Monday, October 09, 2006

Day 188 - Love and Marriage

We had a lovely time at the wedding of our friends L___ and W____ on Saturday.
In addition to being a bridesmaid, K___ was also responsible for the flowers, so on Thurday, I took her to a wholesalers to purchase vast numbers of blooms and greenery. I went to work for the afternoon and K___ spent most of the next two days sitting as close to the kitchen table as the bump would allow, putting together buttonholes, handbag sprays, the bouquet, a pedestal display, table centres and a tabletop display thingy (I've run my floristry-vocab into the ground now - it's vague stabs at appropriate terms from here on in) for the table where the happy couple signed the register.

I was glad I don't suffer from pollen allergies when I came back in from work; the smell of crushed and cut stems and petals pervasively filled the air. On Saturday we loaded the car and set off early, arriving at the converted stable where the wedding was to be held about ten thirty. Even so, we weren't the first. The groom's family had beaten us to it, and were gingerly removing the three-tier cake from its reinforced box. It had survived the journey without damage and were I the sort of person to believe in omens, I would surely take this to be good one. As I would the fact that four days of torrential storms had been replaced with glorious sunshine.

K___ set to stringing up the various things she'd bought around the room. We'd realised that we'd forgotten a string of plain fairy lights that we needed to weave into some sculptural twiggy type thing (I told you I'd exhausted my florestry vocab) that was attached to one of the balconies. I headed off into the nearest town and eventually found a John Lewis with the requisite lights. Upon my return, I met the groom himself, surprisingly calm and relaxed about it all. After a while, it was all done and we retired to the resturant across the way with the bride's brother and his partner. The other bridesmaid had also arrived, and we retrieved her dress from our car. There'd been a delay with the dressmaker and so the day of the wedding was the first time she'd actually seen the finished article. She'd seen the calico version though, and that was fine, so there couldn't be any problems, could there..?

Ha! Famous last words. The dress wasn't exactly made to measure... Fortunately, it was on the large side, not the small. A few abortive attempts were made to find a seamstress via 118 118, but to no avail. Eventually reception was able to recommend a member of staff and an emergency repair session ensued. Just in time everything was sorted, but it was touch and go for a while.

The wedding itself was lovely. One thing I've noticed since being married is the difference you have to the 'Does anyone know of any lawful impediment..' question. When you're single, and you're at a wedding the question doesn't bother you, you just wish that they'd get on with it. When it's you up there and subsequently, even thought you know it's totally irrational, that there is no legal impediment, there's a momentary knife of fear that someone is going to be a twat and call out for a laugh. That instant lasts forever, and then it's passed and it's like time concertinas back into its proper shape again.

The wedding went off without any hitches (beyond the one that was supposed to take place) and soon we were outside in the bright sunlight enjoying a bucks fizz. K___ was pleased to be able to meet up with a few old school friends, one of whom she'd not seen for nearly a decade. Both declared the other hadn't changed. With the obvoius interuption of the meal and the speeches - which were both extremely good - a lot of the rest of K___'s day was spent catching up with friends old and new, and needless to say, the bump attracted a lot of attention.

K___'s mum and dad, were also at the wedding and K___ spent a long time with her mother's hand on her belly, trying to feel the baby kick. K___ even ventured onto the dance floor to partake in the dancing for the world's most sensible song, Hocus Pocus by Focus, though possibly she wasn't quite as full on during the flute solo as she would have been if not pregnant. She was still perfectly on form for the yodelling sections though...

It was gone midnight before things wound done and we headed off for our hotel room in part of the main building at the farm complex. It had been a long, busy and tiring day and I had anticipated that K___ would have wanted to go to bed a long time before, but she kept going and going like a Duracell Bunny! With a poor night's sleep to follow, she was a bit low on the Sunday and had a sleep in the afternoon, but it still amazes me how resiliant she can be.

I bet I'd be really rubbish at it.

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