Scouse Wedding

On the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral

After last night's late night out, I was absolutely dragging to try to make it to a wedding at St. Paul's Cathedral by 2 PM.  Which you wouldn't think would be that hard, but I was exhausted...

I got held up as well by Joel calling me, unfortunately in a mood to chat, as he himself was on his way to his own sister's wedding.  Lots going on there, but I was almost relieved when he got cut off by the train (he was on the Underground to Earl's Court), so I had to cut our conversation short when he got cut off.  When he texted to say he would call back shortly, I replied that I was on my way to a wedding myself.  Which got me the reply, "Surely time for ours soon? X ;-)"

Such comments secretly drive me nuts, because my Joel's own admission, there is nobody who understands him better, nobody who is wiser to him or more perfectly suited for him, than me.  But of course, Joel has no attraction for me as a woman, I'm just the eternal friend.  So it kind of bugs me in a way, when he makes jokes like that about what a perfect match we are, even when we both know he'll never act on it.  As Joel himself has often said to me, "I have too many male friends."

My little tête-a-tête with Joel had me running so late that when I arrived at St. Paul's, it was mere minutes before 2 PM, and I found myself making a frantic dash through the cathedral looking for the chapel where the wedding was due to be held.  Luckily, with the invitation in my hand, the church wardens, who normally have the job of keeping people out of restricted areas of the chapel, saw me racing and coming and helpfully kept pulling back velvet ropes and pointing, saying, "The wedding?  That way!"

At last I skidded up the aisle and plopped myself into an empty seat right next to Lex in the midst of a group of everyone from our running club.  I was pleased to discover as well that I wasn't even the last person to arrive, when Sweetheart walked in a few minutes after I did, and took the empty seat on the aisle next to me.

The wedding was lovely, a classic Church of England service, which meant that everyone was talking way too much during the signing of the registry (something never done as part of American church services), but overall some lovely hymns and singing.  I always enjoy when the congregation gets to sing at the wedding.

The bride and groom coming down the aisle at the end

After the service was over, we took a few photos out in front of the church, and then everyone made their way down to the river front, where we found ourselves on a boat for a short river cruise and speeches.  Despite not having had a hangover when I woke up in the morning, the constant motion of the boat made me feel slightly ill, so I didn't drink anything the entire time, but just tried to avoid my stuffed ears, cough and cold.  I found myself talking to girls who have slightly shrill, high-pitched voices at the best of times, but now they were truly unbearable with me sensitive, stuffed ears.

I also found a funny effect when the groom came near, as I've always thought he had an "off" smell, like he didn't launder his clothes enough, but since I usually see him at our running club, I just assumed he was one of these guys who didn't wash his running kit as frequently as he should.  (A common offence among men).  To my surprise, even in his wedding finery, I was assaulted by the same smell, making me realise it must just be a general odour about him.  And with his bride cuddling up to him and everyone else not seeming to mind in the least, it suddenly occurred to me:  Was I the only one who smelled that?  It's always been so powerful, as nice a chap as the groom is, I've never been able to spend very long talking to him.

Which makes me wonder, "Is there an odour about me that everybody else can smell?  Or that only certain people can smell?"  It was really all kind of a strange and perplexing discovery, to realise that your sense of smell is so far off from everyone else's.

At last I managed to escape over to where Kitty, her boyfriend, and the Ginger Lawyer Guy were, and I had a fun time talking to the Ginger Lawyer Guy for a while about his dates.  He goes on quite a few, apparently, and it was kind of a relief to discover that a nice chap who everybody likes seems to have equally as bad luck on dates as I often do.

At the reception venue

Then it was time for the speeches, which were a great surprise, as normally these things are to be tolerated, but to a person they all had us laughing our heads off.  The father of the bride started, and his wasn't bad.  Followed by the Maid of Honour, who did quite a good job, then the groom who got a few zingers in there, to finally the Best Man's speech, which had us absolutely doubled over in laughter.  Admittedly, at quite a few points as the Best Man told some truly embarrassing stories, we thought, "Thank goodness it's not our grandparents listening to this!" (the stories involved picking up transvestites in bars), but I will remember that speech for some time for being one of the funniest Best Man speeches I've ever heard.  And what made me laugh is that I'd never heard anyone with such a funny accent like the groom, until the Best Man started speaking and he sounded exactly the same.  So there's the Scouse accent for you!

At last the boat docked again, and it was with quite a bit of relief that I found my feet on solid ground once again.  I'd truly been feeling ill on the boat, so I was relieved to be able to get out and walk around a bit as we went in search of a pub for some dinner.

Because in a tradition that seems exclusive to English weddings, there had been an "A List" and a "B List" at the wedding, and so only some of us were invited to the actual wedding reception and dinner, whereas the rest of us were fine to come to the wedding and to a drinks reception later after dinner, but we were left on our own for food in the afternoon.  Everything I've ever read about etiquette has stated that this is the height of rudeness, but the English seem to accept it as some sort of allowable custom, so I guess there was nothing to do but go along with it.

We walked around for ages trying to find an open pub, before settling on one that was actually a ship docked on the water.  We got some terrible food and a few drinks, and then sat around talking about marriage, whether we wanted to get married, and taking bets on whether people we knew would get married.  I also had quite a long chat with Ginger Lawyer Guy about his job, which was really interesting.  A really good chat to get to know him a bit better, really.

Dancing at the reception

Finally after dinner, we returned back to the reception venue to join everyone for drinks.  At this point I was tired and thinking I would stay for only one more drink, particularly after I realised that it was a cash bar.  Well no wonder the bride and groom hadn't worried about inviting all of these extra people to the evening drinks reception, if they wouldn't even have to pay for it.  Again, the customs of the English baffle me at times.

Somehow however, I found myself having drinks with Cookie and then being pulled onto the dance floor until the last dance at midnight, at which I insisted that I was going to go home and catch the last Tube.  Except somehow I then got dragged with the crowds to the hotel bar where all of the out-of-town guests were staying, and had even more drinks.  I asked for a beer at that point in the hopes of having something more watery, particularly after the tequila shots came around.  So much for a quiet early night after last night!

At last, I saw Sweetheart signal me from across the room that he wanted to call a cab, which I nodded in agreement to gratefully.  It was past 2 AM by this point, and I was nearly tripping over myself with drunkenness and exhaustion.  So once I'd said my good-byes to the bride and groom, I went over to Sweetheart and just snuggled up in his arms while we waited.  It's funny, because I often try to avoid being too inappropriately close to Sweetheart at times (I'm never quite clear on the boundaries of our relationship), but tonight I was just too tired, and unlike so many, he just smelled so nice and manly and his arms were so comforting and strong.  And the lovely man that he is, he just held me until our cab arrived, at which point I just snuggled up to him for the journey home, until I was safely back at my flat.  So exhausted, such a fun day, but what a long night!