So, the real reason that I went back to Ox when I did was to get to celebrate the blessed union of two of my closest friends Kim and Si. I met Kim through OUWAFC and Simon at Groningen with Manny Road. I really started hanging out with them during my second year in Oxford and while more often than not I felt like I was simply the third wheel in their relationship, they are such awesome people that they didn't mind putting up with me! Kim asked me to be a bridesmaid and thankfully my new squadron at Beale was super accommodating and moved around my schedule to allow me to go to England for the wedding.
I woke up early Saturday morning so that I could get myself dressed and ready to go in order to get to the Uni Club to help Kim ready by 7am. I managed to lace up the dress (my most important job complete) and did some other bits and bobs (I love that expression, Kirsty H taught it to me) to help everyone get all sorted and ready to go. Cameron did his one job of making sure Simon arrived on time, and when we were all ready we headed over to the Convocation House (see info here) at the Bodleian Library for the ceremony. The ceremony was small but really nice; I was struck by the differences between British and US ceremonies. In England, the marriage contract is both a verbal and written contract so if either party messes up when saying their vows or repeating what the registrar said they would technically not be married until they said it correctly! Additionally, a big deal was made over the signing of the wedding register, which is really not that big of a deal in the United States. Despite the differences, a wedding is a wedding and this one was really nice. Kim looked gorgeous, Simon managed not to laugh (although he did stumble over his own name), I didn't fall into any of the grates in the floor, and a good time was had by all.
Following the ceremony we took loads of photos, both inside and outside. The outside photos were particularly entertaining because in addition to the official photographers, there were over 100 tourists there as well taking their own photos of us! I wonder how many family vacation photo albums we're going to be in.
We then went back to the Uni Club and had a few drinks before heading to Cibo for dinner. Throughout the dinner we did the cake cutting, the speeches (Cam spoke for 30 minutes for his best man speech!!) and enjoyed a great meal. From there we headed over to the Cape of the Good Hope for the reception where we were joined by many many more guests (mostly Manny Road people and several OUWAFC people as well). It was a great night and it was so much fun to catch up with people I hadn't seen and spend time with such great friends.
I am so glad that I have such great friends like Kim and Simon and I feel blessed to have been their friends throughout their whole relationship thus far. I know that they will have many many many years of happiness together and I cannot wait to meet the kids they will eventually have! It was an absolute honor to be a part of their wedding and I love them both like crazy!
I woke up early Saturday morning so that I could get myself dressed and ready to go in order to get to the Uni Club to help Kim ready by 7am. I managed to lace up the dress (my most important job complete) and did some other bits and bobs (I love that expression, Kirsty H taught it to me) to help everyone get all sorted and ready to go. Cameron did his one job of making sure Simon arrived on time, and when we were all ready we headed over to the Convocation House (see info here) at the Bodleian Library for the ceremony. The ceremony was small but really nice; I was struck by the differences between British and US ceremonies. In England, the marriage contract is both a verbal and written contract so if either party messes up when saying their vows or repeating what the registrar said they would technically not be married until they said it correctly! Additionally, a big deal was made over the signing of the wedding register, which is really not that big of a deal in the United States. Despite the differences, a wedding is a wedding and this one was really nice. Kim looked gorgeous, Simon managed not to laugh (although he did stumble over his own name), I didn't fall into any of the grates in the floor, and a good time was had by all.
Following the ceremony we took loads of photos, both inside and outside. The outside photos were particularly entertaining because in addition to the official photographers, there were over 100 tourists there as well taking their own photos of us! I wonder how many family vacation photo albums we're going to be in.
We then went back to the Uni Club and had a few drinks before heading to Cibo for dinner. Throughout the dinner we did the cake cutting, the speeches (Cam spoke for 30 minutes for his best man speech!!) and enjoyed a great meal. From there we headed over to the Cape of the Good Hope for the reception where we were joined by many many more guests (mostly Manny Road people and several OUWAFC people as well). It was a great night and it was so much fun to catch up with people I hadn't seen and spend time with such great friends.
I am so glad that I have such great friends like Kim and Simon and I feel blessed to have been their friends throughout their whole relationship thus far. I know that they will have many many many years of happiness together and I cannot wait to meet the kids they will eventually have! It was an absolute honor to be a part of their wedding and I love them both like crazy!
No comments:
Post a Comment