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I *still* need a wedding icon...
May. 31st, 2009 11:00 pmBy the time I actually get around to finding a wedding icon I'll have run out of weddings to go to. Oh well, more fool me!
The wedding yesterday was lovely. It was the hottest day of the year so far, with blazing sunshine and my shoulders are a bit pink and sore today. Hopefully, it'll have turned into a lovely golden brown tan before my sister's wedding.
Being the useless person I am, I set out a lot later than planned. National Rail Enquiries had given me a different route to usual and I knew that the old North London Line (now rebranded the 'Overground Network' and painted orange) is notoriously dodgy so I planned to give myself plenty of time. In the end I faffed and procrastinated to the extend that I was cutting it very fine. Fortunately, the journey went very smoothly. I caught the train to Richmond, waited 10 minutes for the train to West Hampstead (with lots of Chelsea fans on their way to Wembley), found West Hampstead Thameslink station easily and waited no more than five minutes for a direct train to St Albans. I will definitely be remembering that route if I have to go there again as it's much easier than struggling across central London. Also it only cost me £6.70 which is a bargain for quite a long trip.
At St Albans I walked to the chapel which was about 15 minutes from the station. I found it quite easily with the help of a map printed from multimap and was glad to arrive 20 minutes early. This is personal best for me. I'm never early for anything!
The groom, who I'd never met but recognised from photos, was standing outside so I introduced myself to him probably too over enthusiastically by explaining in detail how I knew his future wife (he looked at me as if I was a bit odd) and was shown in to the chapel. They were getting married in the chapel attended by the bride's family. I was a bit nervous as the bride is strongly religious and I'm never sure how things are going to pan out at non-church of England weddings. In actual fact I need not have worried. The chapel was what I consider to be a traditional non-conformist chapel. It was very plain, with no alter and raised platform for the preecher. It also had 1st floor gallery and a large but not showy organ. I think I was the first friend of the bride to arrive. The rest of the people there seemed to be on the groom's side (they all seemed very well to do) and the bride's gigantic extended family. Eventually, I was joined by an elderly couple who didn't know anyone else there either. In fact, they hadn't seen the bride for 20 years, so I felt a bit better then. We got chatting and they explained that they had helped rescue the bride, her father, brother and sister from the car accident in which their mother was killed when the bride was just 8 years old. They had only stayed vaguely in touch with the family and wanted to know lots about them so I told them everything I knew which filled in the time before the service. Whilst we chatted the chapel became increasingly chaotic as everyone seemed to be arriving at once. Perhaps being early does pay off! Some of the bride's cousins and their smally children sat in front of me. I kept my fingers crossed that they would be used to being in church and wouldn't be too noisy.
The bride arrived fashionably late. She looked absolutely lovely and so did the bridesmaids who were wearing a kind of greeny, turquoise colour. The first hymn was 'Bread of Heaven' which is one of approximately ten hymns I actually know so that was result. The bride and groom had rather a struggle getting the rings on as a result of the hot weather. I'd been a bit concerned that the service would be very solemn but it was actually quite laid back and filled with humour. The 'Address' (what the CofE would call a sermon) was given by a preacher who had been a university with the groom. He preeched a strong Christian and moral message but with lots of laughter and mild teasing of the groom. Also, he was from Balham. Everyone I meet seems to have a connection with South London these days. The second hymn was a new one (written 2003) which I obviously didn't know at all. The prayers were read by more of the bride and groom's friends with help from their little girl who was very cute. The readings were a psalm and part of the Bible. I was a bit confused by the Bible reading as it was clearly not being read by the person who was listed in the order of service as meant to be reading it. They were the wrong gender and the wrong ethnicity to start with. It turned out that the person meant to read was stuck in FA cup traffic on the M25. Oooops! I didn't know the final hymn and it had a tricky bit where the women sing first and then the men. Everyone else seemed to know it so I sang along quietly. One of the benefits of being in a small chapel was that the acoustics were great. When everyone sang it sounded great and it also helped the singer and violinist who played whilst the register was being signed. They were brilliant, especially the singer.
After the service we went to the Cathedral grounds, just down the road for photos. That was where I caught the sun. It was actually quite difficult to find a clear spot to take the photos as so many people were lazing around having picnics. The large group of punky, emo type kids chucking around a rugby ball wouldn't have looked that great in the background. Fortunately, a suitable spot was found and the line ups began. Lots and lots of them. I managed to get a couple of good shots which is unusual as I'm not normally pushy enough to get to the front. I was also in a couple of photos. I did the cheesy grin look this time as the closed mouth smile I tried at the last wedding made me look a bit strange. After all the family and friends shots were done they tried something a bit different. They asked for: women wearing hats, men with beards, people who read the Guardian or Observer (mainly bride's relatives), people who read the Telegraph or Sunday Telegraph (mainly groom's relatives), people who put the jam on their cream tea before the cream and people who put the cream on before the jam with a gap in the middle (a couple of Cornish flags appeared at this point - the bride's mum was Cornish) and people who arrived at the Church after the bride.
I decided to give the evening reception a miss as I really didn't know anyone (and the people I recognised from uni clearly didn't recognise me) and I would've had to leave really early to get home. There were so many guests I'm sure they didn't miss me. Instead I went for wander around the Cathedral where sung evensong was taking place. I was back home by 7pm.
The wedding yesterday was lovely. It was the hottest day of the year so far, with blazing sunshine and my shoulders are a bit pink and sore today. Hopefully, it'll have turned into a lovely golden brown tan before my sister's wedding.
Being the useless person I am, I set out a lot later than planned. National Rail Enquiries had given me a different route to usual and I knew that the old North London Line (now rebranded the 'Overground Network' and painted orange) is notoriously dodgy so I planned to give myself plenty of time. In the end I faffed and procrastinated to the extend that I was cutting it very fine. Fortunately, the journey went very smoothly. I caught the train to Richmond, waited 10 minutes for the train to West Hampstead (with lots of Chelsea fans on their way to Wembley), found West Hampstead Thameslink station easily and waited no more than five minutes for a direct train to St Albans. I will definitely be remembering that route if I have to go there again as it's much easier than struggling across central London. Also it only cost me £6.70 which is a bargain for quite a long trip.
At St Albans I walked to the chapel which was about 15 minutes from the station. I found it quite easily with the help of a map printed from multimap and was glad to arrive 20 minutes early. This is personal best for me. I'm never early for anything!
The groom, who I'd never met but recognised from photos, was standing outside so I introduced myself to him probably too over enthusiastically by explaining in detail how I knew his future wife (he looked at me as if I was a bit odd) and was shown in to the chapel. They were getting married in the chapel attended by the bride's family. I was a bit nervous as the bride is strongly religious and I'm never sure how things are going to pan out at non-church of England weddings. In actual fact I need not have worried. The chapel was what I consider to be a traditional non-conformist chapel. It was very plain, with no alter and raised platform for the preecher. It also had 1st floor gallery and a large but not showy organ. I think I was the first friend of the bride to arrive. The rest of the people there seemed to be on the groom's side (they all seemed very well to do) and the bride's gigantic extended family. Eventually, I was joined by an elderly couple who didn't know anyone else there either. In fact, they hadn't seen the bride for 20 years, so I felt a bit better then. We got chatting and they explained that they had helped rescue the bride, her father, brother and sister from the car accident in which their mother was killed when the bride was just 8 years old. They had only stayed vaguely in touch with the family and wanted to know lots about them so I told them everything I knew which filled in the time before the service. Whilst we chatted the chapel became increasingly chaotic as everyone seemed to be arriving at once. Perhaps being early does pay off! Some of the bride's cousins and their smally children sat in front of me. I kept my fingers crossed that they would be used to being in church and wouldn't be too noisy.
The bride arrived fashionably late. She looked absolutely lovely and so did the bridesmaids who were wearing a kind of greeny, turquoise colour. The first hymn was 'Bread of Heaven' which is one of approximately ten hymns I actually know so that was result. The bride and groom had rather a struggle getting the rings on as a result of the hot weather. I'd been a bit concerned that the service would be very solemn but it was actually quite laid back and filled with humour. The 'Address' (what the CofE would call a sermon) was given by a preacher who had been a university with the groom. He preeched a strong Christian and moral message but with lots of laughter and mild teasing of the groom. Also, he was from Balham. Everyone I meet seems to have a connection with South London these days. The second hymn was a new one (written 2003) which I obviously didn't know at all. The prayers were read by more of the bride and groom's friends with help from their little girl who was very cute. The readings were a psalm and part of the Bible. I was a bit confused by the Bible reading as it was clearly not being read by the person who was listed in the order of service as meant to be reading it. They were the wrong gender and the wrong ethnicity to start with. It turned out that the person meant to read was stuck in FA cup traffic on the M25. Oooops! I didn't know the final hymn and it had a tricky bit where the women sing first and then the men. Everyone else seemed to know it so I sang along quietly. One of the benefits of being in a small chapel was that the acoustics were great. When everyone sang it sounded great and it also helped the singer and violinist who played whilst the register was being signed. They were brilliant, especially the singer.
After the service we went to the Cathedral grounds, just down the road for photos. That was where I caught the sun. It was actually quite difficult to find a clear spot to take the photos as so many people were lazing around having picnics. The large group of punky, emo type kids chucking around a rugby ball wouldn't have looked that great in the background. Fortunately, a suitable spot was found and the line ups began. Lots and lots of them. I managed to get a couple of good shots which is unusual as I'm not normally pushy enough to get to the front. I was also in a couple of photos. I did the cheesy grin look this time as the closed mouth smile I tried at the last wedding made me look a bit strange. After all the family and friends shots were done they tried something a bit different. They asked for: women wearing hats, men with beards, people who read the Guardian or Observer (mainly bride's relatives), people who read the Telegraph or Sunday Telegraph (mainly groom's relatives), people who put the jam on their cream tea before the cream and people who put the cream on before the jam with a gap in the middle (a couple of Cornish flags appeared at this point - the bride's mum was Cornish) and people who arrived at the Church after the bride.
I decided to give the evening reception a miss as I really didn't know anyone (and the people I recognised from uni clearly didn't recognise me) and I would've had to leave really early to get home. There were so many guests I'm sure they didn't miss me. Instead I went for wander around the Cathedral where sung evensong was taking place. I was back home by 7pm.
It was a lovely day and I'm glad I went. I'll be circulating the photos to all our other housemates so they know what they missed.
