Friday morning saw me (and 3 friends) rising at 5am to fly to Norway for a wedding.
It was originally supposed to have been 1 friend, Tristan, and myself; but Jon and Emma had run into train problems on Thursday evening, and the easiest option was for them to stay too.
We left Jon and Emma at Wokingham station as they were travelling to Gatwick, and Tristan and I continued on to Heathrow.
One Scandinavian airlines flight later (and a fast train to the city) we were in Oslo. This is where we hit a minor travel hiccup. Our directions told us to head for Lysebu; assuming that was a village or stop, we tried to work out where to go. (Also, the pertinant information that the T-bane is the underground, and not a train, tram, bus, or any other type of tranport would have helped too!) A long wait in the tourist information office, and we worked out the Lysebu was the hotel, not a stop, worked out which stop we needed, purchased a ticket, found the underground, and were on our way!
We arrived in plenty of time (when I plan, I plan properly (eh Jon?)) and helped out a little with preperations.
The wedding kicked off at 3 (Jon and Emma arrived at 14:58) with a string quartet. The bride, Becky, looked absolutely stunning as she walked down the aisle to join Rich (the groom). What followed was a different, but cute, ceremony.
The judge presiding (and the audience) remained seating whilst Becky walked down the aisle. Then, the string quartet continued playing, for a good minute, once she had reached the "altar". When the band finally wound up the song, Becky and Richard were the only ones left standing, looking slightly lost. The judge, still sitting, motioned then to sit. Which they did.
Judge then stood, turned to us, and said, "I give the word to Peter." Then he sat down. There were three speeches in all, and a musical piece, all introduced in the same way. Then we were onto the wedding itself.
A simple ceremony. Do you take this man? Do you take this woman? Well done. Now, put your rings on. Job done.
We all sat as the bride and groom left the room.
The rest of the day passed in a pleasant blur. Champagne, gin and tonic (bleurgh), a fantastic meal (saffron halibut, lamb, cheese and chocolates), then music, talking and dancing until late.
I went to bed after midnight. Exhausted.
Up at 9 for breakfast, good byes, and a journey home. The bride and groom are off to China, our friends were hanging around Norway for a little longer. Tristan and I made our way back to England.
-------
Sunday saw the swimming pool too full and turning people away. So we went shopping. Changed some towels, took back curtain samples, my wife got a top, I got a memory card.
-------
Sorry about the lack of post yesterday. This took longer to write than the journey gave me time for.
No comments:
Post a Comment