11:37 a.m. - 2002-08-10
The day went off with only one hitch...
It's official...I'm an in-law. How cool is that?
Yesterday, my brother got married. The first one in my immediate family (other than my parents of course...but I wasn't there for that one). It was such a great day, with crying and laughing and video footage and wine.
Everyone woke up fairly early, and we all went through the motions of getting ready at a relaxed pace at John and Charlotte's flat. Everyone was excited, and my brother was as nervous as I think any one man can be on his wedding day (possibly more). A couple of hours before the actual ceremony, everyone (both families) gathered at the flat for an easy lunch and oohed and aahed at the various outfits people had chosen, and then we headed for the registry. It was so sweet, JandC had hired a huge stretch limo to take us there, so we all piled in and oohed and aahed at the mirrored ceiling and plush seats. And the best part...the rain that had been falling all morning was starting to dissipate and it looked like we were in for some good weather. Go London.
We arrived at the Registry and were put in the waiting room. JandC went off to talk to the registrar woman and finally we were asked into a small but elegant little room where everything was to take place. I was camerawoman for the day, so I set up the comcorder and let it run while everything happened. And as soon as I sat down and the thing began, so did the waterworks in my niagara falls eyes. I couldn't help it...it was just such a happy moment. When I started to sniffle a little bit, the registrar grabbed a box of tissues and handed them to me. Yeah, that's right. Here she is marrying my brother and my soon-to-be-sister-in-law, and she's getting me a hanky. Ah well, it helped. They said their vows, which were beautiful. And both of them managed to get them off without a stammer or flub. You could tell John was on the verge of getting emotional a la me, but he kept it together and just grinned madly the whole way through. My dad was given a reading to perform about love and commitment and all that jazz, but it was lovely and he spoke it with feeling. Then, Charlotte's sister read a cute little romantic poem that made everyone giggle. The registrar said a few more words, pronounced them married and everyone clapped and yayed. It was a moment that I think everyone will remember as touching and beautiful for the rest of our lives.
Basically, without the sappiness, it was a pretty darn good wedding.
Once we got outside, the sun had come out and pictures needed to be taken. So, we piled into the limo and headed over to primrose hill, a pretty little park (on a hill) with gorgeous views of the city. The photographer clicked away, getting every single combination of family members he could think of together for a shot, and I let the camcorder roll. It was the beginning of new familial relationships. In-laws coming together to form one big, happy family. It was, in a word, nice.
After another small tour in the limo, and a stop at the flat for a snack and bathroom breaks (at this point it started to pour rain again, but oh well, we got some good pictures) we headed for a restaurant down the street for a big fancy, expensive dinner and drink. The place was called Frederick's and it was early enough that we almost had an entire room to ourselves - A big circular table in the corner of a large solarium. We sat, we chatted, we toasted, we ate and, as you may have guessed, we drank. JandC made a rule that no two direct family members could sit beside each other, so the two families mingled and everyone got on brilliantly with each other.
When we left the restaurant, it took about 30 minutes to actually get people to break away from the chats and get a move on. But we all walked away completely content in John and Charlotte's happiness and the prospect of a bigger and better family. And we all agreed that we want them to have kids soon...little bundles of joy that we can play with and then give back to the parents when we're tired of them.
JandC spent the night in a hotel (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) so the rest of my family headed back to the flat and Charlotte's family went back to their respective sleeping venues. Once back to the flat, my mom suggested we head for a pub and have a couple more drinks. No one protested and we went to a little pub across the street from JandC's. Now, at this point, we all had had a fair amount of wine, particularly my dad. So I suppose the way we rationalized it was that once you get started, why stop? We drank and reminisced about absent friends and family, we toasted John's wedded bliss, we just talked about anything and everything as families can do once they've reached a certain point (that point being that the youngest child has finally grown up, and you can say words like shit and fuck and even the dreaded "c word" without feeling like a bad parent).
By the time we got home, my dad was pissed, my mom was pleasantly buzzed and Dave and I were as we usually were on a Friday night at the pub. If we had gone to bed at this point, everything would have been hunky dory, but my mom pulled out the camcorder, and the rest of us drunks went on and on in our inebriated states. Needless to say, we're gonna have some good home viewing come next Christmas (once I edit out all the stuff that could make look bad...I love being the video person in the family).
We finally went to bed, and that was the end of the day (unless you count the hangover the next morning, but I won't). It was fun, it was happy, it was a kodak moment in all of our lives.
The end.
