Married! part One

Breaking News: I have fallen from the noble bacheolar ranks.


After years of planning, saving and a surprising amount of stress I got myself married on June 4th at Careys Manor in Brockenhurst. For those who dont know the manor its a very large manor house/four star hotel in the middle of the new forest.

The night before the wedding my wife stayed at the hotel and enjoyed their spa facilities. I stayed at home with my best man and enjoyed a bottle of wine with some friends. Whilst my wife was being pampered I was recieving regular phone calls from people we entrusted with small but vital tasks. Things like taking my MP3player and speakers and switching the music from Einaudi which was playing whilst people were milling around to Jason Maraz which my wife chose to walk down the aisle to. This small task just involved pressing a button and I had previously felt bad that this was the only task I had given one of my closest friends. However this friend has a gift for overcomplicating things and had decided my speakers were too weedy for the task so he had acquired some very large "monitors"(to my lack of knowledge they are little more than just speakers) with a mixing desk, ripped my music and attached all this to a laptop. I get a phone call at 2200 the night before I am to get married saying he cant get this system working and appears to have lost the music I gave him in the first place. Some people just have a gift for overcomplicating the simplest of tasks. I strongly suspect this issue would not have arisen had this friend not fallen under the influence of another, an electronics engineer of our aquaintence. Fortunately My friend from glasgow had just arrived(following a ten hour drive down) and he was staying in a B&B near Careys Manor. We threw my stereo and a second mp3player in the back of his car. At which point friend A called back saying he "thinks" he's sorted it. We left my kit in the back of the scottsmans car anyway.

I have to confess with slight shame and embaressment myself and my best man were unsure of how to put cufflinks on.....we had to consult youtube. This was his suggestion and it was a good one, This is why I chose him as best man. He didnt have all the answers but he knew where to get them.

The night before the wedding was hot, very hot and stuffy. I probably wouldnt have slept through my nerves anyway, however I could definitely have been more comfortable, I dont do a good job tolorating the heat at the best of times. Its funny though, my nerves were entirely focused on administration. People have been hasing me for about a year now "are you nervous". I have been with the new Mrs Asklepius for five years, known her for a lot longer, I had no nerves about marrying her, frankly if I was to have any doubts I would have felt them years ago. However given the sheer number of people we were relying on for this enormous organisational feat I was worried about it all falling apart.

As it turns out things couldnt have gone more smoothly. From the second I arrived the Manors wedding facilitator sat me down at the bar with a complimentary pint of guinness(which I've just realised I didnt drink). She told me to relax and mingle with my emerging guests and she would fetch me when the registrars arrived for my pre-wedding chat.

This is probably the best place to end part one of my wedding day.

The lessons to be learned from this section - Always have a backup plan no matter how much you trust the person performing the small vital tasks. At no point on your wedding morning will you be sat still long enough to enjoy a pint, If in doubt.....youtube will probably have the answer.