The Ashton-Draper wedding

Round 30: January 2031 (Summer)

Rob Ashton is 30, Patience Draper is 29.

Patience and I broke with tradition a little and spent the night before our wedding together.

She was still insistent that I not see her dress before the wedding though, so in the morning, she went to get ready at Josie's place down the street. She said she wanted to "wow" me when I saw her at the altar.

Patience definitely succeeded there but I think she would have anyway.

The ceremony ran relatively smoothly, even though I almost dropped the ring. Patience wasn't nearly as nervous but she's an actress; she thrives on being the centre of attention.

Much of the whole wedding set-up was a surprise to me. I knew who our bridal party was and we jointly decided on a venue but I admit that Patience did the rest - clothes, flowers, catering. I've been so stressed with work, so I let Patience take over. She didn't mind.

I don't know how much help I would have been if I was more involved but Patience did a fantastic job, mostly on her own.

Patience and I really enjoyed our meal and getting to catch up with everybody.

All our guests seemed to have a good time too.

Even Sylvia, Patience's niece. I think she talked to everybody. There were no other kids at the wedding but she's an only child and doesn't have any cousins yet, so she's used to adults.

Plus, Patience told her there'd be cake.

The cake was pretty good, I admit. I just tried not to think about how much it probably cost!

I thought I would feel a little bit out of place, given that just about everyone there was a guest of Patience's.

But it was a good time actually. I feel very lucky be joining Patience's family. They're all great people.

Her stepbrother Calvin is becoming a really good friend of mine and it's been hard for me to make friends here.

I don't know Troy quite as well but he seems like a good guy.

I didn't always think it would be so easy for me to integrate into the family. I remember getting a very frosty reception from Lake when Patience first brought me home.

I don't know if we'll ever be friends, exactly, because we're quite different people. But things are much less awkward between us now.

I think Kendal had a lot to do with that. She always really liked me and wasn't too happy with Lake's initial reaction to me.

Becoming a grandfather softened him a little too. He really loves Sylvia and I think he's wanting a few more!

Patience and I definitely want to give him some more grandchildren but maybe not for a little while.

We're going to take a year or so to relax before we start a family. Patience is still going on with her crazy talk about nine kids but I think she's accepted that it won't happen!

Lake wanted to raise a toast for us before the reception ended. He used the opportunity to announce he'd be paying for Patience and I to go on a honeymoon! He did the same for Rose when she got married but I can't say I was expecting this!

I was pretty stunned. No one has ever given me such an extravagant gift before but we were both really grateful. We paid for the wedding ourselves but we really didn't have anything left to go away anywhere.

We headed for the mountains. Not to camp, of course, because Patience likes her luxuries.

We stayed at the same hotel Josie and Troy stayed at for their honeymoon. Fortunately, we had a much better experience than they did. I wish I could eat like that all the time - one of us is going to have to learn to cook one of these days!

We were both hoping we'd get some snow while we were there but it turns out it was the wrong time of year. It was cold there, but not cold enough.

Three Lakes is still a beautiful place though, so we couldn't complain.

It was still a great trip. Nothing at all to do except hang out together, which we really haven't been doing enough of lately.

I've been working too hard lately, trying to work my way back up at the firm. With Patience working mostly nights, it was almost impossible to see each other much.

I wish we could have stayed longer. We'll come back one day for sure.

We were both sorry to leave. Patience is already talking about buying a vacation home up there!

I think we should probably focus on buying a home here in Exeter first but it's definitely something to consider in the future.

Extras:

This one will be cropped when I frame it, so um...ignore the park bench!


Patience, with her best friend Josie and her sister Rose.

Rob, and his friend Steve and Patience's stepbrother Calvin.

Rob and Patience, with Rose and Calvin again, as well as Patience's other stepbrother Troy and her half-brother Chris.

And finally, Patience and Rob with Patience's dad Lake and her stepmother Kendal.

Notes:

• I changed my mind at the last minute with Patience's dress! This dress was the original one I had planned for her but then I chose a different one. But I've been waiting to use this one for a while now. I just needed someone who would conceivably wear it. With the feathers on the bottom, it's quite a lot of dress!
  
• No crashes! Whee! This was a relatively small wedding though...for me, anyway! I had under 20 guests there.
• No baby yet! I'll probably let them try when I play them later on this round. Neither have the want yet, so I figure they don't mind waiting. The longer I make them wait, the less chance Patience has of fulfilling that nine kids ideal, lol!
• Patience rolled up the want to buy a vacation home as soon as she got out of the shuttle. Might have to wait on that one! The girl has big dreams!