2015 was entertaining , if not exhausting and I really enjoyed my challenge of writing about each of the weddings I attended but it couldn't last. So why am I back? Well by popular demand could be the answer to that, but in reality my son-in-law's Mum, Lorna , may be popular but she isn't very demanding though she did encourage me to keep up with the blogging and this weekend I found my new subject.
'When Harry met Sally' is one of our favourite films and though Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan are perfect in their roles, the real stars of the film,for me, are the real life couples that appear intermittently, telling their stories of how they met and how love blossomed in sometimes the most unlikely of places.
Robin and I have just been away for a fantastic weekend to Glasgow, having been approached last year by Matthew and Gemma, asking if Robin would marry them and though he usually doesn't travel quite so far for a ceremony, he jumped at the chance as Matthew's Dad is Bob, who was the best man at our wedding almost 24 years ago.
We decided to make a weekend of it as the wedding was on the Sunday, staying the Friday night with my big Sister Susan and her husband, Stephen and then moving on to a wee hotel in the West End of Glasgow right across from the Bible college where we first met. It was quite surreal wandering around in the rain, seeing all the familiar places and even having a drink in the church building that had been our college but is now a beautifully stylish pub called the Orhan Mor, trying to place where we would've walked as students over 25 years ago.
Everyone has a story to tell and the best ones, in my opinion are heard at weddings. Whether in the meeting of new friends or catching up with old ones, my favourite question to ask a couple is "How did you meet?" and enjoy hearing the reply and maybe even stories that follow on.
Sheenagh and Campbell asked me to come and sit with them for Matthew and Gemma's ceremony. Having not seen Robin for over 20 years, Campbell and most of the guests, some who were at our wedding and belonged to the church we attended at that time, didn't recognise Robin at all with his broader waistline and bearded face. We chatted for a while and I asked the magic question, enjoying hearing how they had met at the church they now belong to and had been married for the last 8 years. I wanted to hear about their wedding ceremony and herein lies a story that must be shared with you all.
On the morning of their wedding Sheenagh started to feel a bit unwell but put it down to wedding day nerves and continued on with the preparations. She arrived at the church and the ceremony began only for her to collapse while it was all ongoing. An ambulance was called and she was carried out, her beautiful white dress covered in an orange blanket with the piper, bizarrely deciding to pipe her out!! She recovered in the back of the ambulance and scared that she would get taken to hospital, the minister made her and Campbell sign the marriage schedule in the back of the ambulance.
Thankfully she recovered enough to not have to go to hospital ( she had picked up a nasty virus apparently) and managed the rest of the day with a lot of TLC. The minister actually made them go through the ceremony again as he was scared that he had missed something and they wouldn't be legally married.... married twice in one day, now that has to be a record.
Despite having to cancel their honeymoon break away and take a few days to recover from the bug, they have been happily married now for 8 years with the most memorable of weddings stories to share.
I knew as soon as I heard this that I wanted to share it with you all and so the seed of a new blog was born. Through the day I heard how Stuart and Liz, now in their mid sixties, met at a New Years eve dance and when they decided to get married, went to see the bank manager, who asked Liz if she was definitely wanting to have babies, as part of the interview. How amusing to think that would even be relevant.
We had the joy of sitting with John and Mary, the couple who we lived with when we were first married, John having married us and also being grandparents of Conor, our dear son-in-law.
Mary told us of a wedding they were invited to up in Fair isle, years ago and on arriving she realised that she had packed all her accessories but not her dress! They had a few days before the wedding and as their weren't any shops on Fair isle they decided to take a flight to Shetland the next day, only to be told when they landed that the shops were all closed that day! Undaunted John suggested they go for a walk and they came upon a charity shop that had missed the 'all the shops are closed memo' and was thankfully open. The creative shopkeeper found a perfectly fitting dress and matching shoes (bnwt) and managed to kit Mary out for under £7.50 saving the day in style.
We had a wonderful day catching up with folks we haven't seen for decades or more and celebrating Matthew and Gemma's very obvious love for each other.
You see, there are so many stories out there....all waiting to to be told and who better to tell them than me, the Wedding Crasher? So I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy listening to them. x
