Travel Story: July 4th and Icomb, England
I realized I did not plan my Englad wedding blogging well... this post should have been before the rehearsal post... can I claim that as the last thing I blame on jetlag?? Whew, glad we are still friends.
The day before the rehearsal was July 4th. Most of the bridal party and guests arrived into London the morning of the 4th (we did too). That afternoon, Hattie and Andrew came into the city from Icomb so they could take all their friends and family on a cruise down the Thames so we could catch all the major sites of London while getting to know one another. The cruise launched right beside the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge, which was all dressed up for the olympics.
We cruised past such sights as the London Eye and Big Ben...
There was a lot of catching up to do while taking in the sites...
We cruised for about three hours, and toward the end of the cruise the sun began to set and the sites got even more lovely...
I could not stop photographing this bridge...
Our boat, the "High Society".
Yes I know Hattie and Andrew are out of focus in this one but I kinda think it's magical SO THERE.
That night we all stayed in Paddington... and were SO happy to finally get some sleep! How cute is our hotel??
We took the train from the Paddington Station in London to the Kingham station. I don't know if this little bitty train station had seen this many Americans get off at the same stop together. We took carpool rides a few miles away into Icomb... I just had to set the stage for you to know how amazing Icomb is before you see the wedding day images.
When you first drive into Icomb you run across amazing structures like these, that in another day served another purpose, but today have all been turned into homes. This use to be the school house:
This used to be a horse stable (please check out that office you see hovering there in the middle)(also please note that there are still many horses in this area... we woke up to the sound of people riding their horses through the streets):
The center of the village...
... same spot, views from the opposite side.
This is where David and I (and a few other people) stayed for the week- "Cottage on the Corner":
Directions on making it to the church they got married in...
St. Mary's Church is so beautiful...
Right beside the church is the Village Hall, which is where the rehearsal dinner was held as well as the dancing portion of the reception.
Hattie's grandmother lives here, Guys Farm, which is where the cocktail hour and dinner were held after the ceremony and before the dancing in Village Hall.
The views surrounding this dreamy village of Icomb were unreal. From one direction beside the church you could see Kate Winslet's home across the hills. There were sheep in their pastures and rolling hills of wildflowers. So beautiful (more of those views later).
David and I taking in the gardens around Guys Farm.
Check back to see our posts from the wedding day in Icomb!!