A lovely English village-like scenery. Perfect weather, too.
I'll keep this bit short and sweet
Names have been withheld to try and protect the innocent
In mid-July 2011, my friend declared his love for his sweetheart. My friend is known to always be sure of what he wants and bets on certainties. His judgement was once again vindicated as his proposal was accepted.
Fast forward to April 2012 and I was in Greater London, a matter of days before the momentous wedding. It was an ingenious idea to nominate yours truly to be the best man for the wedding. I'm not entirely sure I was ready for this...
Even though the wedding was to kept nice and low key, there's still the usual events building up to the magical day, as married couples will relate to. Over the course of a few days, family and friends started arriving into town. The few days were a combination of running through the flow of the wedding day, as well as organising the rings, the other props and the venues. Oh yes, and of course the usual having to calm down the to-be bride and groom as well.
Finally, the day of the wedding arrived...
Saturday 14 April 2012
The weather, looking rather ominous from a distance, managed to stay on its best behaviour for the day. The wedding was in the afternoon, and the day pretty much proceeded like clockwork. The guests had all arrived and ready in their best. As for me, I had the same regalia as the groom, a very English traditional wear.
Ahoy there, Captain! Yours truly ready to be the best man...
Groom's dad and two friends - including me - were in the groom's hotel room, pacing around and offering words of support and comfort to the groom. We also all managed to work out how to tie a cravat, which is oddly enough not the most intuitive thing to prepare, even for those who had grown up with the Windsor.
As afternoon set in, we started to make our way to the registry for the wedding ceremony. I was responsible for the rings, having been entrusted to keep them safe. In my head I was also trying to keep calm and formulate the speech I would have to give later at the reception. At the registry, just like tradition we were led to a small anteroom away from the bride and her party in preparation for the wedding. The groom sat at the desk in the corner of the anteroom, nervously pressing the tips of his fingers together. We continued to reiterate words of comfort.
Minutes passed like hours, but then we were called into a dainty set drawing room where the ceremony would take place. The paperwork was taken care of, then it was time for the guests to be seated, and await the entrance of the bride. The bride, splendid in a dress of grandeur navy blue, lit up the room and the ceremony started.
To say I was a bit clumsy might have been an understatement. It was a bit embarrassing getting to the ring part and not quite pulling out the rings fast enough to put them on the cushion. The celebrant curiously asked if there was only one ring -
no, wait! There's another! Big heave and sigh felt from the groom... oh dear...
(What kind of wedding doesn't involve two rings, but only one?) Crisis averted and the rest of the ceremony proceeded beautifully. The wedding party moved from the drawing room to the lawn outside, welcoming the newly wed couple with streamers, rather than the more traditional yet painful (and if you're Asian, wasteful
) choice of rice.
Several photos later, we proceeded back to the hotel for the reception. Much stumbling ensued on my part as an event coordinator as I botched up the entrance of the newlyweds, and I've found out that I'm not as good a pourer of sparkling (in the traditional and more showy method anyway). Maybe it was pressure, but why did it have to happen today?
Everyone let their hair down as the formalities were quickly put out of the way. The speech I had stressed a bit over ended up being like many speeches I've had to give: off-hand and winging it, even with preparation, and ominous given I had a glass of alcohol in my hand. A funny anecdote thrown in haphazardly seemed to cut the tension in the air and I garnered a bit of a laugh, so I decided to cut my losses and quickly propose the toast. The groom, equally willing to be a man of few words, added a little bit more before signing off with his usual aplomb.
Wedding cake - red velvet sponge.
The festivities proceeded to creep into the late night, but not too late as the stroke of eleven began to near. With most of the guests having left, we started to pack up and retire to our rooms. It had been a long but wonderful day.