Jane and I went over to Southampton in the morning – it was strange, as we were making the journey on the train it didn’t feel at all like we were going to a wedding later that day. It only felt like a wedding when we went to meet David at his hotel to “get him to the Registry Office on time”. We had to stop off on the way for a quick pint – Dutch courage and all that. It was lovely to see Gran when we got to the Registry Office, especially considering the very sad goodbye we had last time as we both thought we’d never see each other again.
In to the service itself, and my role as Best-Man was once again tested as I had to produce the rings at the key moment in the ceremony. Thankfully I didn’t fuck up. It was a beautiful service, both David and Katie sounded very emotional as they recited their vows to one another. Then, outside, the photographer took a whole bunch of photographs, then asked us to walk around the corner to a hill so he could take some pictures of us on said hill. By this point I had randomly acquired several cards for the happy couple, their marriage certificate, the bride’s bouquet, several digital cameras and Jasmine’s flower (she was a flower girl, but did not want to carry her flower). Got a lovely picture with Jasmine and Lisa (my cousin), scroll down a little bit to see it.
Then on to the restaurant where we would be eating lovely Chinese food, and I would deliver my speech. David and Katie did a joint speech, then Ayliff (Katie’s Dad) did one, then I did mine. I was a bit nervous, I thought I would’ve had more to drink by that point, and I don’t think I did it justice. Gran said she couldn’t hear me (Jane did tell me to speak up at one point!), but everyone else who came up to me afterwards said it was a lovely speech. The food was delightful, and I ate far too much – but then it’s been so long since I’ve had lovely Chinese food. The “Wedding Cake” was typically original – rather than a traditional cake, it was a tower of doughnuts topped with little wedding-themed Lego people. Then it was on to the pub and club scene for a good old fashioned drink. We stayed ’til about 11:30, then had to be off as Jane’s throat was hurting. Poor girl, she’s had tonsillitis or something for the past week or so.
All in all, it was a lovely day. Here, have some more pictures of the lovely day.
Just a note: I’m writing this on the 28th, but I’ll publish it on the 27th (love that feature of WordPress – it’s like ret-con).
