Exciting day!  Raina left early to join her friends at their hotel to do her hair.  I had breakfast with Jeff and Al and then we packed up.  My work had just begun.  At 11:30 we checked out, I walked over to car park and picked up the car, but not before panicking because the ticket payment thingy kept rejecting my card.  All was well until someone came up behind me and everyone knows the “omg this guy is going to think I’m an idiot” feeling.  Somehow I started over again and it did it.  

Found my way back to hotel and the guys directed me to come up on the sidewalk a bit so they could load up – streets are crowded and it made sense.  Apparently I went too far because the grouchiest old (my age) Scottish woman ever said “Nice job of blocking the sidewalk, guys” to which I responded through the open window: “I’m sorry”.  At which point she looked me dead in the eye with a look that would fell a Jacobite: “No you’re not….”    Most of you are now saying “oh boy, not good, bitchy Scottish lady. Did you really say that to Mary”?  I responded “Actually, I AM” and threw in for good measure while she walked away: “Bitch”.  I know, I know.  This doesn’t do anything to counteract the negative vibes floating all over the planet right now.  I watched her until she got to the corner at which point she turned around and was looking my way and because I am not one to glance away from a stare down I just stared right back at her with a “you don’t know THIS Jacobite” look.  Proof that one should simply take the high road while others take the low is that it irritated me for several hours.  After all, I WAS sorry.  It wasn’t me who told me to get on the sidewalk and I was worried at the time that the guys were taking too long as it was.   Oh the unfairness of it all!

Al went off to meet up with Joe – they would catch a cab later – and Jeff and I found our way to the Carlowrie Castle., the wedding venue.  We were greeted by eager young people ready to carry our luggage up to the rooms.  As I was in charge of the wedding dress, I was taken to the dressing room/apartment where Raina would get ready.  

After doing that it was back in the car for me.  This 30 minute drive back and forth included it all: dual carriageway, single lane roads, city driving and more stop lights than I knew existed in the town and which I discovered because each one stopped me, and my old friends the roundies made appearances.  Fortunately, this wedding of 9 people total was loosely scheduled so being late to pick up the bride and her entourage of two was not that much of an issue. 

I am going to include a link to the venue because I can’t possibly describe it. www.carlowriecastle.co.uk    We had the whole place and the grounds to ourselves. For nine people it was much more than we needed but was quite welcome after all. It was nice during the evening to just “run up to my room” for whatever. It really is a castle that was lived in for 130 years by the Hutchinson family, the last of which was Isobel Wylie Hutchinson (1889 – 1982) who was a botanist and – wow – in the early part of the twentieth century did things like go on expeditions to places like the Artic and ghost ships on her own collecting specimens for the Royal Botanical Gardens.  That’s just the start of it.   If you like reading about strong independent women, check out her bio on the website. 

 Turns out the apartment in which Raina dressed was the room where Al and I would be staying – foyer, bathroom, bedroom, another bigger bathroom.  I asked Jeff why he and Raina didn’t have that room and he said, “You’re the matriarch”.  Well, who knew?  Al said that he is actually the king so of course that would be our apartment.  (Every castle we’ve visited had a queen’s apartment, a king’s apartment, etc. I think I should have one at home).   The staff was outstanding, and we had a lot of fun getting to interact with them since we were such a small crowd.  I think they were relaxed and probably grateful for an easy bride and a fun group of people.  The photographer was WONDERFUL, and the pictures will be great because if we ever got stilted his impish Scottish smile would pop out from behind the camera and none of us could help but smile spontaneously.

The next couple of hours were all about Raina – getting into her dress, fluffing her hair, doing her makeup, posing for the photographer.  Kait and Jade flitted around her like the attentive ladies in waiting that they were.  I ironed the veil and then sat back and stayed out of the way and just enjoyed the beauty of friendships and youth and love and marvel at the woman my son was about to marry.  I popped over to the guys’ room and Jeff looked nice too, and we all know this isn’t about him in that regard, but he did look quite handsome in his three piece suit.

As for me I got dressed and realized the flat shoes I picked up at the last minute suddenly looked like house slippers, so I had to opt for my sandals which were better.  Nobody is looking at me anyway but I’m dreading the photos and my knit dress without proper support garments – well, I’m just not looking forward to it.  We all know how it is – the bride will naturally pick the best photos of her so God only knows whether I’ll actually look like the mother of the groom or an unfortunate photo bomb.  

Somewhere in there we all went out to the castle lea where we enjoyed looking at the Highland cows aka cutest cows on the planet.   The photographer did his job as did my son, Joe, who likes the camera (except when it’s pointing at him). I’m hoping for a good shot from Joe to put on our dining room travel wall where we hang local art from places we’ve visited.

Then it was back on the road for me, the couple and the photographer for some photos at a bridge, then drop them back off and head to the airport (nearby) to drop off the car, and a cab ride back to Carlowrie.  Whew. After all that driving I was finally ready to say goodbye to my little Toyota pal and now that I think about it the only photo I will have of it is what the photographer might have grabbed.

The rest was just as wonderful as a wedding could be.  Just like Andy and Kelsey’s wedding, it was all the good stuff, none of the hassle.  The wedding ceremony was outdoors, it was overcast but no rain, and after hearing the bride say nice things about my son during her vows and my son say things back to her that were flattering and true, the castle staff passed around delish canapes and champagne. 

The ceremony had me in tears which had not happened to me before.  I cried later at the first dance as well.  I wrote a blog years ago that while I didn’t feel empty nest when Joe and Andy left home, I really felt it when Jeff graduated from college and moved to Minnesota for good.  I think it’s that “last baby” thing because I felt the same sense of melancholy here.  To hear Raina mention his “kind heart” in her vows just set me off.  Jeff came out of the womb a naturally kind person.   Aa mother it was hard to envision, even as he toddled, that his innocence would be slowly chipped away by people like the sidewalk grouch in the city. The unfairness of life and the unkindness of people would eat at him, and at times it has. To hear this woman mention it and honor it specifically just – whew.  

Our dinner was intimate.  One thing we all noticed in Edinburgh as we dined at restaurants and had weddings at castles is that there are real, live candles everywhere.  Like lots of them. It is beautiful and we wished we didn’t live in fire country.

We danced for a while but then Al and I retired – 5:15 am taxi to airport had us both a bit nervous.  We packed up and then I went back down for one more hug and safe travels to all.  The kids danced for a few more hours, then all was quiet in our little Scottish castle til dawn.