Helford Passage – something from seaview

Jak and Ellie’s wedding was a golden September day, celebrated at the Ferryboat Inn in the little Cornish village of Helford Passage. We rented one of the old Coastguard Cottages.It looked straight out onto the Helford River. And just up the road was the Ferryboat Inn.Such beautiful weather for late September! We enjoyed sitting out on the terrace with family as they arrived. Photographers everywhere.It was a good place for the bride to put her bouquet together, with a little help from her sister. Intense concentration – after all, it’s not everyday you make a bridal bouquet.It’s beginning to come together now.And Dad’s very proud of his girls.More of Stephen’s daughters arrived, laden with food, drink and posh frocks!It was a happy and very special occasion to have Ellie and her three sisters all staying with us in the cottage before her wedding day.Lots of talk and fun and chatter and wine.Just a little bit of knitting too ….Bride Ellie was up early the next day. A beautiful day dawning on the Helford River. A penny for your thoughts, Ellie, as you look out on the day ahead!The hairdresser arrived. The result was beautiful – you’ll see later.Getting the posh frocks ready with a bit of ironing.Checking the day was indeed going to be as beautiful at Helford Passage as it had first promised.The stress lines show (yes, those are cigarette stubs!)Adding the finishing touches to the bouquet.You now get a glimpse of how beautiful the bride’s hair is.Some people are now in their posh frocks … others aren’t.A last quick look in the mirror for the bride. A very proud dad with his beautiful daughter, Ellie.A bit of helpful Dutch courage … And finally we are all ready to leave the cottage!It was a bit of a hectic drive to the Registry Office in Helston and we only just got there in time.But the wedding all went OK . The bride and the groom signed the register. Their mums also signed the register as witnesses to the marriage.I give you the new Mr and Mrs Garraway!And it was back to the Ferryboat Inn for a happy and golden day, sitting in the warm September sun.During the long, golden day, Jak and Ellie walked around the harbour, mingling with the ordinary tourists and visitors.Their dedicated photographers were in tow – and, most importantly, Bailey (their cockapoo spaniel) had joined the party now.There was an old war bunker above the harbour which was thought to be a good place for the photoshoot (you can just see them at the top right of the picture, amid all the leafery).Following the lunch, Stephen gave a speech.And Jak responded.Earning a big hug!Ellie had made a beautiful wedding display of cupcakes, tiffin and roses. And you can see the bunting which Stephen and I made hanging all over the pub! (More on the bunting factory here.) Such a happy day – and evening too. Lots of good talk and food and banter – and even cards!Happy, happy days together, Jak and Ellie! We’ll all remember sharing the very first day of your marriage with you! Thanks to Cathy Ricketts for the great photos at the beginning and end of this blog.

Earlier this year we heard the lovely news that Jak and Ellie were going to get married this autumn. How exciting! What could we contribute (other than the usual parental support)? The idea of bunting was floated – not sure where it came from – but, yes, of course we could make bunting!

I’ve never made bunting before, so the first thing was to check out websites. I gathered that a lot of bunting is made by seaming two triangles together and then turning the sewing inside out. However, I was in a rush – and had a lot of bunting to make, so my heart lifted when I found a site that recommended using pinking shears to cut out each triangle. So much easier, Here is the template I used. I have to admit I wasn’t very systematic with my bunting factory. I started with a pile of suitable fabric that I found in my stash, and added to it with a couple of brightly-coloured dresses bought from a charity shop. Soon the fabric began to morph from a wild heap to tidy piles of coloured triangles.Digging deep into my stash, I also found a large collection of bits and pieces of bias binding that my mother had given me when she gave up sewing. So with all the goodies assembled, I was ready to start putting it all together. Searches on line indicated that the distance between the placing of each individual flag varied enormously. I chose to place my bunting pieces half the width of a flag apart Here is my nifty little measuring card to help me measure quickly and efficiently.Then the bias binding was pinned over the top of each bunting flag.Ready for machining now.A little trial with our first small stream of bunting. Yes, it’s OK! The cat and the man were happy!Meanwhile, we started working on another string of bunting. This one was going to have words on it, so we had to do letters. Stephen printed out some good size letters on the computer.Using these letters as a template, I cut them out in fabric.We bought some spray glue, and did a couple of test sprays to see how effective it was, and whether it marked the fabric too much. If we sprayed glue on both surfaces (as advised) the fabric was very marked when dry (right hand sample).So we decided to spray just the back of each letter, and then press the letter onto the bunting flag firmly. Easier said than done! The glue was very sticky indeed, and the operation had to be completed quite quickly. Just everything got gluey and sticky – and the finished effect was OK, but not brilliant.So here’s the letter bunting ready for sticking – after Poe’s inspection, of course.The bunting was finally ready to send to Cornwall for installation in the pub (the Ferryboat Inn at Helford Passage). Before we sent it off, I couldn’t resist hanging the bunting on our Northumbrian cottage. So, on a wild and windy day, we forayed out and wrapped the bunting three times across the length of the house.It did look lovely fluttering in the wind. Now we were ready to prepare it for postage. We’d been warned that loose bunting knots up very quickly, so the bunting was carefully wound round a piece of strong cardboard, and posted off to Cornwall the week before we travelled there ourselves.On the morning of the wedding, we visited the pub and found the manager hanging up our bunting.They’d decided to hang the lettered bunting over the bar (amid the toilet and pool table signs…..) This wasn’t the best bunting we made – the glue showed through the light-coloured letters, and it was hard to make out the writing clearly because I’d used such strong colours.The rest of the bunting looked great. There was masses and masses of it – Stephen reckoned we had made over 160 feet – so it was hung everywhere, including outside.Worth all the effort – it really made the place look partyish. I wonder where it will be hung next?!