Wedding fantasy shines on

JAS you read this I will be breakfasting in bed in a lovely hotel in Sussex, before getting up and dressing in my newly-acquired mother of the groom finery. I’ll then be driven by the groom’s father for a couple of miles to a beautiful church in a nearby country village.

There, amid festoons of summer blooms, we shall witness our youngest son pledge his troth to his fiancé of 18 months.Two of the bridesmaids will be my small granddaughters and the pageboy our even smaller grandson, not quite two, whose mischievous nature will keep the bride and groom (his parents) nervously on their toes in church.There will also be a couple of dogs and possibly even a pig, dressed up in satin bows.

After the ceremony 150 of us will walk the short distance to the bride’s parents’ home, where there will be a marquee on the lawn, champagne, delicious food and a band. Every single member of my own extended family will be there and the dancing will last into the early hours.

Then we’ll go back to our hotel for a restorative night’s sleep before we continue the festivities with a barbecue tomorrow.

It’s just a fantasy, of course. But the invitation to this gorgeous country wedding still stands proudly on our mantelpiece. June 20, 2020, should have been our son’s big day. But that pretty invite is now a sad symbol of the family joy and happiness so many of us have lost this summer. Everywhere weddings, birthday celebrations and family holidays are disappearing down a black hole called Covid-19.

One of the weirdest things about this strange corona experience is that there’s been so little to look forward to. Every day we hang on for the No. 10 press conference, which may, or may not, deliver a tiny helping of pleasure to our locked-down lives.The high streets are open. But all I want is a family holiday.

Boys and girls, we’ve all been ever so good.We deserve a treat. Hopefully next summer will be wild.And that postponed country wedding will be a blast. Please God.