[Event] Wedding of Vardis Hardyng and Ethel Waxley

m: it's a bit early, and I'm gonna be at a friends most of the weekend for his 21st and then I have work to finish before exams, so I might be a little slow at replying for the next few days, but I'm not going to drop anything.

In the month before the guests arrived, the entire domain was abustle. Taxes long since owed were called upon to provide for the feast and all those who would arrive. Barrels of ale, cartloads of grain, crates of candles, a number of livestock, and even more flooded into the white gates of Checkerfield all to be logged and recorded as it should. Edgar Waxley was the core of this effort, sorting through ledgers and logs to see what had and hadn’t been paid, and singling out those that needed to pay their due. Though of course that always went through a letter to Vardis from Godric filled with instructions. When the Hardyngs finally arrived a few weeks before the wedding, the place was abustle as it had never been seen to be before, with Vardis at the head of the effort.

Though Vardis had never been one for ledgers and logs, nor the most diligent with most affairs, he had taken to this task with as much as he could muster. And it seemed to go well, for most of the task had been finished by the time the rest of the family arrived. However, as Godric arrived, he was summarily demoted from his position of acting lord, which was greatly annoying to him - no matter how understandable it may have been.

By the time the guests would start to arrive, to be housed in apartments, guest houses, and inns outside the walls at the expense of House Hardyng, the castle was ready for a wedding with banners, streamers, and all the rest hanging from the freshly whitewashed walls. A festival and long tables had been set out at the village behind the walls, though it was clearly not meant for noble guests.

The entire week was planned out with seven days of festivities for the seven aspects of God. On the first day there was a great hunt to provide the game for the next few days, and a few parties would search for more dangerous game. On the second day a great joust and the crowning of a queen of love and beauty. On the third day an archery contest before a maiden’s ball to celebrate the transition from maidenhood to motherhood on the morrow. On the fourth the wedding and the longest feast of the week. On the fifth and sixth days more feasting and joy with mummers, singers, and other performers of all stripes and talents. The seventh day was a day of rest and observance, of stillness for the stranger and to prepare for the journey home.