War CouncilFriday evening turned out quite the pleasant affair, with the senior Montgomery and Lotter clan members being invited out to our humble abode to partake in some supper and then some informative matters regarding the current status of our wedding plan arrangements.

Now originally the plan had been to braai for the lot of us, but seeing how miserable the morning weather had turned out to be, plans were altered and instead we opted for the good old Weber Chicken tactic which is pretty simple to prepare and shouldn’t be hindered if it does rain… too much.

Anyway, on my arrival home after another rewarding day of hard work, I was pleased to discover that Chantelle had taken the initiative to hire Sophie and Charmaine from the guest house to come and spend some time cleaning our flat and a good five hours or so later, our flat was so clean and polished that one could literally eat off the floor… and feel relatively safe while doing it!

However, cleanliness aside, it was down to business and I set up the Weber while Chantelle prepared the free range chickens, the first time we were going to make use of free range poultry as well as the first time that she was going to substitute the usual half a lemon stuck up its bum for just some lemon juice sprinkled about.

The rosemary however was still in.

It’s bum.

A slight hiccup involving me completely and utterly burning the potatoes while she dropped the girls off back at the lodge meant an extra trip to Pick ‘n Pay for her (boy was she mad!) but in the end it all worked out and Chantelle ended up creating the absolute best Weber cooked chicken that she has yet produced, complimented with a delicious selection of baby potatoes, salad and an extremely tasty cheesy pita bread type thingie that she bought from who knows where.

With everyone there (the Montgomerys had opted to drive through with Pops and Mom in the Lexus), the six of us settled down around our small little table to chow down where Monty promptly managed to crack one of Chantelle’s precious wine glasses by clinking it just that little bit too enthusiastically! However, that aside, it wasn’t too long before the final scraps had been dealt a mortal blow and the bowls were all looking a tad empty – which was exactly when I discovered that no dessert had been provisioned for. At all. On purpose.

Bummer.

Oh well, coffee did the trick and with a flourish I produced a printout from my little ‘Wedding Spreadsheet’ and we got down to business, haggling loans, setting tasks and just in general informing all around as to just what the heck is currently going on.

The idea behind the war council is that to Chantelle and myself, it is extremely important that we keep both sets of parents informed as to what is happening and in so doing, make them feel as if they are part of the preparations. The idea is not for them to start meddling about, but rather for us to make our plans, arrangements and then run it by the rest of our support group just so that we can get further advice from them or perhaps even a little nudge in the right direction should there be a little niggle in our plans.

This is important because as far as I’m concerned, the parents are contributing financially just as much as we are to this most major of events in Chantelle’s and my life, and as such we want them to at least be involved in the process just that little, not to be left feeling completely left out of things.

That said, Chantelle and I will still be making all the decisions and arrangements because quite frankly, it is our wedding, but I think it is good for everyone else to feel a part of the spectacular too. ;)

The meeting went on for a good couple of hours, a lot of ideas, plans and arrangements were bounced around and I think I can confidently say that everyone is now up to speed with just what is going to happen and with what is currently in the pipelines. Everyone seems pretty happy about everything and for the moment, it seems pretty smooth sailing. Chantelle is continuing her most excellent job of dealing with the majority product and service searching and without a doubt, if it isn’t for her hard work, this wedding probably wouldn’t even get off the ground!

Anyway, the parents finally managed to escape just after midnight, tummies full and hopefully wedding-talk sated, Chantelle returned to go and play guard dog at the guest house, while I in turn settled back in my comfy bed, read some Witchblade and promptly fell asleep.

Very asleep.