Kiri and Steve.co.uk
Wow, what a day! KISTfest (like Woodstock) was a once in a lifetime experience. It turned out so much better than we could have ever imagined and was the best day of our lives (to date!). There was a real buzz around the site all day and it was great to see people enjoying themselves. Everyone seemed to embrace the freedom to do what they wanted and this created an instant feeling of community. With the amazing food and high quality entertainment that accompanied this, what better way to celebrate the beginning of our marriage? Thank you for all of your amazing support that made it possible.
…and everyone really was! It was great to see our guests wearing what they were comfortable in, doing what they wanted to do, where they wanted to do it! Kiri lead the way, walking barefoot down the aisle in a dress designed by her, complete with blue buttons and later both of us enjoyed the freedom of being able to dress down in KISTfest-branded t-shirts.
We don’t really know where to start when describing the entertainment – the standard was so much higher than we could have hoped for. We have some really talented friends and really enjoyed the diversity. For the kids, there were numerous activities including balloon modelling, a treasure hunt, circus props and storytime. Music lovers were spoiled for choice with an American Pie sing-along, a Joni Mitchell tribute, barbershop singing, “Oh, I’m a dog” by the campfire, boogie-woogie piano and many other acts. Rounded off with some heart-felt, amusing and sometimes risque speeches and a special guest appearance from LEGO superstars Bob and Lucy, it felt appropriate to end the day with some great Dad-dancing and air-guitaring into the night.
Pig for breakfast, pig for lunch and pig for dinner! Need we say more? Aside from the bacon rolls, sausages and hog roast, we were truly indulged with some tasty treats. I think the burgers may go down in history as some of the best ever and Jake’s special olives surely will. We were pleased to be able to source all of the meat locally, thanks to the generosity of the village community. As for the drinks, the Penhurst and Ashburnham Pale Ales flew off the bar (not literally), the Oakwood Farm Cider ran out, the Harveys was a hit (as always) and there was a wide range of soft drinks to choose from (Steve really appreciated the ginger beer!).
Thanks to Tom Dauben and Tim Wakeling for the images used on this page… and now for the photos that we took… in the form of a timelapse