Johan and Kate's Wedding

16th December 2006

Just had an absolutely fab weekend in Anglesey, where Kate and Johan got married. For those that don't know him, Johan is an old schoolfriend. I haven't seen him for 8 years, but he's always been very good at staying in touch with massive monster emails from around the world - Germany, Singapore and, most recently, Italy. I was extremely chuffed to get an invite and even more chuffed to find out that two other friends from school would be there - Tina Costa and Nick.

Planning began pretty much as soon as I got the invite about 2 months ago as I didn't have anything to wear! Disaster! I also had no money to buy anything new so it came in very handy when my flatmate produced a very nice turquoise dress that was just my size. I say "just" cos it certainly needn't have been any tighter when I tried it on! For the first time in my life, I actually sort of went on a diet and started going to the gym in earnest. It wasn't so much trying to lose weight as making sure I didn't put on any more (sitting on your a*** all day watching telly and getting paid for it ain't good for the waistline!). It seemed to work cos, even if I do say so myself, I thought I looked pretty splendid.

Johan's betrothed grew up in Angelsey, so that's where the wedding was, and a very nice drive I had there too. You forget how pretty Wales is. We should all go more often. On the way back I had a rainbow an' evrifin. (Note to Welsh Tourist Board: I'll take my commission in marked £50 notes. Ta.) Though I would have one suggestion - if you're going to have Welsh AND English on traffic signs, could you make them different colours cos by the time you've figured out where the Welsh ends and the English starts, you've missed your exit on the motorway or driven into oncoming traffic when the dual carriageway narrows down to single lanes... (You know who you are!!)

Johan and Kate got married at Tre-Ysgawen Hall near Llangefni, a very nice Spa Hotel type place. Unfortunately, there was no room at the inn by the time I tried to book accommodation but I did manage to find lodgings at a local pub. Note to self: The Bull at Llangefni does excellent breakfasts. So I drove over from the Wirral in the morning, had plenty of time to put on my slap at the pub and then headed over to the venue, where I found Tina! She looks exactly the same as she did at school, only more glam. And, oh-what-a-small-world, she's now together with Justin MacDonald, for those that remember him. Look for the long-haired tall bloke near the back of the 5th-year photo with the huge grin.

Shortly after that, Nick turned up looking very dapper (of course!) in his full tailcoat. And so the reminiscing began. We had such a good time (or at least I did!) catching up. It's always nice when you see people you haven't seen for ages and find that you do still have stuff to talk about, and not just the joint past.

The ceremony was in the conservatory of the hall (Note to staff at Tre-Ysgawen: move the big white van for the 15 minutes that a wedding ceremony takes cos it kind of detracts from the lovely views into the grounds!) and it was all very simple and nice, with a special remix of the wedding march... :-) When we received our glass of mulled wine after the ceremony, little did we know it was just a ruse to make use feel happy about going outside into the chill air for the group photo! Very clever. Johan and Kate had what I thought was an excellent idea for the wedding meal - roast! Brilliant, who doesn't like roast and all the trimmings including crumble for pud? Though one guest got slightly more trimmings than he bargained for when he found half a beetle in his crumble. It does beg the question where the other half was, but it's probably best not to dwell on it.

Many speeches followed, and yes, I did cry when Johan made his! It was really sweet and Kate's an extremely lucky girl to have such a thoroughly fabulous chap as a husband. Then it was time for the drunken disco, which went swimmingly! Kate and Johan did a pretty fab first dance, they'd actually practised some moves which was very impressive! It was at this point that Nick conjured his fiancee out of thin air! Yay! Everybody's getting married!

So to cut a very long story short, it was a really really really nice day, not least because I got to catch up with some people who, I have realised, are very special to me. Moving around as I have done, it's always sad to leave friends and, exciting as it is to make new ones, you always end up leaving people behind the next time you move on. It's nice to know that some friendships can survive the distance and the years (and my email-shyness...) Thanks for the fabulous weekend!

The Gang: Justin, Tina (Marina), Tina (Orangina), Jolanda and Nick.

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