So the day of the wedding finally dawned. Mum and Dad went back out into the town but most of us spent the day at the hotel, relaxing and chatting. After sharing pizzas for lunch, the girls congregated in the bride’s room to drink pink champagne and put the finishing touches to the favours boxes and the guys … well I have no idea what they were doing. Sharon’s husband Gerard was flitting between the two rooms capturing lots of fantastic pictures of the day. Soon the hairdresser had arrived and had done Jo and Sharon’s hair and makeup and it was time for the rest of us to go and get ready as we still had to walk through the town to the Piazza del Campo before the bride got there.
We met in the courtyard of the hotel at 5.15pm and all took a slow walk to the venue. The weather was a perfect 28 degrees and we soon got to the Palazzo Pubblico where another wedding had just finished. We spent a few minutes watching the wedding party having their photos taken before it was time for us to go and take our places in a beautifully decorated room within the building. The place was lovely, but a little warm as there was no air conditioning. Fortunately mum had bought all the ladies fans, which were very useful. A cellist played while we waited and it wasn’t long before Jo and Dad arrived. I may be biased as she’s my sister but I can honestly say she was the perfect bride. She looked absolutely stunning. Her dress was fantastic and the veil, covered in diamante sparkled in the sunlight as she walked down the aisle, a real vision to behold. 
The ceremony was conducted by an Italian official with an English translation by the wedding planner. After the laws were read, and the vows taken Tracy (Paul’s sister) and I were called to the desk to sign as official witnesses, Jo’s friend Karen read a poem and then the wedding was over. The Palazzo is a museum as well as the town hall so a few photos were taken in one of the galleries outside before we went outside to throw rose petal confetti over the bride and groom as they emerged from the town hall. We then spent quite a while in the Campo having photos taken by the official photographer and Gerard followed by a visit to one of the restaurants in the Piazza to have champagne while the photographer took Jo and Paul all over Siena to get some more fantastic shots. 
Eventually it was time to go to the restaurant for the reception. This involved a walk uphill (although of course everywhere in Siena is uphill) which was a bit of a problem for those in high heels, but we had soon made our way to the ‘Ristorante Enoteca al Marsili’ which was a lovely traditional Tuscan place. The tables were decorated with big candelabras and diamante was glistening on the pure white tablecloths. Soon we had all taken our places and were tucking into the fabulous feast. The hors d’oeuvres were Siena-style canapés (or crostini), followed by Tuscan Ribollita (a vegetable and bread soup) and then creamed tortelloni with pine nuts and rocket salad. The entrée was sirloin steak with mushrooms, roast potatoes and vichy carrots. Finally we finished with a slice of the divine Millefoglie wedding cake. This was all washed down with a choice of Chianti Classico or Vernaccia San Gimignano. The evening was very pleasant with a lot of laughter a few tears and hundreds of photos being taken. After we had finished our meal we made our way back down to the Piazza del Campo to continue celebrating the evening with a few more beers. Jo, Paul, Steve and I finally made our way back to the hotel at 3am, Jo and I removing our shoes to make the twenty minute walk home as our feet were killing us by then. It was really the perfect day.
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