Holland, Wedding tales 9th August 2010

9^th August 2010, 6:10pm, Woundenberg, Holland

It’s been two days since our wedding reception in Neatishead, Norfolk. I’m sitting in the front room of Mel’s mothers house which sits in a quiet superb, I am sat next to Mel on the sofa, Millhouse the greyhound beside us and Johanna, Mel’s mother, pottering around in the kitchen and garden.

Our Wedding Reception was perfect. Nearly all those invited came to the event, the food, wine, music and company were spot on and as for my bride, she looked stunning in her dress. She had her hair in curls with beautiful flowers knitted in, donated to her by her absent friend Olga. I also had a button hole to match, so thanks to Olga for those! I was wearing a suit, as expected I suppose. I had considered a kilt, but none of the bridal shops in Newcastle-upon-Tyne thought we could possibly afford theirs, so I went to a well known high street department store and let me tell you, “this isn’t just any suit, this is an M & S suit.” and the service I received in there was simply amazing!

Mel arrived at the reception surrounded by her good friends and confidants at 4:30pm. Many thanks to Lucy, Rachel, Johanna, Henry and Mandy for escorting her. Almost all our guests had arrived and took their places around our dance floor for our first dance - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole’s 'Somewhere over the rainbow'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I

I caught sight of Mel just as she walked through the main entrance to the hall. I was surrounded by friends and family but Mel was all I could see. We held hands, kissed and danced together. I had to hold back the tears which were threatening to flow, had I not have done I think I would have been a complete mess. There is no more beautiful sight than a bride on her wedding day and when it’s your own; as those who have been lucky enough to have experienced the moment themselves would surely testify, it takes your breath away. You could have knocked me over with a feather.

Now, as I understand it, the traditional way of doing things is to get married before the wedding reception. Mel and I are doing it rather differently. Our wedding reception happened before we tie the knot, that is coming much later; on the 1^st of September, up in the botanic gardens on Mount Couther which overlooks the cosmopolitan city scape of Brisbane, a place very close to both my and Mel’s hearts as we lived there for a while back in 2004, becoming stalwarts of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) crew of that spring season. We shared such fantastic and enchanting experiences during our time there. The most notable was a road trip that we organized to watch the sunrise from the top of Mount Warning. There were 19 of us on the trip, all staff and friends from QPAC representing 7 different nationalities. We all met up in the car park at the theatre, drove a couple of hundred k’s to the foot of the mountain, where we embarked a very steep climb to the summit – the prize, to be the first people in the Western Hemisphere to witness the sunrise – amazing!!