UK10: WEDDING DAYS

Thanks to D for writing this up!

Saturday 13th March

Our first morning back in London, and we woke disgustingly early – 3.30am, with no more sleep. But we didn’t feel too bad, which was the main thing. After waiting until a decent hour, we walked with M&A from their house to the Bull and Bush pub (it has a song!). It was about an hour and a half stroll, with the very beginnings of spring in evidence all around us – crocuses and snowdrops fighting their way out of the ground.







A delicious lunch was had by all, after which we decided against walking back, so we jumped on the bus and had a restorative afternoon nap.


M at the pub!

Then came the exciting bit – the ironing and steaming of our wrinkled suits! E (the groom) showed up, and we all piled our selves and our weekend luggage into a taxi and headed off to Malmaison, our hotel for the next two nights. After a satisfying dinner in the hotel restaurant’s ‘private’ dining room, we went our separate ways and slept soundly in our 4th different bed in 4 nights.

Sunday 14th March – Wedding Day

We woke at the relatively respectable hour of 6am (although we had also been awake from 2 until 3am) and treated ourselves to long, hot baths after watching the sun rising over Charterhouse Square.



Breakfast was enormous, consisting of a continental buffet as well as a full cooked breakfast, but we figured our next meal wouldn’t be until dinner at the wedding so we should probably stock up. When I then went to get into my finery, I found that my suit was a little tighter than it had been! After we had both dandified ourselves (we both received plenty of compliments throughout the day for our cravats!), we posed and pranced and pretended to be fashion models for the photographer. It was kinda fun, striking poses in a cobbled London square in the chilly mid-morning sunshine.







And here's a photo of the bride before she got dressed up! I haven't got any (publicly available) pics of the couple yet. I'm sure there will be some around soon.



After the snaps, and with lots of logistical planning to make sure E & L didn’t see each other, we all shuttle-bused over to the Barbican centre to prepare for the long-awaited event! After a momentary panic when we had no idea where we were meant to go, we found the correct lift, and other family members, and arrived at the conservatory terrace, overlooking the conservatory – a large green house full of tropical plants, fish and turtles. Rather a spectacular venue.







* Ceremony was here
* Reception was here
* Dinner & Dancing were here

The room quickly filled up, everyone got into positions, and D – the ring bearer – and his brother A, with sons T & Y in tow, were the first down the aisle, followed by E and parents, bridesmaids, and finally, L (the bride) and her parents. The ceremony itself was fairly formal, but also quite accessible – the Progressive rabbi and the service schedule explained various elements of the ceremony, which included L’s grandmother stepping up to read out an Apache blessing, and E’s (and therefore also D’s) grandmother reading out a compilation of Shakespeare quotes about love. L’s choir, Shabbat Resouled, provided music throughout. The ceremony ended with the front of the room being bombarded by bubbles!







People mingled and chatted, making their way to the second stage of the day’s official proceedings – the reception in the conservatory. It was a little chilly in there, but we were glad of this fact by the end of the evening, as the dining room became unbearably hot towards the end. The evening progressed as these things do – dancing, speeches, food (pretty good food, at that), more speeches, more food, more dancing, more speeches, dessert, disco!

Here is a video that was made for the wedding by Daniel Moses, featuring family and friends (including us!). It's pretty LOL.

'TV WARS' WEDDING VIDEO from Daniel D. Moses on Vimeo.

By the time the main course came out, D was feeling the jet lag pretty badly. Fortunately, his Best Men speech (in conjunction with other brother A) featured a dance number that served to fix him up for a few more hours. You’ll have to wait for the wedding video to see the dance number! By the time the dancing started, we were both fading fast. We spent most of the last part of the evening sitting in the cool conservatory, until we finally gave up, and left the party, with A and O and their sleeping boys, and distant (but lovely!) cousins P and M, and walked back to Malmaison. It took us a while to actually get out of the Barbican, but when we eventually did, it was only a five minute walk back to the hotel, where we went straight to our room and collapsed.



All our wedding photos: click here.