Tamarit

The big day was here and we had until 5pm until the wedding started so we had morning cafe au lait at a cafeteria on the beach at La Mora and walked west along the beach and along the cliffs. After this we needed to head back to our Airbnb to prepare for the wedding. The three of us showered and pressed our various outfits with a steamer which was handy for our linen dress and skirt. We didn't want to arrive sweaty at the wedding so took the bus up the hill and just walked the last bit to the Castile de Tamarit through the woods in our dainty shoes.

A security guard might have been very unimpressed with our new outfits (and dusty shoes) and was not going to let us in the castle gate 'Privado, privado ' he said. Fortunately some other guests vouched for us.

The wedding ceremony took place on a terrace just outside the castle walls. It had rained in the morning but the sky had cleared and it was now quite hot so the paper fans provided out to be quite useful. Alex's family sat on one side of the terrace while Emily's family sat on the other side. The bridesmaids came in their green dresses while the grooms aids all were in white shirts and suits. There were garlands of roses, statice and daisies and the grass walkway also had scattered rose petals for the entry of bride. An MC of sorts welcomed the guests. Alex came forward and all eyes awaited Emily's entrance. She came in a lovely dress of white lace and a long train. The ceremony itself was in Spanish and English and the bride and groom exchanged vows and rings in a moving ceremony.

We then all moved up a level to some shade around the pool and the waiters served some unusual Spanish tapas including oysters, creamed vegetables wrapped in fish, something with beets. Liz and I were busily chatting with Joy and Paul when Liz noticed an itchy feeling on her arms. There was surely some sesame in one of the appetizers! She rushed to her bag and found some Benedryl and another anti-histamine. After she notices the allergic reaction she has 15 minutes to find if it is severe enough to go to hospital so to ere on the side of caution we asked if the wedding driver could take us to hospital in Tarragona. Habi spoke some English and could help translate so we rushed off to get Liz's passport from the bnb and off to the Tarragona hospital, Habi navigated while his mother (who was learning how to drive) drove. Once at the university hospital we saw a waiting room full of patients, which foretold a very long wait. Fortunately Habi spoke to the front desk and they said that the hospital was for public and we should go to the private hospital as we had private insurance so we got back in the car and drove to the private hospital in downtown Tarragona. Here, Liz was seen very quickly by a young doctor who said Liz had a non threatening reaction but should get an injection of a corticosteroid (Liz: in the butt!) and said to be sure to take more antihistamines in the morning.

In the meantime everyone at the wedding was worried about Liz and the dinner had started. So the driver took us back to the party and we were able to hear many of the dinner speeches and have most of the dinner courses and desserts. The dinner was fabulous and luckily Liz hadn't lost her appetite, After dinner finished we moved up to the dance floor and partook in dancing and signed the guest book for Emily and Alex. It was close to 2 in the morning by the time the party was wrapping up so instead of waiting for a ride we decided to walk back. We navigated our way back along the streets and through the forest back to La Mora, Feeling a bit wired from all the events of the evening it was hard to go to sleep but eventually we all slept soundly.Read more