Ashley's Naming Ceremony - Ask Italian

This weekend was a particularly special one as Mr M became an official godfather!  As you can see he is already taking his duties very seriously and ensuring he is a good moral compass for this little one's future upbringing.  Poor lad.
For a baby less than a year old we were very touched to hear he had invited us, his other godparents and his family for a pre-naming ceremony meal at Ask.  He even contributed to the cost of the meal!  20 of us arrived at this lovely little Italian restaurant for an early-ish dinner.  Thank you baby Ashley! (and parents James and Sasha!)
Ask in Canterbury really does have the most beautiful location on the banks of the river Stour.  Boat tours wind their way through the city and tourists congregate on the bridge to get THAT iconic photo with the (mock) witches stool in it.
There were babies and toddlers galore at the meal and were all incredibly well behaved and really rather adorable.  The little man of the hour was passed around from person to person who were all eager for a cuddle with him.  He has a beautiful smile and partook in the game of Pass the Baby with remarkably good grace!
It has been three years since James and Sasha got married and it has been the first time since then that I have seen some of James' friends and family as they live in Wales.  It was lovely to be able to catch up with them over the course of the dinner, something I don't think I would have been able to do properly the next day at the naming ceremony.
Food was nice- I had gone for one of the new pizza's on the menu which claimed to be hot but in reality had very little fire to it.  To be fair it does take a lot for me to notice heat.  Mr M had the Calzone and RV had what looked like a really good seafood stew. 
I wasn't at all jealous of the fact that I am still supposed to be being good with my food at the moment and therefore didn't have any dessert.  Instead I sat there and watched while Mr M ploughed his way though this mountain of profiteroles.  The green bowl is a fairly close approximation of the color my face went as I had to hear about how good they were. 
After food Sasha's sister and brother-in-law surprised everyone by cracking open a fair number of bottles of sparking wine.  We all grabbed a glass and toasted the fairly bemused baby Ashley and his parents in anticipation of the next day.
Just take a minute and look at these three.  Do they look like they are up to something to you?
This was them mid-scheming plan.  After the meal they started rounding up all the men folk for a night on the town.  Originally there were no girls allowed but this quickly fell apart as they put their stilettoed feet firmly down.  Those of us with babies or commitments said our goodbyes and headed home (I had a pile of Pasteis de Nata still to bake!). 
From the stories I heard the next day it was a fairly riotous affair (I'm looking at you grandmothers - I heard about your antics crawling on the floor under the tables and throwing your email address in paper airplane form at young men!) Some of the men were decidedly in the dog house the next day and there were a number of sore heads as we arrived at the village hall in the morning.  Here is the lesson - when the boys get this look on their face it's probably best to say no!