Sarah's wedding
On Friday, after work, James and I were picked up by Avital and Jesse in Jesse's new-ish car. We let the guys sit at the front as they have longer legs, so Avi and I squished into the back seat for the long journey up to Newcastle. I've not seen Avital in nearly two years so we had lots to catch up on, and I really enjoyed chatting with her and remembering how much fun she is. The journey was slightly harrowing, though, as Jesse has only been driving a few months and has never driven outside Manchester before, so the country roads where hard for him and having three chatting passengers probably didn't help.
We reached James' parents' house after dark so it seemed much more remote than it does in the daylight. We spent a bit of time catching up with his parents and finding out how his mother is after the operation on her elbow last week. I was pretty tired though, so went to bed before the others. The worst thing about visiting James' parents is that we still have to sleep in the same single bed with the same thin mattress that has been in his room since he was a boy, and it's really not comfortable. I had achy shoulders when I woke up but at least I didn't lose out on any sleep.
On Saturday we got dressed up in our finery and got the metro into Jesmond where the church was for Sarah's wedding. We ended up there far too early so we took some photos and I saw Antonia again which was nice.
Then it was time for the ceremony. Sarah and Jonny are Evangelical Christians, so I was unsure what to expect of the service, but it was mostly what I would expect of a Church of England wedding. The actual vows didn't take very long, but there were plenty of prayers (the vicar gave very enthusiastic 'amens') and several songs (some with a band!) and a bit of happy-clappy stuff at the end (Sarah kindof danced back down the aisle!). The address was from the youth worker at the church who actually knows the couple quite well and he gave a really good speech which showed how much he cared about them. There was a lot of religious talk, unsurprisingly, some of it which I found a bit unsavoury (humans are unlovable without god? humans don't have love unless they get it from god?) but I guess that's unavoidable. I enjoyed the service, though, and did actually get a bit teary when Sarah first appeared in her dress. The dress is very traditional - white, long and looking rather uncomfortable. She had four bridesmaids in a rather lovely turquoise colour and three little Dakota Fanning-lookalikes as flower girls. Her brother and his wife led the prayers near the end, and then Jonny's sister sang Amazing Grace while they signed the register.
After the ceremony there were cakes served at the back of the church which were well-received but then we had quite a lot of time to kill before the reception. There was a lunch for close friends and family, but as we didn't fit in that category, we weren't invited. So we walked into Newcastle centre and showed Jesse and Avital some of the highlights of the city, including the Baltic art gallery with its fantastic views of the river and the bridges over it. We then settled in a bar called The Waterline and stayed there for several hours waiting for the evening. We sat outside on a picnic table and were soon joined by a large group of women on a hen weekend. As the memory of Sarah's hen weekend was still fresh in my mind I was amused to see how much wilder these women were than we were. At one point, they stole James away when he went to get a drink and started putting feather boas and large plastic breasts on him as part of some kind of game. I didn't go and rescue him, rather I laughed until I could barely stand up and took photos of him.
We should have started walking back to the bus station at half six, but as the boys were still watching football we didn't leave until 15 minutes later despite my concern about the bus we had to get. We eventually climbed back up the hill (Newcastle is very hilly) to the bus station and as I predicted, we arrived in time to see the bus driving away from us while we were just two minutes too late to get it. So we had to wait 30 minutes for another bus and then spend 40 minutes whooshing through the Northumberland countryside through Morpeth and out to a tiny village called Longhirst.
On leaving the bus we asked the driver where Longhirst Hall was but he didn't have a clue. Undaunted, we started walking down the country road in the fading light and soon realised that we were not going to find the reception in a field. So we turned and went back to the village. James tried to knock on someone's door and ask a friendly villager where the hall was, only to choose a very unfriendly villager who wouldn't even open the door to us and clearly thought us very suspicious. We had to wander along the road aimlessly until we found a small side road and decided that it might take us to the hall. We eventually stumbled across the back of the hall and followed the music to the reception which was by then in full swing. We had missed the first dance and everyone else seemed to be having a great time and be already slightly tipsy while we felt that we had survived some kind of rural horror movie and had finally found civilisation again.
There was a live, 7-piece band which was very strongly influenced by The Commitments and played about six songs from the soundtrack. Just when we had reconciled to hunger for the whole evening, a small buffet was announced so we tucked in with relief.
Then the four of us moved to the dancefloor, even James who always refused to dance whenever I implore him. I always put this down to bah-humbuggery and disdain, but I was wrong. It's not that he won't dance, it's that he really, really can't dance. I tried to encourage him to step from side to side and move his arms to the music, only to be told that "the music isn't going side to side" and he couldn't move his arms and legs at the same time. Bless him, he did try, but his efforts were just too funny. I found it endearing at the time, but I'm also a bit gutted because I love to dance and it's such a shame that he doesn't have that ability.
Discussion of dancing moved to discussion of the choice of first dance at weddings. James and I realised that we don't have "a song", but we did consider the Talking Heads song Once in a Lifetime out of irony ('this is not my beautiful wife' etc). And then Avital and I, despite being in no position to do so, indulged in a sneaky criticism of certain parts of the wedding and planning how we'd do it better. (We wouldn't have a huge gap between service and reception, we would make it clearer how to get to the reception or have both parts in the same place, we'd have done the invitations better, we'd serve a better buffet, I personally wouldn't have a live band because I don't like live music and prefer the idea of a wedding playlist, etc. And I'd totally have a chocolate fountain.) Oh it's so easy to be critical when you don't have to make the decisions or pay for them!
At midnight the bride and groom left under a arch formed by the guests into a waiting Mini to whisk them away to the airport Hilton before their honeymoon in Barcelona. James' father came to collect us, which was nice of him, and I was so glad to get home and into bed.
On Sunday we had a lie-in and played with the Wii bought to help James' mother's rehabilitation after her elbow operation. I liked the snowball game on the Wii-Fit but hated the football header game because your player keeps getting shoes and skulls thrown at it! We had a walk around the lake together and then had pizza for lunch before heading back to Manchester. The weather was glorious, so James' father, who loves driving, told us it was a great day for a drive. Personally, I thought it was a better day for a walk as I find car journeys quite unpleasant lately, but I guess the conditions were better for Jesse as driver. He found the country road quite hard on the way home so I was glad when we reached the motorway, and even gladder when we got back to Manchester. I spent the evening making broccoli soup and watching an old episode of Jonathan Creek.
Back to work today, and frankly I would rather have stayed in bed. I wasn't tired, and not quite ill, but felt a bit off and out of sorts. Had a headache all day - hope it's not the bloodclot from sitting squashed in the car for three hours making its way towards my brain. Went to the gym after work and am quite exhausted now. Came home and ate a chickpea korma and all the little Lindor eggs that came with my Easter egg from James.
So - a good weekend, but we all agreed by the end that we wouldn't go so far for a wedding again unless it was someone we were much closer to. We hardly spoke to Sarah, naturally, and as I haven't seen her in nearly two years I do wonder if it was worth it. She was the first person I met when I moved to university, and the first wedding among my year group, but I doubt if I'll see her much now she lives in Newcastle. Ah well, c'est la vie. At least I got to wear a lovely outfit.
I'd like a few quiet weeks now please. I've been in three different UK cities in three weeks, not including Manchester, so I could do with some time at home. The flat is in desperate need of a cleaning and a sorting but it's unlikely to happen soon. I need to do some exercise in preparation for our return trip to Snowdonia in a few weeks and would also just like to sleep a bit more if possible!
We reached James' parents' house after dark so it seemed much more remote than it does in the daylight. We spent a bit of time catching up with his parents and finding out how his mother is after the operation on her elbow last week. I was pretty tired though, so went to bed before the others. The worst thing about visiting James' parents is that we still have to sleep in the same single bed with the same thin mattress that has been in his room since he was a boy, and it's really not comfortable. I had achy shoulders when I woke up but at least I didn't lose out on any sleep.
On Saturday we got dressed up in our finery and got the metro into Jesmond where the church was for Sarah's wedding. We ended up there far too early so we took some photos and I saw Antonia again which was nice.
Then it was time for the ceremony. Sarah and Jonny are Evangelical Christians, so I was unsure what to expect of the service, but it was mostly what I would expect of a Church of England wedding. The actual vows didn't take very long, but there were plenty of prayers (the vicar gave very enthusiastic 'amens') and several songs (some with a band!) and a bit of happy-clappy stuff at the end (Sarah kindof danced back down the aisle!). The address was from the youth worker at the church who actually knows the couple quite well and he gave a really good speech which showed how much he cared about them. There was a lot of religious talk, unsurprisingly, some of it which I found a bit unsavoury (humans are unlovable without god? humans don't have love unless they get it from god?) but I guess that's unavoidable. I enjoyed the service, though, and did actually get a bit teary when Sarah first appeared in her dress. The dress is very traditional - white, long and looking rather uncomfortable. She had four bridesmaids in a rather lovely turquoise colour and three little Dakota Fanning-lookalikes as flower girls. Her brother and his wife led the prayers near the end, and then Jonny's sister sang Amazing Grace while they signed the register.
After the ceremony there were cakes served at the back of the church which were well-received but then we had quite a lot of time to kill before the reception. There was a lunch for close friends and family, but as we didn't fit in that category, we weren't invited. So we walked into Newcastle centre and showed Jesse and Avital some of the highlights of the city, including the Baltic art gallery with its fantastic views of the river and the bridges over it. We then settled in a bar called The Waterline and stayed there for several hours waiting for the evening. We sat outside on a picnic table and were soon joined by a large group of women on a hen weekend. As the memory of Sarah's hen weekend was still fresh in my mind I was amused to see how much wilder these women were than we were. At one point, they stole James away when he went to get a drink and started putting feather boas and large plastic breasts on him as part of some kind of game. I didn't go and rescue him, rather I laughed until I could barely stand up and took photos of him.
We should have started walking back to the bus station at half six, but as the boys were still watching football we didn't leave until 15 minutes later despite my concern about the bus we had to get. We eventually climbed back up the hill (Newcastle is very hilly) to the bus station and as I predicted, we arrived in time to see the bus driving away from us while we were just two minutes too late to get it. So we had to wait 30 minutes for another bus and then spend 40 minutes whooshing through the Northumberland countryside through Morpeth and out to a tiny village called Longhirst.
On leaving the bus we asked the driver where Longhirst Hall was but he didn't have a clue. Undaunted, we started walking down the country road in the fading light and soon realised that we were not going to find the reception in a field. So we turned and went back to the village. James tried to knock on someone's door and ask a friendly villager where the hall was, only to choose a very unfriendly villager who wouldn't even open the door to us and clearly thought us very suspicious. We had to wander along the road aimlessly until we found a small side road and decided that it might take us to the hall. We eventually stumbled across the back of the hall and followed the music to the reception which was by then in full swing. We had missed the first dance and everyone else seemed to be having a great time and be already slightly tipsy while we felt that we had survived some kind of rural horror movie and had finally found civilisation again.
There was a live, 7-piece band which was very strongly influenced by The Commitments and played about six songs from the soundtrack. Just when we had reconciled to hunger for the whole evening, a small buffet was announced so we tucked in with relief.
Then the four of us moved to the dancefloor, even James who always refused to dance whenever I implore him. I always put this down to bah-humbuggery and disdain, but I was wrong. It's not that he won't dance, it's that he really, really can't dance. I tried to encourage him to step from side to side and move his arms to the music, only to be told that "the music isn't going side to side" and he couldn't move his arms and legs at the same time. Bless him, he did try, but his efforts were just too funny. I found it endearing at the time, but I'm also a bit gutted because I love to dance and it's such a shame that he doesn't have that ability.
Discussion of dancing moved to discussion of the choice of first dance at weddings. James and I realised that we don't have "a song", but we did consider the Talking Heads song Once in a Lifetime out of irony ('this is not my beautiful wife' etc). And then Avital and I, despite being in no position to do so, indulged in a sneaky criticism of certain parts of the wedding and planning how we'd do it better. (We wouldn't have a huge gap between service and reception, we would make it clearer how to get to the reception or have both parts in the same place, we'd have done the invitations better, we'd serve a better buffet, I personally wouldn't have a live band because I don't like live music and prefer the idea of a wedding playlist, etc. And I'd totally have a chocolate fountain.) Oh it's so easy to be critical when you don't have to make the decisions or pay for them!
At midnight the bride and groom left under a arch formed by the guests into a waiting Mini to whisk them away to the airport Hilton before their honeymoon in Barcelona. James' father came to collect us, which was nice of him, and I was so glad to get home and into bed.
On Sunday we had a lie-in and played with the Wii bought to help James' mother's rehabilitation after her elbow operation. I liked the snowball game on the Wii-Fit but hated the football header game because your player keeps getting shoes and skulls thrown at it! We had a walk around the lake together and then had pizza for lunch before heading back to Manchester. The weather was glorious, so James' father, who loves driving, told us it was a great day for a drive. Personally, I thought it was a better day for a walk as I find car journeys quite unpleasant lately, but I guess the conditions were better for Jesse as driver. He found the country road quite hard on the way home so I was glad when we reached the motorway, and even gladder when we got back to Manchester. I spent the evening making broccoli soup and watching an old episode of Jonathan Creek.
Back to work today, and frankly I would rather have stayed in bed. I wasn't tired, and not quite ill, but felt a bit off and out of sorts. Had a headache all day - hope it's not the bloodclot from sitting squashed in the car for three hours making its way towards my brain. Went to the gym after work and am quite exhausted now. Came home and ate a chickpea korma and all the little Lindor eggs that came with my Easter egg from James.
So - a good weekend, but we all agreed by the end that we wouldn't go so far for a wedding again unless it was someone we were much closer to. We hardly spoke to Sarah, naturally, and as I haven't seen her in nearly two years I do wonder if it was worth it. She was the first person I met when I moved to university, and the first wedding among my year group, but I doubt if I'll see her much now she lives in Newcastle. Ah well, c'est la vie. At least I got to wear a lovely outfit.
I'd like a few quiet weeks now please. I've been in three different UK cities in three weeks, not including Manchester, so I could do with some time at home. The flat is in desperate need of a cleaning and a sorting but it's unlikely to happen soon. I need to do some exercise in preparation for our return trip to Snowdonia in a few weeks and would also just like to sleep a bit more if possible!