…aka When Harry Met Meghan…
Okay, it’s official! I’ve been sucked into wedding fever against my will and my better judgement! The most exciting part will be seeing if Beatrice and Eugenie can possibly top the hats they wore when they auditioned for the pantomime of Cinderella to William and Kate’s wedding…
So in honour of The Big Day, I am proud to present…
The Royal Wedding Tag
The Happy Couple
(a book with a wedding in it)
When Bertie’s old chum Woody Beeching asks for Jeeves’ advice on how to patch things up with his fiancée, Bertie and Jeeves set off to Kingston St Giles to render assistance. A motley crew are collected under the roof of Melbury Hall – not just Woody, his girlfriend and her parents, but also Georgiana, a lovely young popsy Bertie had met before on the Côte d’Azur and, of course, fallen in love with…
The Bridesmaids
(a book where female friendship plays a role)
Trivia Night at Pirriwee Public Primary School in New South Wales doesn’t turn out quite as planned. We learn in Chapter 1 that the evening ends with a murder, but we don’t know the victim, the murderer or the motive. The group of mothers the book focuses on may have problems in their lives, but ultimately they’re survivors, with a strength that comes from their friendships and mutual support.
The Best Man
(a book where male friendship plays a part)
The funniest book ever written, this tells the tale of J, George and Harris – three young men who decide to spend their vacation rowing up the Thames. One of the things that always surprises me about the book is that the interactions between the three men is so little different to what it would be today, giving the stories a timeless quality. A lovely depiction of male friendship.
Flower Girls and Page Boys
(a book with a mixed-gender group of kids in it)
This is the story of Darling, a young girl living in a shanty town in Zimbabwe. When we first meet her, she is ten and spends most of her time with her little group of friends. Through them, we get a child’s-eye view of the devastation that has been wrought on the country during the Mugabe period. Despite all the bad things happening around them, the children seem on the surface to be like children anywhere – breaking rules and taking risks, full of bravado when in their group, dreaming of a better future.
Meet the In-Laws
(a book where an in-law plays a significant role)
Christmas at Southdown Farm is always an uncomfortable time for Clover Moon, since her disapproving mother-in-law Violet comes visiting. But this year’s even worse than usual. Firstly, Clover has realised she’s deeply unhappy with her life and is in a permanent state of rage. And secondly, someone appears to be trying to hurt her, perhaps even kill her. Clover is sure that Violet has finally lost her senses and become dangerous. As the worst snow for decades continues to fall, the farm is cut off without phone or electricity…
The Wedding Dress
(a book where clothes play a significant role)
The title story in this collection is a prequel to Perrault’s Donkeyskin, in which a king wishes to marry his daughter and orders three dresses for her, one the colour of the moon, one the colour of the sun and lastly one the colour of the sky. Bender’s story takes us to the store where the dresses are made. The old Color Master is fading and has picked our narrator to succeed her.
…I did what the Color Master had asked, and went for blue, then black, and I was incredibly slow, but for one moment I felt something as I hovered over the bins of blue. Just a tug of guidance from the white of the dress that led my hand to the middle blue. It felt, for a second, like harmonizing in a choir, the moment when the voice sinks into the chord structure and the sound grows, becomes more layered and full than before. So that was the right choice.
The Wedding Reception
(a book with a party or other social gathering in it)
When a mysterious notice appears in the Chipping Cleghorn Gazette, the villagers don’t take it very seriously. But they really should have…
‘A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m. Friends please accept this, the only intimation.’
The Wedding Feast
(a book that makes you hungry)
A beautifully illustrated literary anthology published by the British Library, the focus is on food, with extracts from many familiar and not-so-familiar authors. There is a mix of both poetry and prose, grouped together under headings such as: The Art of Hospitality, Love Bites, Childish Things, etc.
Afterwards the tables were covered with meats, antelopes with their horns, peacocks with their feathers, whole sheep cooked in sweet wine, haunches of she-camels and buffaloes, hedgehogs with garum, fried grasshoppers, and preserved dormice. Large pieces of fat floated in the midst of saffron in bowls of Tamrapanni wood. Everything was running over with wine, truffles, and asafoetida. Pyramids of fruit were crumbling upon honeycombs, and they had not forgotten a few of those plump little dogs with pink silky hair and fattened on olive lees…
Gustave Flaubert, Salammbô
The Honeymoon
(a book that takes place in a romantic location)
Where more romantic than Paris, City of Lovers? Though perhaps this isn’t the most romantic book. It’s 1929 and Paris is filled with avant-garde artists leading the bohemian life. So when Harris Stuyvesant, ex-FBI agent turned private investigator, is hired to find a missing young American woman he fully expects to find her so immersed in this exciting world that she’s simply forgotten the folks back home. As Harris plunges into the strange and twisted world of surrealist art, Grand Guinol theatre, decadence and drugs, he begins to realise that the glittering artistic society hides a dark secret…
I can see you had some fun with this.. I’m just wondering if there is anywhere I can go tomorrow where I can escape all the fuss…..
Hahaha – not on this planet, I fear! Maybe Mars, though NASA are probably streaming live pictures to the Rover… 😉
It’s not fair they get all the attention when today is my birthday and so much should be the one fussed over 😂
Awww! I shall eat a piece of birthday cake in your honour just as soon as I finish this slice of wedding cake! Happy birthday! 😀
😂 at the hats! Too true though. I’ll be majorly disappointed if one of them doesn’t at least carry a nest with an actual white dove in it on their head.
Hahaha – don’t put that thought into their heads! It’ll be tragic if they go for something sensible, though… 😂
It was tragic. I could have mocked them but it just wasn’t the same. Shame on them!
I know!! I was so disappointed! They both looked… well, it chokes me to say it but… lovely!! I did have a good laugh at the bride’s veil though…
Do tell!
Haha – I just thought it was ridiculously overlong. But then I’m a well-known curmudgeon… 😉
Who doesn’t love a wedding? I bet they wish they had eloped!
I think we all kinda wish they’d eloped! Aw, I don’t mean it – nothing like a bit of pageantry to cheer us all up! And the sun is shining! 😀
I watched the wedding until they disappeared into the castle, then went to bed (by then 11.30pm here). Mum very excited to see the dress same as hers, 52 years ago, minus long train and veil. Hope they are left to themselves now, fo4 all of our sakes.
I watched the entire thing from dawn to sunset and now I never hope to see another royal or another hat as long as I live! Haha – it was fun though, even if George Clooney’s wife did look stunningly gorgeous. The dress itself was lovely, I thought, but the veil was ridiculous! Your mum’s sounds much nicer. 😀
🙂
This is a wonderfully creative post! I love it!
Haha – thank you! I had to get the fever out of my system and this was easier than buying a hat… 😉
Oh, this is fantastic, FictionFan! You tied it all together so neatly, and I like your book choices, too – very much. And , oh my! Both George Clooney and Mr. Darcy found their way in. Now, how on earth did that happen? I hope you’ll enjoy watching the wedding. Can you believe that the uni where I teach is having its Commencement ceremony tomorrow? So I won’t be able to attend the wedding. 😉 – But I will be wearing formal robes that make me look like an extra from a Harry Potter film.
I can’t understand how Clooney got in and I’ve just learned he’s going to be a guest! (With his wife, of course, but I’ll just put a post-it note over that bit of the TV screen…) No!!! Tell them to move it – you can’t miss the vision of hundreds of Brits in Union Jack jackets and hats waving flags! Hahaha – Professor McGonagall, I hope, rather than Snape…
Haha! Yes, I think a bit closer to Professor McGonagall. And there’s nothing like those Union Jack hats, jackets, and flags. Haute couture, to be sure. 😉
I shall call on you next time I need a spell then… 😉
😆
You never cease to amaze me! Bravo! Or, really, I should say, Brava. This was brilliant! 😀
I can see why you have wedding fever. I’m celebrating the festivities here too. Those hats are amazing. They look like they could be used as weapons!
I remember watching An American in Paris on TV when I was a kid. Gotta love Gene Kelly. Perhaps I should head to Paris, hold out my hand, and wait for a guy to grab it. More than likely, he’ll be wanting my money instead.
Hahaha – thank you! Glad you enjoyed it! 😀 You can always trust Beatrice and Eugenie to brighten things up – their sense of style is… unique! Can’t wait to see what they wear today – I hope they don’t go all sensible… 😉
😂 Yeah, that’d be like my luck too! Though in Paris, anything is possible…
How clever of you! I love it 😀 😂:D 😂
Haha – thank you! Glad you enjoyed it! 😂
Brilliant tie-in, FF!! I’d never be able to pull off the hats though, I fear. But who doesn’t love a big splashy extravaganza and nobody does it better than the Royals. Let the festivities begin!!
I feel someone should have pulled off those hats before they let the girls out in public… 😉 I love all the pageantry and seeing Brits actually smiling and enjoying themselves for once. And the exciting news is… the sun’s shining!! 😀
I was thinking how glad they should be to be wed there, rather than here. Sadly, with a crowd that size and emotions so high, we’d probably have had some idiot with a bomb or a gun ruin the festivities. Y’all are so much more civilized!
Oh, Debbie, I know – it’s just dreadful, all these shootings. We have just as many crazy people but at least they mostly don’t have guns. But they also had a huge security operation checking everyone coming into Windsor, I believe – one of the benefits of doing it in a small town rather the centre of London. Isn’t it sad that it’s needed though.
It’s not the wedding, it’s the hype! BBC24 Have had wall-to-wall coverage for days – think I’ll retire with a good book (A Member of the Wedding?) ’til it’s all over. And of course, I’m prepping for a real wedding (Fi’s, in August).
Haha – I know! I turned over to CNN to try to get away from it, but they’re even worse! I think they’ve sent every single reporter over. I fear we’ll just have to give in and enjoy it… and at least we don’t have to do any of the arranging for this one! 😉
I love this but was very disappointed to see that the father of the bride was missing 😉 As always your illustrations were spot on!
Hahaha – I should have put an empty picture frame! 😉 Glad you enjoyed it – now get your hat on! 😀
So inventive – great choices! I love it.
Thanks – glad you enjoyed it! 😀 Had to find a way to get through the wall-to-wall coverage… 😉
Well, today’s the day! but we already know everything about the ceremony – where they’ll stand who is walking her down the aisle etc, etc! So I shan’t be watching all of it! Ah, but what will she wear? I haven’t heard anything about that …
It better be something fantastic since it’s rumoured to have cost a quarter of a million or something like that. Solid gold encrusted with diamonds, I hope! I’m still more excited to see Beatrice and Eugenie’s new hats though… 😉
I’m still stuck on those hats. Seriously? I remember them and am still astounded. LOL LOL
They’re wonderful, aren’t they? Can’t wait to see what they come up with this time – I do hope they don’t go all sensible… 😂😂
I love seeing Princess Charlotte, but other than that, I don’t get wrapped up in the royals. On the other hand, I feel mildly obsessed (smug?) about how short Harry and Meghan’s relationship has been. I keep thinking, “kids!”
I’m not an enthusiastic Royalist either, though having seen what happens when countries opt for Presidents, I’ve grown much fonder of the Queen recently… 😉 Haha – I have my fingers firmly crossed for them… they *seem* very much in love…
You are so clever! That was lots of fun – I’ve come to this when it’s all over, and I thought it was wonderful!
Aw, thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it! 😀 I used to do this kind of post more often but I seem to have got out of the habit. The wedding was fun – I enjoyed all the hats!