It is rare for both the English and the French side of our family to get together. At the start of the last bank holiday weekend, we made our way to South Devon. My mum, her cousin, two of my brothers, even my nan and my aunt drove from the Champagne region to meet us. Despite pouring rain, we all had a wonderful weekend, catching up, talking, eating and chatting some more.
We were all there together to celebrate Wriggly’s christening. We chose my youngest brother and our oldest niece as her godparents. We know they will always be there to look out for our little girl, guide her and love her dearly.
Wriggly’s siblings were all baptised at Notre Dame de France, the French church in Leicester Square. This time, we decided to have our baby’s first sacrament in Devon, where Hubby comes from. The celebration was to take place at Buckfast Abbey thanks to my lovely sister-in-law.
There was no theme as such for the baptism, but I wanted yellow and grey tones on the invitations. As I was thinking of the sort of photo I wanted for the front of the invites, I decided to take a few shots of Wriggly holding helium-filled balloons.
I managed to get lots of beautiful pictures of my four little ones in the park that afternoon. Balloons are a great prop to have when taking photos of children. They are distracted by the balloons, and therefore pay less attention to the camera. Their smiles are genuine; their facial expressions natural and relaxed. I took dozens of photos of Wriggly sat in a wicker basket holding balloons and I love this back shot:
I chose one of the photos I took that afternoon and her invitations were quite simply perfect.
We took our helium kit to Devon, and Crevette took a bouquet of yellow and grey balloons to the abbey before the baptism.
The day before the celebration, we all sat in the kitchen to put the favours together. In France, it is traditional to give your guests sugared almonds at weddings, baptisms and communions.
There are close bonds between the English side of our family and the abbey. It made the celebration even more special. Wriggly was as good as gold from start to finish.
The only thing she was not keen on was being wriggled into her baptism gown. The gown is rather special to us. When Crevette was born, my nan asked me what she could get us for our new baby. I gave her my wedding dress and asked her to have it turned into a baptism gown. It means my wedding dress has been used again instead of gathering dust in the loft.
I dressed my four children in white, and they looked angelic (until they started eating the chocolate cake, that is).
After the celebration, we all went to The Rising Sun, a lovely pub nearby, where we had a Sunday roast. My friend Vicki, The Free From Fairy, made the cake so that Jumpy and her daughter could enjoy dessert with the other children despite their exclusion diets.
It was scrumptious!
Oh, and we had champagne, because no baptism would be complete without champagne in my family. Wriggly enjoyed her first sip. She makes her great-granddad really proud!
Here is Wriggly in the beautiful Jacadi dress my aunt bought for her, wearing the baptism brooch that has been passed down a few generations in my family.
When was the last time you had a big family gathering?
What a fab day you all had Mel, such a gorgeous occasion. The kids had so much fun with their balloons, brilliant little video of Beanie – the canister is clearly super easy to use which is a bonus 🙂 stunning photos as always xxx
They did! Balloons always make them so happy… not so happy when they let go of the string though…
It looks like a lovely celebration and a great excuse to bring all the family together. Judging by the photos there was a bit of shower dodging on the day but at least you managed a little fun with balloons outdoors. I love all the themed bits and bobs to make the celebrations. Thank you for sharing on Country Kids
It really was a beautiful day, and the rain didn’t prevent us from spending the weekend outdoors.
What a fantastic story,and what beautiful children, are they their proper names if so how unusual or do they fit their antics. Look forward to your next stories. Xx Adorna
Thanks a lot for your kind words, Adorna. Crevette, Beanie, Jumpy and Wriggly are my babies’ ‘bump’ names, he he!
What a beautiful day you had and love the yellow and grey balloons. That photo of Wriggly in the basket is just adorable. I love the fact that your wedding gown was turned into your childrens’ christening gown – what a beautiful idea. Sophie was christened in my old christening gown and hubby’s christening shawl (which we also used for Jessica at her welcome service as she was baptised at birth instead). The photo of Wriggly being baptised is so beautiful and I love your dress – what a gorgeous colour it is. So glad you had such a wonderful day celebrating with your French and English relatives x
Thanks my lovely. Do you have photos of you then Sophie in your old christening gown? If you’ve not already written about it, it would make a lovely post! xxx
I do have photos and that sounds like a great idea – might just do that, thank you! 🙂
Looking forward to it!
Wow what a lovely day and it looks like everything went really well. I love the colours for your theme and Buckfast abbey looks beautiful!
What a lovely post -looks like a very special celebration.
It was, thanks Afra!
Sounds like you all had a wonderful day! Beautiful photos.
We did! Thanks lovely.
Wow what an amazing day, you made it so beautiful huni xx
Thanks hun! xx
Quel beau baptême ! J’aime beaucoup les petits pots avec les dragées jaunes ! L’église aussi est très jolie. Notre dernière rassemblement en famille, c’était l’année dernière pour le baptême de mon filleul. Mais, je me rappelle encore quand on a baptisé mes deux enfants, c’était en France et on a fait venir ma famille d’Espagne !
J’adore quand on rassemble les anglais et les frenchies! C’est toujours plein de bonheur et de rires.
What a beautiful day – not surprisingly I’m suddenly filled with the memories of my twins’ baptism. I absolutely love how your wedding dress was made into a baptism gown.
It was such a special day and I feel so priviledged to have been a part of it. Thank you so much for sharing such a fabulous occation with my family. They are still talking about it!!!
It was such a pleasure having you guys. I have plenty of photos but the laptop I am using at the moment doesn’t allow me to send more than a couple at a time so I’ll email them when I have my new laptop. We have to get together again when we next come to Devon. I want to meet Rosie (is it Rosie?). xxx
Yes!!! We are coming to St Albans in a few weeks to see a band but it is a bit of a fleeting visit!
If you have a couple of hours free, let me know and we could meet at the Aquadrome (Rickmansworth) at my favourite café (they have a wide range of ‘free-from’ goodies). x
Love the invites – Wriggly is super cute!