On the Thursday before the wedding one of Irma's oldest and strangest friends arrived, and immediately took Irma and the kids in hand.Susan never got married, and is a strange mix of the perfectly groomed city dweller, never a hair out of place, but she just so easily adapted to the Haarlem living when we just moved here, and after hearing the noises coming from below Irma's full of holes floorboards, came to my house and  spread  Irma's little camping mattress on the cement floor, and slept like a log! She did scrub and scour the make-do kitchen though, and told Irma's kids that they were two lazy beings, and should be ashamed for not helping their mum more!
Anyway, she then inspected the wedding dress, and put the seam in, as I still had to do it on the Friday, not having measured the exact length. She is just incredible!
The Saturday broke clear and warm, and as Irma had done all the catering herself, money a bitty scarce, it was a busy morning, but with Susan taking charge, all was done, the food at the ready to be taken to the lawn at the Church Hall, and I arrived from Haarlem just in time to help with the finishing touches, as Susan had done what we struggled to do, and that is to get Irma's two daughters to lift their hands. In South Africa the kids are so spoiled, as we all have nannies, and Elisabeth, who worked for Irma for about twenty years was just the best, but spoiled the kids by picking up after them all the time!
Irma looked absolutely lovely in her dress with leaves braided into her hair, and as she came riding down the dusty road on her horse, everybody pikked a tear. We were to wait at the house for her to come there, then all would have a quick refreshment before she and Karel would lead us to the little church!
Barnard, the preacher who was to marry them was also a good friend, and he had consented to do a Celtic wedding, although I don't think his congregation fully approved. It was I think the nicest wedding I have ever been to, as he did the service beautifully, like it is done in his church, but the marriage vows and stuff were all done the Celtic way, complete with the tying together of their hands.
Irma's two girls, Kristani and Kiana sang a beautiful Celtic song during the tying of the couple's hands, and then Kian, my three year old grandson who loves singing, stood on a box and sang a song about the animals on the earth and the birds in the sky, and we all  cried a bit more!
Afterwards we had a feast outside on the lawn, where the two ladies that came to help had put out the tables and chairs, starting with a pot of soup that the bride made!
Jan and Nina had made some Danish snacks also, and with all the goodies Irma had made, nobody stayed hungry.