A couple of things went wrong in the lead up to the wedding. On the Friday night I'd booked a table at Kitchen restaurant, who assured me twice that they could cater to the dietary requirements of the party, and then told me on the day itself that they couldn't after all, forcing ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cm and themidnightgirl to go elsewhere for something they could eat, which was quite frustrating. The food for vegetarians was generally a bit disappointing, although the rest of it was very good, leading me to think that they're just not good at working with any kind of restrictions. After dinner we went our seperate ways, because although I'd sorted out accomodation in the reception hotel for the night /after/ the wedding, I was too disorganised to arrange the preceeding night before it got fully booked. The guest house that obandsoller and I were staying in was nice and comfortable, and all was well until the fire alarm went off at four in the morning. The good news is that it wasn't actually on fire. The bad news is that it wasn't staffed overnight, so we spent quite a long time standing outside in our pyjamas waiting for the fire brigade to arrive and turn off the alarm. All in all, there could have been less stressful ways to spend the night before the wedding, but on the other hand, there's something to be said for getting all the disasters out of the way in advance.
I managed another couple of hours sleep before my alarm went off, at which point I took my luggage and dropped it off at the Rocpool Hotel where we were having the reception, and then went to parkrun, joined byrobert_jones, themidnightgirl, my sister Anne, and my new brother-in-law Rob. It was a really nice run, and a good way to wake up. Also, I managed, for possibly the first time ever, to decide to run it at a reasonably sedate pace and then actually stick to that plan. Afterwards I headed straight to the cathedral for a quick and smooth rehearsal, and then to my parents & sisters' AirBnB to get ready. Our outfits for this service were a lot more traditional than the London one, but we still looked really rather dapper.
I arrived at the church about 25 minutes before the service and hugged lots of people, and then with about 5-10 minutes to go we shuffled people into the quire. The service itself was wonderful. The cathedral had been very helpful and accomodating, so I got all my anglo-catholic twiddly bits, and we had friends doing lots of things;cm, atreic, Jez and Helena (wanodw) reading, bunnypip preaching a wonderful sermon (that made me cry), a beautiful anthem by artsyhonker, sung by emperor and leonato. The actual vows and exchange of rings had me close to tears again - they're very simple, but said all that needs to be said.
After the service we gathered for some photos outside the cathedral, and then set off to the Rocpool.
We were welcomed with fizz (or rose lemonade for me and other non-drinkers) and canapes, which pretty much set the (very high!) standard of food throughout, including some really good vegan and gluten free options. I'd slightly overestimated how long the service would take, so we had quite a while to socialise before the wedding breakfast. The food was outstanding - on a par with most one-star restaurants I've been to - although obviously that's easier to do for 23 than for ~100. Then we had a few speeches. My Mum's was short, and started by embarassing me, but then was so touching that I couldn't be grumpy about it. Dad's was a bit longer, with typical Dad-humour anecdotes that I felt captured me well. Sally (Ramesh's sister) gave a short speech welcoming me to the family. I thought our grooms's speeches went fairly well, with a reasonable mixture of wit and sentiment.robert_jones's best man speech was unsurprisingly brilliant. In typical Jones manner he corrected some of the factual details of my speech, and his stories were both warm and funny and very precise. He finished with "The Rolling English Road" by G. K. Chesterton. Helena gave a lovely best woman's speech for Ramesh, and then we moved from the dining room to the bar for coffee and drinks and general unstructured socialising for the rest of the evening.
Some particular highlights
- It was really good to get to introduce lots of my important people to one another and to see them all getting on so well.
- Realising that I didn't have to wear a "parents face" - I could just be myself, exactly as I usually am around my friends.
- Seeing our old family friends, Moira and Lorimer, who live close to Inverness, again after many years, basking in the warmth of their affection
- Getting to know Jez (Ramesh's best man) a bit better and to meet his partner Emma
- The end of the evening, when nearly everyone had gone to bed, sitting with a handful of my oldest and most beloved friends, reminiscing about good times past and looking forward to future plans.
cm and themidnightgirl to go elsewhere for something they could eat, which was quite frustrating. The food for vegetarians was generally a bit disappointing, although the rest of it was very good, leading me to think that they're just not good at working with any kind of restrictions. After dinner we went our seperate ways, because although I'd sorted out accomodation in the reception hotel for the night /after/ the wedding, I was too disorganised to arrange the preceeding night before it got fully booked. The guest house that obandsoller and I were staying in was nice and comfortable, and all was well until the fire alarm went off at four in the morning. The good news is that it wasn't actually on fire. The bad news is that it wasn't staffed overnight, so we spent quite a long time standing outside in our pyjamas waiting for the fire brigade to arrive and turn off the alarm. All in all, there could have been less stressful ways to spend the night before the wedding, but on the other hand, there's something to be said for getting all the disasters out of the way in advance.I managed another couple of hours sleep before my alarm went off, at which point I took my luggage and dropped it off at the Rocpool Hotel where we were having the reception, and then went to parkrun, joined by
robert_jones, themidnightgirl, my sister Anne, and my new brother-in-law Rob. It was a really nice run, and a good way to wake up. Also, I managed, for possibly the first time ever, to decide to run it at a reasonably sedate pace and then actually stick to that plan. Afterwards I headed straight to the cathedral for a quick and smooth rehearsal, and then to my parents & sisters' AirBnB to get ready. Our outfits for this service were a lot more traditional than the London one, but we still looked really rather dapper. I arrived at the church about 25 minutes before the service and hugged lots of people, and then with about 5-10 minutes to go we shuffled people into the quire. The service itself was wonderful. The cathedral had been very helpful and accomodating, so I got all my anglo-catholic twiddly bits, and we had friends doing lots of things;
cm, atreic, Jez and Helena (wanodw) reading, bunnypip preaching a wonderful sermon (that made me cry), a beautiful anthem by artsyhonker, sung by emperor and leonato. The actual vows and exchange of rings had me close to tears again - they're very simple, but said all that needs to be said. After the service we gathered for some photos outside the cathedral, and then set off to the Rocpool.
We were welcomed with fizz (or rose lemonade for me and other non-drinkers) and canapes, which pretty much set the (very high!) standard of food throughout, including some really good vegan and gluten free options. I'd slightly overestimated how long the service would take, so we had quite a while to socialise before the wedding breakfast. The food was outstanding - on a par with most one-star restaurants I've been to - although obviously that's easier to do for 23 than for ~100. Then we had a few speeches. My Mum's was short, and started by embarassing me, but then was so touching that I couldn't be grumpy about it. Dad's was a bit longer, with typical Dad-humour anecdotes that I felt captured me well. Sally (Ramesh's sister) gave a short speech welcoming me to the family. I thought our grooms's speeches went fairly well, with a reasonable mixture of wit and sentiment.
robert_jones's best man speech was unsurprisingly brilliant. In typical Jones manner he corrected some of the factual details of my speech, and his stories were both warm and funny and very precise. He finished with "The Rolling English Road" by G. K. Chesterton. Helena gave a lovely best woman's speech for Ramesh, and then we moved from the dining room to the bar for coffee and drinks and general unstructured socialising for the rest of the evening.Some particular highlights
- It was really good to get to introduce lots of my important people to one another and to see them all getting on so well.
- Realising that I didn't have to wear a "parents face" - I could just be myself, exactly as I usually am around my friends.
- Seeing our old family friends, Moira and Lorimer, who live close to Inverness, again after many years, basking in the warmth of their affection
- Getting to know Jez (Ramesh's best man) a bit better and to meet his partner Emma
- The end of the evening, when nearly everyone had gone to bed, sitting with a handful of my oldest and most beloved friends, reminiscing about good times past and looking forward to future plans.
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