Clare & Ryans Wedding Part III: The Wedding

I awoke on Sunday morning with an almighty sore head relieved mostly by 2 tablets and a long stand in the shower - that hungover shower where you find yourself just standing there forgetting where you are for a split second and nearly falling over, thinking you're still in bed and you're coming out of a dream. So we gathered our things and I peeked into last nights pizza box - oh my. It looked like it had been deepfried. I tentatively picked up a leftover slice and bit into it.

After placing the slice back into the box, closing the lid, crushing the box in half and placing it in the bin my work was done. Let someone else find this monstrosity, I need proper food. So we checked out and made our way back onto Union Street to find a café. A bottle of coke and a delicious danish pastry later we made our way to the taxi rank and told the driver to take us to Maryculter.

The taxi-driver was a little weird and spoke in a very deep Aberdeen accent and I could hardly understand a word coming out of his mouth but that didn't stop the conversation. He talked about the EU wanting to change the name of kilts and the Scottish Parliament telling them where to go and how Scotland shoulsn't have to support England in the World Cup just because Scotland isn't in it and then he started pointing out some local landmarks but he went into complete mumble mode and I could only make out a few words.
"......spire........monks.......teaching........paedophiles." I didn't know what to say so I just announced a dramatic "oh" and then he fell silent for the next mile of the journey and that's when I noticed a torn sticker on the top left-hand side of the window informing everyone that this taxi was unfit for commercial use from 01/06/06. Luckily my anxiety was short-lived because we had arrived at our hotel.

We enquired with the propritor, who looked like Ms Marple and whose small hotel looked like something out of Last of the Summer Wine, as to the location of the wedding and she said a fair walk down the road. As our room was not ready for occupation, we took a walk down the road and gave up after 1/2 mile. Lou phoned her friend Susan and asked if they had passed our hotel on the way to their hotel which was where the wedding was bein held and they had. It was 2 miles down the road.

Luckily Susan picked us up and we arrived just in time. We were ushered outside to our seating and I was positioned at the end which meant I had to throw rose petals at the bride and grooms feet as they walked back up the aisle. The weather at this point was decidedly overcast and I was dubious as to whether it would rain. However, 10 minutes later the clouds vanished and the bride walked hand in hand with her father up the red carpet, her final steps as a single woman.

It was a beautiful ceremony which went without a hitch - bar the groom almost calling his wife-to-be Mary as he had to repest the location of where they were getting married, it being Maryculter. Near embarrassment aside, it was great and many photographs were taken as everyone enjoyed themselves as the sun disappated all the clouds leaving a fantastic afternoon
of clear blue skies, merriment and laughter.

By late afternoon we were ushered back into the dining area for speeches and our meal. Ryan's speech was especially good and the bestmans material might have to be pinched for my own ends should I have to give one. Toasts were given, champagne sipped and dinner was served. However before the first meal was set in front of us, Lou pulled off her special red-wine-manouvre and knocked a full glass all over the crisp white linen covering the butter and salt and pepper shakers. However, it was soon forgotten and we got on with having a great time. The meal was surprisingly good as most wedding food is pulp so kudos to the chef(s). The it was back outside while the dining area was cleared for Céile dancing.

I have to admit, I had never céile'd before so I was a little nervous but my intake of alcohol soon covered that and I was soon up doing a Canadian Barn Dance and several other dances. As the evening progressed, my movements took a nose dive and when I was strutting my stuff, the girls had to continually grab my arm and spin me around as I was all over the place.

Still, it was great craic and I'm looking forward to more of the same at our next Scottish wedding in July. I hope you enjoyed reading this account and have yourselves a fine weekend. See you on Monday folks!