Wow indeed. The night before, at dinner between the Krause's and the Lane's, Andrea had been worried about her hair (I suppose this must be fairly common) as the German barber in her village had cut it too short (or something...). Anyway, that day, as I found out later, Andrea had Kitty to help her and had managed to get to a hair salon at midday, a nail salon at 1pm and get to the wedding place by 3.30pm. Impressive. And not just about that German efficiency! (or it typical Lane last-minute?) She looked stunning, of course. So stunning I would spend the next 8 hours with a big wide grin on my face ruining all the photos!
In fact everyone looked good. Everyone was smiling. And then it began: the welcome from the registrar, a few "repeat after me's", my sister's reading, my other sister video-ing the whole thing, some pretty awful German vows from me (following the English ones), then the witnesses were up and then down again, the wedding registrar was signed, the cameras kept clicking and rolling, there was a kiss and some clapping and then it was over. Almost before it had started, it was over. From the walking-in tune (Shania Twain - From this Moment) to the walking-out tune (The Calling) it seemed to take 5 minutes, but somehow it took 30. The walk back through the room was way too short to savor the moment (and I think we probably should have walked slower)!
And then we were outside the room, alone for a few seconds. It was so surreal. It was only a short time ago I'd been shouting at Andrea to tell her to go away so I wouldn't see her whilst I was waiting for the registrar. And then, all the planning, the decisions over what to say and what music to have came to be. That methodical choosing process (which ceremony, A, B, C, or D; which reading etc) had become a highly emotional, somewhat romantic (I mean, there were 50 people watching, so it was not THAT romantic), incredibly special and very meaningful half an hour. I won't forget looking at Andrea, then at the registrar, and back at Andrea again non-stop for the whole time. I won't forget the slight awkwardness of reading out the German and having to transfer the paper with the vow on whilst trying to put on a ring as well! And the rings fit.
We had been declared Husband and Wife, and as we walked down to take photos on the beautiful marble staircase, apart from a few friends who wondered out, most people stayed in the room. Must have been something fun happening there or something! And so there were some photos and there was some chaos. There was a dress that I kept standing on and there were attempts to organize people in various languages. And then there was the effort to direct people across the street to the beautiful St Pancras station for some more photos which was of mixed success. We managed to get a few group shots before security forced us to leave.
And then we were in front of the Routemaster -kissing again. The famous double decker London bus. The kind my dad drove in one his first jobs out of school. It was a pleasant surprise since my dad had loaded it with Prozecco and most people piled up onto to the top to enjoy the 1 hour tour around London as we weaved our way, slowly, over to Canary Wharf. I recall finally getting the chance to say hello to people who had come from across the World and across the country, some drinking, some awful tour guiding, and then finding my mum's glasses on the floor as we got off the bus outside the restaurant. Everything continued to fly by. After visiting the restaurant a few weeks earlier, and then the day before to drop things off and decorate and check the plans and arrangements, I was now back, holding a flag saying "Just Married" (Andrea had one too) with 50 people training behind us, a married couple.
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