First picture!

What a wonderful, brilliant, magnificant day! More pictures to come - but here's the first picture I could get my hands on, for those who have been with me on this journey.

1 day to go!

So exciting!

The marquee is up. The tables are laid. The ovens are ready. The pots are dead-headed. The dress is pressed.

And still 20 hours to go. Time to paint my nails!

3 days to go! Ready as we can be!

More rain over the last few days has made preparations very difficult. Parts of the lawn are still too soggy to stand on, so we are now on to Plan C  - dry but wet underfoot.

The passionflower arch awaits the bride and groom.

6 days to go!

Today has been dry and sunny! There is hope that we may be able to walk on parts of the lawn if this carries on.

Still, the calla lily seems to love its wet and shady corner. And if the bouquets don't turn up on Saturday we could use this instead.

7 days to go!

Plan B, part 2: 6 large white umbrellas to ferry people from the house to the marquee. Apparently they make good photos too.

8 days to go!

It's a wrap!

First part of Plan B - 20 cream fleece wraps for the inadequately dressed to keep themselves warm in the evening.

9 days to go!

Sorry to be a tad repetitive, but rain is dominating my thoughts. Yesterday evening we had a short but ferocious storm - torrential rain, hail, thunder and lightning - the works! It left the patio awash and the grass submerged. Definitely into Plan B now.

10 days to go!

The hydrangea looks lovely; the puddle underneath it less so.

Loved this comment on the BBC weather page this morning "Unfortunately we are having problems with this forecast information. We are working hard to get everything back to normal as soon as possible." I wish they'd hurry up!

11 days to go!

This is the final countdown!

We thought the rain couldn't get any worse - but it has. The poor petunias are battered to death on a regular basis. The rose buds are giving up before they open. And the grass is a paddy field.

The weather forecast is not looking good for the 21st. We've gone from hoping for sunshine to hoping for no rain.