Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create.

Winter in our Pile of Rubble quickly turned into Spring. We had spent the winter months concentrating on the last two rooms to be finished in the main part of the house. A few interesting nights have been spent putting together flat pack furniture and The Tall one managed to find a desk to fit into the smallest room from an Island internet selling site for free! Once we had taken it apart to get it into our car, and reassembled it back in our Pile of Rubble, both rooms were complete.

We managed to find an amazing local artist who came round had a look at the colours we had used in the main rooms, and created us three amazing pieces of art. Thank you Ebb and Flow.

Now that the major building work was almost complete, we could turn our attention to the biggest adventure The Tall One and The Short One had ever had.

During the summer, whilst knee deep in plaster and living without running water in our Pile of Rubble, The Tall One and The Short One decided to get married. We decided to wait until the following February. Unfortunately our February date needed to be postponed until April, due to a very close family member suffering a stroke, therefore giving her more time to recover and if possible attend the wedding. This April date gave us slightly more time to complete most of the major works. It also gave us time to complete the outside space ready to hold a pretty big BBQ.

With outstanding vision, The Tall One had managed to transform the concrete jungle which was our Pile of Rubbles outside space, into an amazing party space. Whilst the Tall One and The Short Ones wedding was the first main event held in the new party space, many more have since followed.

From an unusable space, to a zoned garden.

Now our Pile of Rubble was ready to welcome guests, we turned our attention to The Tall One and The Short Ones wedding.

The Tall One is always very organised, The Short One not so much. The Tall One had decided on an outfit for the wedding the previous Autumn The Short One was still undecided in March!!! The Tall One decided to take matters into her own hands, and on a flying visit to the mainland one weekend in March, convinced The Short One to go shopping. The Short One would do anything to avoid clothes shopping. Gadgets and useless items, The Short One is great with, clothes shopping The Short One leaves entirely to The Tall One. So after a very quick visit, to about 4 different shops, The Short One made a decision, and went for an outfit that surprised most people.

After much discussion between The Tall One and The Short One, and a lot of trying on, both The Tall One and The Short One decided to get married in dresses.

Living on an Island means that large gatherings need to be planned. Our biggest adventure had been planned in the school holidays, due to many family and friends having jobs connected to the education sector, with little people being able to attend and not need time away from school. This gave some of our friends, most notably some of our closest friends, from Glasgow, Farnborough and Camberley, the opportunity to spend a whole week on this beautiful Island rather than just the weekend. The Tall One thought it would be a good idea to meet with those friends for a quiet meal a few days before the wedding. Unbeknown to both The Tall One and The Short One, our loving friends had other ideas.

They gathered friends and family who either already lived in Ventnor, or who had arrived early, and taken over a local pizza restaurant with an amazing view, and threw us what can only be described as the funniest Hen party ever.

The Tall One and the Short One were ordered to wear black Jeans & T-shirts and given sashes and tutus to wear for the entire evening.

The Tall One and The short One are very lucky to have such amazing friends. The highlight of the evening was a game of Mrs & Mrs which included a veil making competition.

After an amazing night with close family and friends, ending as always in The Crab and Lobster Tap, we turned our attention to the main event. The legal union of The Tall One and The Short One. Flowers had been provided by The Short Ones Mum, and two of our closest friends and The Short Ones Mum spent the day before the wedding making button holes and simple hand tied arrangements. We enlisted the help of all of our guests under the age of 18, and The Tall One and our younger guests created some amazing table decorations. After a few days of hard work, we were ready to make our union a legal one.

Even though Ventnor is a relatively small town, The Tall One and The Short One decided to drive to the first venue, and the classic car came out to play for a much nicer reason than picking up wood.

The Tall One and The Short One had decided to split the wedding into two distinct parts. Our biggest friend had agreed to act as our celebrant for the first part of the ceremony.The Tall One and The Short One wanted to have a non-legal part of the ceremony, where family and friends could come together and celebrate the joining of  two different, amazing and blended families and friendship groups. Family and friends gathered together and The Tall One and The Short One arrived together and early. this meant that The Tall One and The Short One had to drive around Ventnor a few times, whilst the guests sorted themselves out.

The Tall One and The Short One included everyone in this part of the ceremony. They said their personal vows which were exchanged in front of all the guests. This part of the day included messages written by guests and sealed in a wine box containing Champagne to be opened on their first anniversary, as well as a sand ceremony, where all guests were invited to put sand of different colours into a vase to create a blended piece of art.

All of this took place before the legal ceremony and ended with the cutting of the cake and a glass of champagne. Now as many followers of Two Women and a Pile of Rubble will know The Tall One is a Spurs fan, The Short One is learning to love this particular team, however The Short One had no idea that The Tall One was planning a cake surprise. Our amazing friends at The Tea House, Ventnor had made our first wedding cake, and The Short one wanted a beach theme, The Tea House ladies had added some Mice from No 26 Ventnor, and it looked amazing.

However The Tall One had added a little twist to the cake, and when it was time to cut the cake, The Tall One insisted The Short One scrape the top off of the cake before cutting it…….

This revealed a strategically placed Tottenham Hotspurs team emblem. Thankfully The Short One saw the funny side of this and the cake tasted amazing, and had a rainbow theme inside.

The Tall One and The Short One did not have time to stay and taste the cake as the legal paperwork needed to be completed before the legal ceremony could take place.

During the legal part of the ceremony, rings were exchanged, and as the legal part is relatively short, the party could begin very quickly afterwards.

We are lucky enough to live in an amazing little town, and a friend of ours offered to drive guests between venues as Ventnor has a few hills. Due to legal reasons, The Tall one and The Short One had started the day at The Royal Hotel, as this was the only place in Ventnor at the time that had a licence to legally get married. After the legal ceremony The Tall One and The Short One and all guests moved down to the sea front for a cocktail and canapé party with friends who ran Hello Sailor, they even created a cocktail just for The Tall One and The short One.

It was at this point that the Tall One and The Short One had cake number two. Crave Ventnor delivered The Tall One and The Short One an amazing dairy free Ice Cream cake to round off the afternoon.

Once all of the cocktails had been drunk and the canapés eaten, The Tall One and The Short One and all their guests, made it back up the hill to the Crab and Lobster Tap to finish off the celebrations, sticking with the seaside theme, this included a magic mirror, popcorn machine, candy floss, sweets and a disco. Magic Mirror, candy floss and popcorn machine provided by a little Island company called Candy Creations.

The Tall One and The Short One, made some amazing memories, on one of their biggest adventures so far, all of which were lovingly captured by Orion Heart Photography.

As the sun set on an amazing day, and this particular adventure moved onto the next phase, Our Pile of Rubble continued to evolve and many more adventures and memories have been made over the last year. In these uncertain times, and enforced self-isolation with any luck The Tall One and The Short One may be able to update this blog a bit more regularly. Only time will tell. For now Keep safe, Stay healthy and Stay at Home.