Catholic and Loving it!

Marriage. It seems only yesterday the very thought of getting married seemed strange, foreign and something for adults. Perhaps it was because I did not understand love. I still don't understand love, but Ella made me a man in love and I saw marriage at last not as the domain of adults but the natural conclusion for people in love. Still, a mere two years ago when Ella and I wed I would have been hard pushed to think of any friend of mine likely to follow in my path any time soon.

If Hannah has done for Ben what Ella did for me then he is indeed a lucky man.

Marriage, as far as I am concerned, is a Sacrament. That's probably a fairly controversial thing to say in a blog entry about a marriage in a non-Catholic denomination where sacrament may very well be a dirty word but I stand by it. In marriage, God's grace is made abundantly clear in an outward sign of two people's love for one another. In unity with one another they become a living icon of God's creation. Even if they do not go on to produce children, their love for one another will create and bear fruit because that's what love does. Marriage is a bloody big deal and well worth travelling from Hull to Exeter for which is what we did (and let me thank again all the people who travelled from Exeter to Hull for my own wedding).

Anyways...

This morning it rained. A lot. Ella and I went in to Exeter to buy beads and photograph Leona with stuffed animals. We got wet. When we got home we needed a hair dryer. Then had the exciting task of driving to Marks place of work. Exciting because the navigation method was this - First: stare at and try to memorise the route on google maps. Second: Go. It was pretty nerve wracking at times but I made it. We got back to Irenes and collected Ella, Monica and Leona. We made it to the wedding on time.

The wedding took place in the legendary Belmont chapel. It's the nearest thing Exeter gets to an Evangelical Megachurch but by American standards it's probably tiny. It's been a long time since I sang CU stylee worship songs and I confess a little nostalgia value (I'm not a huge fan but there was a 'I havent endured this for ages' feeling). The great thing about those huge screens is you can see what's going on at the front even when you are sat close to the back. That's good for you guys because it means you get decent photos of Ben and Hannah at the altar (figuratively speaking of course because there was no altar). Here we go:

Video screens don't photograph too well.

The programme was like this. Tell out my soul (even Catholics know that one) followed by a reading of Psalm 91 (Those who dwell in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty). Then we sang Faithful One (nothing like the video but that video is too funny not too link too) and Prince of Peace in which men and women sing different things at different times. Then we had a reading of Jeremiah 17:7+8 (They are like trees planted along a riverbank).

After the ceremony we sang This is Air I breathe (another funny video nothing like the wedding) and then had a reading John 15:1-17 (I am the true vine and my father is the gardener.). Then we ended by singing Great is Thy Faithfulness (guitar solo here). In case there is any doubt in anybodys mind let me reiterate: the video's I linked to bear no resemblance to the wedding (but the songs are the same).

What happened after the service was a work of genius. Firstly, we were given Devon Cream Teas. Mmmmmm. Good way to slake our hunger and keep us going until the proper meal. But we were also give something more precious. Time. A very good move by Hannah and Ben was to give us all a good hour to catch up with old fiends. I bumped in to James Brown from Methang who I haven't seen for years and years and saw from afar various CU peeps who I never really knew but I remember them being around in my first year.

Was good to see John Maurice again, his camera's (yes he had two) were both bigger than mine.

And also luke:

It was also good to see some CathSoc people. Tessa, Rachael, Tori and Emma were all there and haven't aged a day.

In fact, I've there's no way I can show all the photos of all the people but there were more. Ed, Crazy Kate, Mark, Monkey Ben etc. Where was Norris though? By the time the moment came for Hannah and Ben to leave the building the rain had pretty much stopped, we gathered outside and threw confetti and blew bubbles.

Hannah and Ben drove to the reception in a modern open topped convertible Volkswagen Beetle followed by the bridesmaids in a rather older Volkswagen Camper van. As they set off Ed bragged to me that Belmont now has more services than ever before and they are all well attended. What is he trying to prove? I was more impressed that they have their own dedicated set traffic lights.

We drove over to Reed Hall for a bit of Exeter University Campus Nostalgia. Campus looks exactly the same. We parked over by Nash Grove, if you follow the road far enough the parking regulations run out and it's free. Next up the huuuge group photo (John might send me a copy if he reads this) and then drinks and chats while we wait for dinner.

Another significant Leona moment: For the meal Hannah and Ben kindly booked us a high chair for Leona. She is actually way too young and small for such things but we put her in anyway to see what happened. She was okay for about five seconds and then the tears came so we got her out and reverted to the usual plan where we take it in turns to hold her while the other eats. Fortunately there were plenty of volunteers on hand (everybody likes Leona) so we got our eats.

I spotted Hannah practising some of the poses she will need when she is living with Ben:

After the meal there was speeches. Hannah's Dad is a good egg and Ben's speech was excellent. Apparently after the speech Hannah told Ben off for embarrasing her but now she will have to tell him off again because he told me she told him off. Wives don't like that sort of thing, if they tell you off you have to suffer in silence. Hannah's Dad sang during his speech which was really nice.

Somewhere around this time Rachel alerted me to a great sunset that was going on so we took Leona for a wander outside to cool down (she was a bit warm) and get a photo. Unfortunately that meant I missed the cutting of the cake. We got back in time for the first dance though:

For the next however long it was the wedding did what weddings do. People drank and danced and chatted. Eventually the night wore to a close. Tori bought me a whiskey (top girl) and I told a lot of people I was determined to stay in touch this time. Actually, a surprising number said they had been reading this very blog all along. Hi there. How about leaving a comment some time?

We had a great time at Hannah and Ben's wedding and it seems everybody else did too. Congratulations to the happy couple and, as only a married man can say, Ben:

Good Luck

On friday night the plan was to go, go, go but we did manage to leave an hour late (not even blameable on Leona) one problem as we were about to step out of the door was that just turning up in Loughborough with Susans address did not mean we knew where it was so back into the house and on to google maps! Anyway the traffic was not bad considering it was a bank hoiday weekend and we finally made it to Susans for a much welcomed toad in the hole, so filling we could not manage desert!

We woke bright and early on the saturday to head off for our bridesmaid dress fitting, which is always exciting, and a few adjustments later we all headed back to Susans as she went to pick up her Auntie from the station. We had about half an hour to prepare the house. As you can imagine there were balloons, a slide show, a pin the tail on the donkey; I had taken my modelling balloons and we hung some hearts from the celing. Susan has quite a buisly decorated house (somewhat similar to ours) and so doors and celiings were the main areas to be able to spot anyting. Brandi had made some burgerd for the BBQ and was patting them into circle... but this was a hen day so I suggested hearts, they were a challenge and Brandi was only going to make a few for Susan but this is not the attitude required to I rolled up my leaves and soon after we had made them all, well worth the effort! We managed to get a chocolate fountain on the go and it was tested several times before Susan arrived!

Susan finally made it home and the festivities began, the weather was beautiful, the fizzy wine was poured and we all went in the garden and Brandi announced the plan. We all got a bag with goodies, Susan was to open hers first, naturally it contained a little outfit for her to wear, themed "Susans angels" (a cross between charlies and the ones with wings) she had the wings, the "Susans angels" t-shirt, the wand, the halo etc a shot glass, a hot chocolate sachet and papmering items and the ever feared (by Susan) sash. By the time Susan had come back fully attired we all had out t-shirts on and we were all ready. Susan's mother produced some badeges, there were 7 so one for Susan and the others for the bridesmaids. We were about ready for the BBQ, and after that some games... hat's off to Brandi, there were prizes in almost every layer of the pass the parcel and cards with truth, dare or shot in various quantites and orders. Susans mother also had a bag of prizes so on with the pin the tail on the donkey, well there were two styles of the games as I am sure you could imagine!

After several pass the parcels etc we all moved into the house for some pampering, which was all very nice, I have never see so many face masks, srucbs, rubs etc excpet maybe on the shop isles! Soon the taxi arrived and we all went to The Phanom for a drink before heading to Momentos for our meal. It was very nice and I went for a pizza with walnuts on it (it also had, spinich, aubrigine and sundried tommys) but walnuts I ask you! and it was really really nice! Brandi and Lucy slipped off just after we had finished to "prepare" things and just as we had all finished (as there had been a complication with one of the meals) they were ready for us. We made our way to The Swan Inn Rushes where, in a hired room, we had "s factor" several of susans friends were judges (which she could not believe) and the merrimaking began. Well I did not know any of the songs they picked for my team but they were easy enough to pick up after the second verse. Teams was quite exciting as they were varied first in hight order and then alphabetical, then as you like. At last we came to the finale song which everyone did and then there were more songs. We had sent a book round for people to write in I tried to write a poem but it is quite hard when the karioki is going on so I hope it made sense!

James (who had been a hero) came to pick me up 2hrs after we had predicted but the journey home was very fast as there was next to no traffic and got a few hours kip before heading to Cottingham for mass the next morning to see my visiting family.

I hope Susan had a good night. Leona certainly did!