog will have noticed that at times I am quite a Knitting Fiend. I hadn't thought of knitting as a civilisation project, though, until I realised that July had come around, and I was still clutching my jacket around me and shivering as I went out. Could it be that... August mightn't be sultry and balmy after all? That I might actually need some warmth?

I cast on this morning. Three weeks to go. Knit, Helen, knit!

Want to take bets on whether I actually get finished in time?

Five weeks to go!

As it's now only five and half weeks away, there are a few things we thought we'd let you know.

Firstly, the ceremony starts at 5.00pm sharp at the Merchant Adventurers' Hall. The building is open to the public during the day and we only have access to it from 4.45pm onwards, so please do time your arrival between 4.30 and 4.45 - the ceremony starts at five promptly and there will be no reception beforehand. If you arrive very early, we suggest a drink in the Red Lion pub on Merchantgate, which is just around the corner from the Hall.

Please let us know if you have any particular dietary requirements so we can inform the caterers. All the food is going to be vegetarian.

Some of you have been asking about a wedding list, and we do have one at John Lewis: you can find us by entering either of our names and the date (08 August 2008). However, we do want to stress that we are incredibly touched that so many of you are able to be present on the day, and this really is the best and only present that we really want.

Don't forget that stilettos are not allowed in the Hall!

The Merchant Adventurers' Hall

We're getting civilised in the august surroundings of the Merchant Adventurers' Hall, in York. It's gorgeous, it's posh and it's very English. Please to note: because of its beautiful mediaeval floors, stiletto heels are not permitted (please don't look so disappointed, gentlemen. We are happy to offer advice for sartorial substitutions.)

Both the ceremony and the hooley are being held in the one place, so all you have to do is turn up at five.

So where on earth is it?

It's right in the centre of the pretty little city of York, within walking distance of the railway station. (Leave about fifteen minutes for your walk. Alternatively, there are taxis at the railway station.)

But where is York? How am I supposed to get there?

Despite its picturesque location in the heart of the rolling Yorkshire countryside etc. etc., York is not actually hard to get to! Thus:

By train: York is on the main east coast line from Edinburgh to London King's Cross (just across the road from St. Pancras, should you wish to take the train from continental Europe).

It's also directly accessible from Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle via the Transpennine Express, and from Leeds, Sheffield and Birmingham via Crosscountry Rail.

(It's also accessible from a host of gloriously named wee English towns in the neighbourhood, but if you live in Poppleton, Kettering or Pontefract Baghill, you'll probably know that already.)

By air: You can of course fly to London, Glasgow or Edinburgh and take the mainline train; however, the most convenient airports are

a) Manchester Airport, which has a train connection directly from the airport to York station and

b) Leeds-Bradford Airport, which has an aircoach service that will take you to York in about an hour.

By car: Erm, driving directions are on the Merchant Adventurers' site. More I cannot tell you. But Mary probably could, were you to ask her!

Accommodation:

Because it's a very touristy city, there is lots of accommodation available in York, for all budgets. If you'd like to make early bookings, York's tourist office is at Visit York.

080808

Helen and Mary have set a date, and they didn't even realise how cheesy it was until the deed was done!