Nice day for a White Wedding...
From The South American Odyssey - London to Melbourne in Balquhidder, United Kingdom on Sep 07 '07
Well, we have finally taken some time out to write about our wedding. Yes, Ari and I did the surprise wedding, only our guests and a few workmates were in the know beforehand! We did this because we really wanted a tiny wedding, neither of us like being the centre of attention, so we thought before we headed home this would be the perfect opportunity to have the kind of ceremony we wanted!
We had a lovely day, and the location only helped that fact. Our wedding was at Monachyle Mhor, about 4 miles west of Balquhidder, where the famous Rob Roy is buried. He had a farm in the same glen, a mile or two west of Monachyle Mhor.
Yes, Ari and I did the surprise wedding...
Monachyle Mhor is also the name of the hotel we stayed in. We chose this place because of the beautiful location, but also because of the food! We wanted to have a ceremony outside, but then have a fantastic meal with a few friends afterwards to celebrate. Scotland was a place we both absolutely loved on our trip around Europe (Yes Lesley, you have every reason to feel misty eyed about this choice - Scotland is gut wrenchingly beautiful!), so once we found Monachyle Mhor on the internet, we thought it would be the perfect spot, in the Scottish Highlands and a great restaurant attached!
We had a great celebrant named Mary Wallace, she was a typical Scot, really down to earth and good for a laugh. We were worried we would get a Marg Downey style celebrant al la 'Kath and Kim', so when we met Mary, we were very relieved! She made sure the ceremony was exactly as we wanted and she suited our personalities down to the ground.
And before anyone asks, we didn't exchange rings, anyone who knows Ari knows full well how much he hates wearing jewellery and I have no attachment whatsoever to this rather modern tradition, so we went for handfasting instead. The first we knew of this ceremony was from Amelia's friend Lesley's wedding in Melbourne and of course, she's a Scot! For anyone who doesn't know, it is where the betrothed hold hands and have them fastened together with fabric. This knot is never untied and symbolises the union.
We didn't hire a photographer, as you will see from the photos we didn't need to - we had 4 professional photographers on the job and I'm sure you will agree, they did a fab job! We haven't seen everyone's photos yet, only Angharad's and Victor's, but the others sure looked like they knew what they were doing!
Our guests as you will see were few, the London crew - Angharad and Andreas, and Victor and Yvonne - Angharad and Victor grew up with Amelia and Jas, Ania and Franek, the Polish contingent! Jas was the Flanagan's exchange student. Franek was a perfectly behaved angel throughout the whole ceremony - he didn't cry once!
Once the ceremony was over, we went back to the hotel to enjoy champagne and canapes, then our yummy meal. I believe Victor took photos of the food (He is famous for his need to photograph any meal he eats on a night out!), so if anyone is interested in everything we ate, I'm sure we can provide you with a photograph of every course!!
So all in all, we had a lovely afternoon and evening, Jas and Ania kindly provided the Zybrowka vodka and we still managed to stay reasonably sober! It was just perfect having a laid back, informal ceremony and celebrating the occasion with a few friends, good food and good wine. That's how all the best things in life are celebrated.
The next morning we all left for Edinburgh, and Ari and I enjoyed our last evening in the UK before we were to catch the Caledonian Sleeper (a bargain! you book a bargain berth 3 months before hand, and travel from Edinburgh to London or return in a twin sleeper for only 19 pound!) to London for our flight to Greece. After we enjoyed some dinner and our last British beer, we headed back towards the station to catch our train. We noticed the time on the screens was different to the time on my ticket. We checked our ticket and noticed it was for THE NEXT NIGHT!!! Amelia had stuffed up the booking! In a panic, she ran to the people manning the train and they were wonderful! They let us on the train ahead of time and we managed to travel to London regardless. What a relief!
We then caught our plane to Greece, which is another story! We'll try to write it soon - promise!
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