Our Wedding
May 28th 2011. A day I’ll never forget; the day Jo and I got married. It’s always difficult finding the time to write new posts, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t at the very least make sure I wrote something about, cliché as it may be, the happiest day of my life. We’d originally planned the wedding for 10th October 2010: of course that date was nothing to do with the fact that 10-10-10 is easy to remember; not was it in any way related to the fact that 101010 in binary represents 42 in decimal – “the answer to life, the universe, and everything”! That date wasn’t to be, due in no small part to a severe lack of funds and planning. Fast forward to May 28th 2011 and having spent a not-exorbitant sum of money on eBay enjoyed a perfectly planned and executed wedding day in Edinburgh. The weather was even good to us - it only rained when we were inside! A massive thanks to Jo’s bridesmaids, Jess and Mip for supporting and helping her; my best man Sally for her support and help; my dad for doing a wonderful job of the photography and of course my beautiful wife Jo for doing me the greatest honour of marrying me!
The ceremony itself was at Lothian Chambers Registrar’s Office on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh with the magnificent and beautiful St. Giles' Cathedral to the rear of the building. The ceremony began at 15:00 and thankfully all the guests arrived on time! I arrived with Sally shortly before and had an opportunity to greet the guests before we were seated in the Melbourne Suite. Then the waiting began… I didn’t doubt for a moment that there would be any problems, but from being seated to Jo and her dad Colin entering the room felt like an eternity.
Neko Case’s ‘At Last’ played asJo came in to the room. I couldn’t help but grin like a crazy person from ear to ear, she looked beautiful; amazing; happy; if slightly nervous. It must have been quite a dusty room because there may have been a few tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. After the ceremony when we signed the register we had Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed, Sealed Delivered’ playing in the background. Then we headed outside where my dad took some brilliant photos of us all. Thankfully the weather stayed on our side for the most part. Jo and I were driven to our reception at 28 York Place a little ahead of the other guests – a welcome opportunity to take it all in and have some time to ourselves to relax before the party started!
We had a lovely meal with the rest of our wedding guests before the evening guests arrived. Given that my best man was Sally, our wedding mildly eschewed tradition so it seemed fitting for Jo to give a speech in place of her dad, Colin. Sally then gave the traditional best man’s speech which thankfully painted me in a good light without leaving me burying my head in my hands withembarrassment!
The party continued in to the early hours, but was thankfully briefly punctuated by some gratefully received bacon and sausage rolls, and some delicious and beautifully decorated cupcakes; the hard work courtesy of my wife and her bridesmaids. We both owe a big thanks to Sue and the rest of the staff at The Police Club. We were fortunate enough to be given many generous gifts by our family and friends, which have since been put toward a nice long break to Nice in October. After the wedding, we took a day to relax and recuperate before our honeymoon in Paris. There’ll be more about that in another post soon.