Those wedding bells are gonna chime
It's high time for me to reveal the reason for secrecy surrounding my trip to the UK recently.
The reason Logan and I went, and so quickly, was because Logan's brother and girlfriend had announced their engagement. They also announced that they were getting married six weeks later.
SIX WEEKS!
Those two have been together since before Logan and I ever met each other. They wanted to have it done quickly and quietly with the mimum of fuss. They wanted not to tell their friends about it and have only family at the ceremony and celebration. Small and elegant. So, to be able to keep the secret from their friends they wanted to do it as quickly as possible. They didn't want any noses getting out of joint because someone had heard or been invited and someone else hadn't, etcetera.
Of course when we were told that it was all happening we were in a bit of shock as they had said that they would never get married, it wasn't something they wanted to do. They had declared their intentions and that was accepted. We were obviously very happy that they had chosen to marry as there had been a shift in their way of thinking about the relationship and there were no outside influences or pressure for them to be married. They had decided that it was something they wanted to do.
After adjusting to the news my second reaction was to tell Logan that he would be going, of course. I was pretty certain with the lowered staffing levels and general busy-ness of my work that I would not be going. After I discussed with my supervisor and Logan discussed with his we were both allowed to take three weeks of leave (more shock!) and we immediately started looking at airfares and working out how on earth we were going to pay for it all.
I was so stressed about it all that I found I was unconsciously clenching my jaw which was giving me face-ache. How were we going to get ourselves organised in four and a half weeks to get over to England???
This was all while the restrictions on baggage started at Heathrow airport and there was television footage of people lining up outside in the rain and security? army? people walking around with nasty-looking weapons and flat-jackets.
Intense.
We needed new carry-on luggage and as luck would have it there was a 20%-off sale at Strandbags the day I went looking. Bonus!
But this wasn't all about us. It was about the wedding.
We touched down at Heathrow, hugged all the family, sat down for a drink and I handed over the care package from Mum to Boo. We then said goodbye to Boo and went with UK Mum & Dad back to Shrewsbury.
With Logan's family we pottered around going to pubs, did some catching up with people and then went and collected Logan's grandfather from Towcester (pronounced "toaster") the day before the wedding. We stayed with Logan's brother, Crockett, and his fiancee that evening as we'd nearly run out of beds at UK Mum & Dad's house.
I'm not sure whose idea it was but we were meant to be a calming influence on the bride and groom the morning of their nuptials. I think it worked. (?) We did help them sort out a few things (like remembering to have lunch) and I was ring-bearer and holder of the cheque with which to pay the celebrant.
The day went off without a hitch (except the one that was supposed to happen). One funny moment occurred when UK Dad realised after parking the car and while walking to the registry office that although he was wearing black shoes only one of them was part of the new pair that he had bought for the occasion. Oops! He and Logan decided not to share that information with the rest of us until the reception which is when we all collapsed into laughter.
The newlyweds flew to Venice for their honeymoon the next day. Awh, how sweet.
So by now they will have told all their friends and we hear on the family grapevine that so far everyone has been very supportive of their decision and understanding of their wishes to keep the ceremony small. Excellent!
So I now have another sister and she's absolutely wonderful.
posted by Riss @ 10/18/2006 10:05:00 am
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