Who needs medication, when you can go to a fantastic wedding with wonderful people, a fantastic partner by your side, great food, and, even though we didn’t experience it, amazing music and dancing?
Saturday 24th June had been a date in my diary, and on the calendar, that I had been looking forward to for months. Of course, because it’s a wedding, and who doesn’t love a wedding? At peak season, we probably had two a year, but in the last few years, we are lucky if one happens, even if we’re not invited to it!!!! We’re of the age now I guess that the ‘second round’ will be starting; friends who were married, have got divorced and are now on wedding number two. Of course, it’s extremely sad if a couple get to the stage that they can no longer work through whatever problems they have been having, but selfishly, when you only have the opportunity to go to one every five years, it’s lovely to get that invite!
So the day finally arrived, I was bloody gutted that I had been in hospital for the week running up to the wedding, thank goodness I had my wedding outfit options in the bag, well, in protective bags in the attic, but I had assumed I would have loads of time to sort out accessory choices – jewellery, bag, shoes, jacket, shrug (I hate the word when it is used for this purpose!) but if I say ‘cardie’, it conjures up images of ladies wearing brown or beige who work in libraries or some kind of kitchen auxiliary worker, wearing a cardie over their shabby uniform, which will inevitably include a tabard. (Am I going into too much detail about a silly article of clothing? I speak from experience, which has clearly lefts scars deeper than I had realised! Emma if you are reading this, you know which job I am referring to!) Well, I hadn’t counted on having less than 24 hours to get my outfit together, check for holes, stains, buttons missing, zips not working, shoes with heels falling off - not that I do military style obstacle courses in my dressy clothes, but when you don’t wear something for a few years and suddenly get it out of the wardrobe, you can guarantee there will be something wrong. Often is it eneeds professional help?.... Edgar?! Ed’s suit had a stain on it, so it needed to be dry cleaned and the stain didn’t come out the first time around so it had to be sent back for another go. That is fine, if you have the time, but if that had happened to me, I would have been wearing a strategically placed brooch! The other thing I hadn’t counted on, and why would I? is a fat foot. I don’t wear high heels, but have a couple of pairs in the attic for weddings etc. They are uncomfortable enough when you don’t have a swollen foot, but with a swollen foot there is no chance they will work. Argggh! Typically the tropical heatwave we have been having for it seems like weeks now, finished on Friday, so although wearing sandals was still an option, it wasn’t one I would have gone for to be honest. Well, I had to go the sandal route, and in the end, I wore my purple Birkenstocks. I did ask Craig in advance because he was so clear that he wanted people to make an effort. It’s a funny thing about Dutch people; if you want them to dress up at wedding, you need to explicitly tell them: “No jeans, no trainers, no hoodies, no T-shirts, no shorts’ etc. If you don’t, who knows what kind of motley crew you will end up with! Of course, in the end it doesn’t matter what people wear, but actually, how often do you have the chance to get really dressed up? And isn’t a wedding a really special occasion in someone’s life? Don’t you want to make a distinction between the outfit you wear for a wedding and the one you pop to the supermarket in?!
Craig and Fons had specifically said this on their card “Smart and chic (no jeans)” so I didn’t want to be the one letting the side down by coming in my flippers, but they were pretty much the only piece of footwear that I could get on and be relatively comfortable in. Craig replied that I could come in a bin bag, so I took that to mean that no, he didn’t mind!
As for accessories, I did in fact have to do a last minute repair job to my ‘shrug’ and Es came to the rescue with a selection of clutch bags to choose from. There was on in there large enough to hold my stash of drugs, phone, lip gloss and tissues so my outfit was complete, and with about 1.5 hours to spare!
The next challenge was how to get there… we had been discussing this on and off through the week, because of my ever changing mobility limitations and pain levels. We talked about getting at taxi but obviously dismissed it almost immediately, assuming it would be way to expensive, and we looked at a combination of taxi, train, taxi, but that would still require me to go up and down stairs at stations, and as we were talking about this earlier in the week, we were thinking it would still be really hot, so getting on and off trains, etc. wasn’t an attractive option. Finally Ingrid came up trumps and offered us a lift! How amazingly kind is that? So that was that issue solved!
Whoop whoop!… now the only thing was to keep fingers crossed I was well enough to go and I would only actually know that a few hours before we were due to leave. I didn’t sleep incredibly well the night before, but that didn’t really matter. I just have to make sure I always have the right painkillers with me and I’m fine.
So Ingrid dropped us off at the venue about 10 mins early, which was great. Craig and Fons were hiding (doing a bad job of that!) behind the curtains in the front room watching everyone arrive and be swiftly directed round the back. Craig popped out and invited us into the front room.. the main bar area which was very cool. It had a 1920’s feel about it, with colours and architectural style – apparently it used to be owned by a Dutch shipping company and was a place where staff and passengers could eat and drink. We had a brief chat with the grooms, Craig was getting nervous about all the people, it’s really easy to say that everyone has come for you and are your friends and family so of course there is no reason to be nervous, but actually that is the reason you are nervous! We are both teachers, and Craig is used to dealing with tough crowds! He teaches/has taught at po business schools with snotty, superior people, and has taught large groups of PhD students so it’s not about fear of being in front of a big crowd. It really is because you know everyone and they are all there for you; you asked them so it’s your own fault really! Even though you know there is no need to be afraid, it’s hard to tell that to the butterflies in your stomach, who seem to have acquired military boots and are marching around!
The ceremony was really great, it was interesting because there was a sign reader translator, and the registrar did everything in Dutch and in English. Craig’s mum was online via Skype so one of Craig’s close friends was holding the laptop up so his mum could hear and see everything. It was just so lovely. If I had to use one word to describe the ceremony, party, and wedding in general it would be… (difficult for me cos I find it hard to only use one word!) warm. There was just a warmth in everything. We only knew about 5 or 6 people there, but all the guest s seemed like genuinely good person.
What a great Saturday!
I’ve just been told by a nurse closer in age to Hattie (11) than my own that I should be in bed, which I totally agree with!