long overdue: wedding (long!)
So, so much has happened, I sort of missed the moment to do updates.
We thought it would be restful and quiet and less of a strain to split up the festivities into 2 days, a nice quiet one with the actual wedding in the afternoon and a more strenuous one with a big party on Friday.
This was a wonderful idea and I am very happy we did it like that but it was hardly the quiet affair we had planned.
The official who did the wedding (at the city-hall) did the ceremony with a nice balance of comic aplomb and human dignity. Both my father and a dear friend of Peter's family had made a short speech. My father was clearly emotional, mentioning how he gained a son. (My parents are both very fond of Peter). After that we walked in procession to the restaurant we had reservations for a lunch. A long table was set on the dike in front of it, there we sat in the sun, under the trees. We had a long and lazy 5 course lunch.
After that the family left and we had only friends, we walked in an other procession to brewery "het IJ" (if you like beer and visit me in Amsterdam I'll take you there if you like, such good beer!). We were all dressed in Steampunk outfits and even in Amsterdam this raised some interest. It was surely an ego-boost, so many people congratulated us spontaneously or complimented us with our looks. We had a few beers and when the brewery closed at 20:00 we considered going home and getting a pizza. Instead we decided to go for dinner (so an other procession) and we had a nice meal at the Ponteneur. All in all it was past midnight when we took the bus home.
Thursday and the daytime of Friday were mostly dedicated to preparations, with help from our good friends Sabrina, Rudolf and my sister and her boyfriend. The party was in a scouting club hall and we sat in the dormitory. Peter had his eyes done by Hiske and Emma (8 years old) helped me with my skirts. Paula (Emma's mother and my life long friend) did my eyes and nails. Emma jumping up and down, "I like this party already".
We opened the doors and saw a big hall full of magnificently dressed people. It was amazing to see how many showed up for us and dressed up for us. We hugged and kissed everyone and then it was time for cake. I had ordered 2 cakes (not a specific wedding cake) one chocolate, one champagne-raspberry. They were both beautiful and scrumptious. We both cut one and then fed each other a spoonful. Ah theatrics :-)
Then it was time for proper partying. The great thing about the party-location was the variety it offered our guests. The was a quiet part were the drink was, a fire-place outside were people could sit and converse and a dance floor were we danced. (I danced!!) At a certain moment an uncle of mine got it into his head we had missed out on a "first dance" and that everyone should be on the dance floor (he hadn't danced himself and his had been busy drunkenly chatting up my friends) but anyway it worked and he got everyone in a circle dancing with us in the middle. It was quite fun.
As you might expect when there is a party at a place with a dormitory, people stayed overnight. The location needed to be clean next morning at 11 because the scouts would start at 12. This was early because it was after 05:00 when the last people went home and we crawled into bed. Well, almost everyone, Rudolf (who is our scout liaison) sort of decided that he might as well start clearing away some of the decorations and make room for breakfast. And all in all he ended up going on without sleeping till next evening doing the next day scouting meeting as well. I woke up at 8:30 and we had breakfast in front of the open fire. (nice!)
It is quite hard to describe a party and it's mood, I can just say that on all the pictures I seem to have a big smile. (pictures will come online and I will post a link)
We thought it would be restful and quiet and less of a strain to split up the festivities into 2 days, a nice quiet one with the actual wedding in the afternoon and a more strenuous one with a big party on Friday.
This was a wonderful idea and I am very happy we did it like that but it was hardly the quiet affair we had planned.
The official who did the wedding (at the city-hall) did the ceremony with a nice balance of comic aplomb and human dignity. Both my father and a dear friend of Peter's family had made a short speech. My father was clearly emotional, mentioning how he gained a son. (My parents are both very fond of Peter). After that we walked in procession to the restaurant we had reservations for a lunch. A long table was set on the dike in front of it, there we sat in the sun, under the trees. We had a long and lazy 5 course lunch.
After that the family left and we had only friends, we walked in an other procession to brewery "het IJ" (if you like beer and visit me in Amsterdam I'll take you there if you like, such good beer!). We were all dressed in Steampunk outfits and even in Amsterdam this raised some interest. It was surely an ego-boost, so many people congratulated us spontaneously or complimented us with our looks. We had a few beers and when the brewery closed at 20:00 we considered going home and getting a pizza. Instead we decided to go for dinner (so an other procession) and we had a nice meal at the Ponteneur. All in all it was past midnight when we took the bus home.
Thursday and the daytime of Friday were mostly dedicated to preparations, with help from our good friends Sabrina, Rudolf and my sister and her boyfriend. The party was in a scouting club hall and we sat in the dormitory. Peter had his eyes done by Hiske and Emma (8 years old) helped me with my skirts. Paula (Emma's mother and my life long friend) did my eyes and nails. Emma jumping up and down, "I like this party already".
We opened the doors and saw a big hall full of magnificently dressed people. It was amazing to see how many showed up for us and dressed up for us. We hugged and kissed everyone and then it was time for cake. I had ordered 2 cakes (not a specific wedding cake) one chocolate, one champagne-raspberry. They were both beautiful and scrumptious. We both cut one and then fed each other a spoonful. Ah theatrics :-)
Then it was time for proper partying. The great thing about the party-location was the variety it offered our guests. The was a quiet part were the drink was, a fire-place outside were people could sit and converse and a dance floor were we danced. (I danced!!) At a certain moment an uncle of mine got it into his head we had missed out on a "first dance" and that everyone should be on the dance floor (he hadn't danced himself and his had been busy drunkenly chatting up my friends) but anyway it worked and he got everyone in a circle dancing with us in the middle. It was quite fun.
As you might expect when there is a party at a place with a dormitory, people stayed overnight. The location needed to be clean next morning at 11 because the scouts would start at 12. This was early because it was after 05:00 when the last people went home and we crawled into bed. Well, almost everyone, Rudolf (who is our scout liaison) sort of decided that he might as well start clearing away some of the decorations and make room for breakfast. And all in all he ended up going on without sleeping till next evening doing the next day scouting meeting as well. I woke up at 8:30 and we had breakfast in front of the open fire. (nice!)
It is quite hard to describe a party and it's mood, I can just say that on all the pictures I seem to have a big smile. (pictures will come online and I will post a link)