Our Weekend in England

Written by Brittany

As most people reading this blog know, I am half-British and half-American. My dad was born & raised in England, and I have a very large British family that still lives in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

This past weekend, one of my cousins, Kate, got married in England, and Jadon and I were lucky enough to attend the beautiful wedding! It had been three years since I had been over to see my family, and while I did not get to see everyone, it was such a joy to see the people I did!

We flew to London's Stansted airport very late on Friday after school, landing there just after 1am Saturday morning. That night, after a rather eventful journey from the airport, we stayed in a Holiday Inn Express near the airport before catching a train north the next day.

Saturday's train trips were enjoyable & uneventful. It was such a relaxing experience taking public transportation that was in English! While we love exploring countries and experiencing other languages, you always have to be paying extra attention when you're listening for words you don't really understand. Here, we could just relax until we heard the announcement for our stop.

Saturday afternoon & evening were spent exploring the small town of Newark, England. It was a beautiful place with a gorgeous church and even castle ruins! We hadn't done any research before arriving, so it was a pleasant surprise to find some much to explore!

We had a beautiful day to go exploring!

Sunday afternoon was the wedding, and when we arrived at the venue, we were amazed at how beautiful it was! We were also staying at the venue that night, so we checked into our room and got ready for the big event!

This was the first British wedding either of us had attended, and we didn't know if there would be much difference culturally between British & American weddings. For the most part, things were very similar, though there was one large difference. When Kate & Paul went to sign the marriage certificate, a beautifully decorated desk was brought out which they sat at and then signed the certificate as part of the actual ceremony. The legal aspect of marriage was featured more than I have seen in any American ceremonies. It was very interesting, and the ceremony itself was absolutely beautiful!

Kate & Paul signing the marriage certificate

The rest of the evening was SO enjoyable. Being with family, meeting new people, celebrating in such a beautiful place. It was clear that Kate had planned everything to a T, and it was all carried out perfectly. I'm not sure I've been to a more beautiful wedding.

View of the grounds from our hotel room

The Bride's family

Gorgeous table setting

The next day, we were able to have breakfast with the family before we had to take our train back down to London & caught our flight home.

At breakfast with my cousin Emily, the bride's sister, and her youngest son Joseph

The trip was much too short, but it was so fantastic! We are really hoping to get back to England again soon.
To see all the pictures from our weekend, click here!