Love and Marriage

The Wedding day of my best friends David and Kirsty saw us take our second trip back to the UK  within the year.  When Barnadi and I had the Australia leg of our wedding, nearly 6 years ago, both David and Kirsty came out with us, David was my best man and Kirsty a bridesmaid (a slightly erroneous term, considering there is no bride in a gay wedding). 

BBQ on the Balcony

Our flights did not leave until after midnight and so we decided to host a BBQ at our house during the day to pass the time.   It would be the first time we got to use the new gas BBQ we had bought from Bunnings almost 2 months previously.  Amongst the guests who turned up were Sam and Athina, the last time I had caught up with them was at the Fringe festival, since then both have now got full registration and Athina had even got a job.  Sam however was still unemployed although had a few interviews set up.  It was this combination of events which led Sam to the decision he would be coming back to the UK for David and Kirsty's wedding after all (provided he could get a cheap enough ticket that night).  This was very good news as Sam and Kirsty had lived together at university and had been friends as long as I had with David.  The rest of the BBQ went very well, and finished early enough to get most of it cleared up before we had to leave for our flight.  The flight itself was long but completely uneventful, which is always a good thing for a flight to be. 

Racing Santas at Martin and Laura's Festivitiness party

We spent our first night in London as we didn't fancy getting off the plane and facing a three hour bus journey to Bath.  We didn't really do much in the way of sightseeing in London, instead we did a bit of shopping (Clothes in the UK are much cheaper than in Australia and they usually have better cuts and sizes) and met up with a friend for coffee, but that was about it.  The weather was wet, but surprisingly not too cold, and to be honest I quite enjoyed the misty drizzle that is so eponymous with England.  The rain was much heavier when we got to Bath, and the river Avon was much higher than I had ever seen it, the footpaths on either side being completely submerged, the weir completely indistinguishable from the roaring torrent that made up the rest of the river and the bottom of bridges normally high enough to allow a narrow boat under now not even letting any sunlight through.  The weather forecast for the actual wedding day had changed from a sunny day to that of continued downpours.  The weather combined with the development of a nasty cold was giving Kirsty a great deal of anxiety about their wedding day.  Most of our time in Bath was pretty much planned out for us, with dinners out and Christmas parties to attend as well as making the time to catch up with old friends and colleagues.  The rest of our 'free' time was taken up making important trips such as to the bank to transfer the rest of our money over to Australia to put towards the deposit on a house.

The night before the wedding we went to help decorate the hall the reception was to be held in.  It was a monster task with lots to do, but it was a miraculous transformation from a barren looking hall to a warming winter retreat.  The photo walls that covered the halls notice boards helped disguise the halls many other uses as well as giving the whole place a more personal touch and the blue filters for the lights completely changed the atmosphere of the place.  After we had done as much as we could to the hall we then took a trip over to the church for the wedding rehearsal.  My role as best man seemed quite simple stand to one side with David and present the rings to the vicar when asked.  David never actually asked me to be his best man, it was merely ever implied that I would be.  The first definite clue I had was when Kirsty wrote a message in the invitation that ended "..you had better start working on your speech..."  I also didn't know I was to be one of the witnesses until the vicar mentioned it during the wedding rehearsal. 

Wedding photo's in the rain

In keeping with tradition the bride and groom slept in separate beds the night before the wedding, Kirsty stayed at a hotel with her mum, whilst Barnadi, Sam and I kept David company at his house.  In the morning the house was a hive of activity David and his father had to go to the reception hall to accept the delivery of flowers while I took a trip to the florist to pick up the buttonholes.  We then enjoyed a slightly staggered champagne breakfast before getting changing into our wedding suits and heading to the church.  Sam sorted out the candles, Barnadi helped attach buttonholes and the photographer and camera man set up whilst the ushers handed out the order of service to the early arrivals.  Everything was going well until David's brother managed to drop a cuff link down through a grate in the church floor.  With a great deal of luck he managed to locate it again before the wedding service started.  When Kirsty entered she looked resplendent, the dress, the hair and make up all complementing each other perfectly, the happiness that shone from her eyes completing the image.  The service went without a hitch even though none of us could quite remember what to do when from the rehearsal.  Trying to get the wedding photo's done in the rain was a bit of a shambles however and in the end  it was decided to give up trying to get them all done and just head on out of the rain and onto the reception.

Adding the finishing touches to the hall

The reception was the part of the day I was dreading, not the whole reception, just the speeches.  I had written my best man speech a couple of days ago and had run through it a few times by myself but when the vicar stole one of my anecdotes during the wedding service I began to panic.  By the time we sat down to eat I had already had a couple of kia royales and had developed a headache, thankfully I was sitting near Kirsty's mum, who had come prepared with a wide array of analgesics to choose from.  The best man speech is always last, and by the time it got to me I was shaking so much I could hardly hold my champagne flute for the toasts, but once it was over that was it, I could relax again and enjoy the rest of the night, and what a night it was. 

We spent another couple of nights in Bath before making the trip back to Kent to visit my family, the weather continued to be rainy but it also had grown considerably colder too, so the thought of coming back to an Australian summer was somewhat appealing.  My sister Rachel and her husband Glen drove us back to the airport where they waved us goodbye, much the same as they did only 6 months previously.  Coming back to Australia was going to feel different this time however, Gemma and Dan would have moved on after 2 months living with us and I am about to start my new job.  Not only this but with the pre-approval for our mortgage going through we will be busy looking for a new house.  Everything is about to change.