Things are a bit hectic here, Katie is building up to a crescendo, every weekend there seems to be at least one crisis. Who's coming to the Hen night in London on the 'Disco Decker'? It travels round the clubs in London, picking up and dropping off in Picaddily. Sue is going - go Sue! The latest plan is for Katie and Dan to go over to France for the day to get wine and Champagne.
Katie and Sue have just spent a Mother and daughter weekend at a place called Henlow Grange which is a health Spa. "What advice can you give me for married life mum?" Hmm "Be good to your husband? (No), "Make sure there is a hot meal on the table when he gets home?" (No) "Remember that the most important thing in your life is him?" (No).... after careful consideration Sue said, "Don't take any crap".
Dan, Ben and I have been liaising over the speeches and I am already starting to get an attack of the butterflies.
Dad's get left out when it comes to arranging weddings. All I have to do is knock on the door at 11.45 to collect Katie from her room and then walk her down the aisle. After that I have to give a speech and that's me done. My suit has been picked by Dan, the venue, food wine etc. are all someone else's responsibility but I have arranged the music - 'The Harvs' and 'GR8'. The corkage is £7 a bottle for wine, £9 a bottle for champagne and £50 for a keg of beer, what a rip!
28th July (2 weeks to go)
Dan and Katie arrive after we have done breakfasts and rooms. They want to show us what they have been buying for people at the wedding, little trinkets for the children and presents for the bridesmaids, ushers and best man. The engagement ring has been cleaned and re-sized and Dan has some new Hudson shoes - very nice too. Apparently the forecast is good for the beginning of August, good!
No time to go to France for the wine so we ordered wine and Champagne from Tescos online - to be delivered the day before the wedding, a bit dodgy I thought but apparently it's guaranteed!
I have done a powerpoint presentation to loop on a projector in the marquee, not bad I think. It shows the story of Katie learning to be a good housewife, meeting the man of her dreams and preparing for the big day.
Final preparations
Katie and Dan arrived back in Lowestoft on Thursday 9th. Dan's Nan's funeral was on that day so they had a quick shower and away they went. The last couple of weeks had seen Dan's Nan slowly deteriorating, a sad time for him and his family. They got home at about 6pm after a 'fantastic wake' to quote Dan. His Grandad Len had got pretty merry and the family had all had a good time together. They felt it was just what Nan would have wanted and it helped them all to realise that death is inevitable and although it was sad, she had had a good life and they were able to celebrate it.
We went on the beach and launched a huge Thai lantern (We were hoping to let of loads at the wedding but the owners were frightened we would set fire to there crop on the field next door), Katie and Dan made a wish and off it went, disappearing up into the night sky. It was only at that point I realised it looked a bit like a flare and I half expected to see the lifeboat come racing out of the harbour!
We bought Katie a memory chest in Thailand, somewhere to keep all her little keepsakes. Funny to think back to buying it in Ban Tawai last January and then it's journey on the boat all the way over here. After Katie opened it Sue decided to sit on it and there was a loud cracking sound! Luckily there was no obvious evidence of damage.
Friday we got all the rooms ready for Katie and Dan's friends, we were full to the gunwales using the floor and even our bed! Sue changed all the beds and put clean bedding in all the rooms and left a message asking them to change them. Of course you can guess what happened - they changed the bed BEFORE they slept in them!
Some of my cousins from Oxford were arriving at the Elms (the wedding venue)in the afternoon so we set off at about 4.00pm with a load of bbq stuff to meet them. Poor old Sue had to go via Tescos because they had messed up our delivery of Champagne and ended up getting caught up in a traffic jam caused by a fatal accident. It was strange to think of the agony one family was going through whilst we were preparing for a big family celebration.
Katie stayed with us for a while but then went off with her bridesmaids to do makeup and drink Champagne. Dan, Ben and the ushers went off to the local pub for a drink and Sue and I retired early - worn out.
The big day
The quick drink at the local turned into a 'lock in'! The landlord finally drove them back at about 2.30 in the morning. A good start to the day. Ben was in a real state and he had to do a speech. He was nervous enough as it was without a giant hangover and I ended up walking him around the grounds at about 11.00, the ceremony was at 12.00 and we weren't in our suits yet. 2 paracetomol plenty of water, cross your fingers and off he went.
My room was just down the hall from Katie's and I wa due to collect her at 11.45. I got ready and then paced around in the lounge area. I could hear doors banging and laughter as the bridesmaids got her ready and then a chorus of "Byes" and off they went.
By then the chauffer had arrived - "Don't worry about the speech, just say the first thng that comes into your head" he said...... "Charley Dimmock!" where did they, I mean that come from?
I wanted some time to gather my thoughts and so I went outside. It was a gorgeous day we were so lucky. Everything seemed very still, waiting like me for the day to start. Time seemed to stop, I was never going to do this again. I was never going to wait to give my daughter away. In fact the whole day was going to be full of things I had never done and would never do again. This was the climax to my sabbatical year and something Katie had been planning and thinking about, certainly for the last two years and probably long before that. What was I going to say to her? How would I react when I saw her? Sue had already told me that she cried when she saw Katie try on her dress and I didn't want to make a fool of myself. Then time started again. This was my moment of the day.
"She is ready for you now" said this nice lady with a walky talky who straightened my buttonhole and gave me a quick check to make sure I was up to scratch. I walked along a corridor towards a corner on my left around which was a set of stairs. I could see the chauffer and photographer waiting.
There she was, my daughter standing on about the third step smiling down at me. She looked radiant, so happy, expectant, beautiful, shy and many other things all at once. I turned and these other people, the photographer, chauffer and walky talky woman were all looking at me. I don't think I said anything, I honestly can't remember. I felt a lump in my throat but I didn't cry. It was like a dream. "Will you stand next to her so we can take some photographs" someone said, and the spell was broken. Sound came flooding in things started to happen.
'Crackle' - "We are ready at this end" came through.
"OK just taking photographs and the she will be leaving"
"We are on our way, repeat on our way - all systems go, 10, 9, ...."
We were ushered into the car, the photographer clicking away. Once inside, the chauffer said "It's still not too late you know I could drive you to London" and started to engage me in a surreal conversation about miles per gallon. I concentrated on Katie, she was blowing air and feeling nervous. Funny but she had been fine until I arrived and now she was full of nerves. I talked about living every moment of the day and then we were there outside the entrance and the bridesmaids were all lined up waiting for us.
There was a brief discussion about who would go first and this strange man, who turned out to be the Registrar gave Katie and I some last minute instructions -
"Take your time walking down the aisle, it will be over soon enough" and the doors opened. The first thing I saw was my brother Nick beaming at us and then all eyes turned to look at Katie and cameras started to click. Katie held my arm and then it was done, I sat down next to Sue and events took over.
The whole day was lovely. Dan got quite emotional during his speech but held himself together well. Ben was great, he started with some silent humour, patting his pockets and then pulling various items out with just the right amount of comic timing. I could hear people whisper "Oh no he can't find the speech" and then they got it and started to laugh and he relaxed.
The music was fantastic - lots of dancing going on and, well everything you would expect from a great night.
Katie spent the whole day smiling and Dan said they felt like royalty.
I was so glad for them, it will go down as a landmark event in our family. People will remember it and talk about it, you can't buy those kinds of memories.
I am glad they wanted to do it and I am even more glad that it came off.
If you want to see more photos go to:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/katieanddanrose
