Day 68: Sunday 25 May – Kirsty and Thomas’ Wedding, by Ken

We started the day by Skyping Jenny and Stephen to enable Safiya, Adam and Jane to show them the fruits of their labours with the ‘Trendy Loom Bandz’. All three of them had bracelets to show, Safiya had lots of them. Following that we all had an iChat with Harry and Ella and caught glimpses of Ziggy, Chewy and Kobe. Ziggy looked particularly sleek. All is good in Wellington.

We were on the road shortly before 11:00 heading for The Barn at Bury Court near Farnham in Surrey where Kirsty and Thomas (son of my sister Jane) were getting married in the afternoon. Contrary to the weather forecast and yesterday’s showers the sun was shining and it looked set to be a fine day.

A Fine day For a Wedding (Oops, There's a Bridge In The Photo)

Jane drove the whole way in an effort to balance up kilometres in command of Mabel. Traffic was light, the roads were good and Surrey looked particularly appealing on an early summer’s day. Cyclists were out for their Sunday run and part of our route followed that of a road race being taken very seriously by the participants, most of whom were wearing teardrop helmets.

Bicycle Made For Two

Road Race

Nearing Bury Court the country roads became narrow lanes, too narrow to pass anyone coming in the opposite direction. Fortunately, that didn’t eventuate and we found Bury Court, a barn with oast houses on one side and an adjacent farm building that had been converted to offices (occupied incidentally by Opus, a telecommunications company). We had been given the OK to park at Bury Court overnight and chose a quiet corner of the Opus car park.

On Final approach To Bury Court

We ate our usual lunch of bread, cheese and dips and then got changed for the wedding. Jane wore the bright green dress she had worn for her final day with The Ministry of Health in Wellington – the ‘Dress Like Jane day’. She had complemented that with a Loom Bandz bracelet in bright green. I wore a blue suit brought from home just for the occasion and an open necked shirt, I turned out to be the only man not wearing a tie.

John and Olivia came to see us in Mabel bringing the bad news that Phil’s back had gone into spasm as he reached for his satnav to set off for Farnham. He was in a lot of pain but hoped a few hours rest would enable him to arrive in time for the reception. That was a real shame for all of them, but particularly Amelia and Martha who were really looking forward to the day having had had so much fun at Caroline and Laurence’s wedding last year.

We assembled outside the barn in bright sunshine a good 15 minutes before the ceremony. There I was introduced to Steve Godshaw, a close friend of Jane and Mike. I wouldn’t have recognised him if my sister hadn’t pointed him out. I remember Steve as being full of beans and very humorous man. I remember well visiting him in a cottage near Welwyn that he was renovating. The bathroom was out of commission and Steve had installed a toilet in his kitchen, that way, he said, he could stir the curry while sitting on the toilet! We also went flying together from an airfield near London (Leavesden, possibly) in a Piper Cherokee he had rented. Steve now looked like an old man, stooped and grey. He was somber and had no recollection of our flying trip.

Inside, the barn was divided into two areas separated by a curtain behind which we could glimpse tables set up for the reception. The reception area and part of the area on our side of the curtains was raised above the seating area to form a stage on which the wedding ceremony took place.

We were given pride of place in the front row on the groom’s side. Jane and Mike (Thomas’ parents) paced around the stage as 14:00 approached while Thomas, his brother Ben (an usher) and Tom, the best man, waited patiently.

Jamie, Caroline, Laurence, Jane and Sue In Front Row

Jane and Mike

The ceremony started over 10 minutes late – we thought we were waiting for the bride, but it turned out it was the celebrant and her sidekick that did the legal bit, arrived late! Traffic apparently.

The ceremony area and the ceremony itself were a bit sterile with little by the way of decoration and a lot of legal stuff from the celebrant and unnecessary information – e.g. I don’t think we needed to know that after signing the register would be locked in Hampshire County Council’s vault. Unlike New Zealand, where you can get married anywhere, marriages can only be held in the UK in places approved for weddings. The Barn at Bury Court was one such place we were told.

Kirsty and Thomas Exchange Vows

The ceremony was over by 2:30 when we had bubbles and canapés in the gardens which were ideal for photos. The sun was still shining. We said hello to Kirsty and found from my sister Jane that she was a nurse who Thomas had met when he was training in Birmingham. 

Oast Houses and Gardens

Thomas and Kirsty

John and Laurence

Mike, Jane, Thomas, Kirsty and Ben

Ruth and Richard

Thomas and Kirsty

Jamie and Frank

Jamie, Ruth, John and Laurence

Jane, Stella, Richard, Frank and Olivia

The reception started about 4:30 and it was getting on for 5:00 when Thomas and Kirsty appeared. Speeches were given before we ate. Kirsty’s kilted father, a large man who originates from Aberdeen (Jane Mac is bound to know him) spoke for too long, Thomas and Tom, the Best Man were just right although the latter seemed in a hurry to get his speech over with.

Reception

Kirsty's Father (Jane Mac - Do You Know Him?)

Phil, Kerry and the girls failed to make the reception, his back was too painful.

We were seated at a table with Jane and Mike’s neighbours in Bettisfield, a woman whose husband had died of cancer recently and her teenage daughter, a close friend of Thomas’ from his university training days, and his friend's mother and father. The latter was a doctor, very cynical of the UK’s national health service and was going to retire shortly. Jane and Mike’s neighbours were seated next to us as they were planning a trip to New Zealand. They are not particularly adventurous and are going to take a coach tour. We gave them our contact details just in case we could be of help.

The meal was 2 courses – the mains weren’t inspiring – a barbecue of chicken kebab, burger, sausage and salad which we collected from barbecues in the garden. (We heard that there isn’t a Plan B if it was wet as it was for a wedding yesterday. While they put a gazebo over the barbecues, the guests had to go out in the rain to get their food). Dessert was better – chocolate brownie fruit and cream served at the tables.

Dancing was a caleidh. While the dance moves were explained, they were too complicated for me and, as Jane pointed out, you needed a partner who wanted to dance!

Caleidh

There were a few photos on a wall in a gallery that overlooked the reception area. The table for gifts and a box for cards was also in the gallery. There was no reason for people to go up there so I guess not many people would have seen them. 

Kirsty and Thomas stayed in a cottage in the grounds overnight, everyone else, except us, had to find hotels nearby. We just had 50 metres to totter back to Mabel.