How I gatecrashed a wedding

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Hmmm S & P's wedding on Saturday was glorious. It was such a great witness to all the people that had come. S's family were all Hindu, and of course, Indian. Most of them were, at least, except for VP, MP and her mum and brother (and all of them Indian origin except for MP!). I shall write about God's full circle in my life soon. But for now let's focus on how gorgeous S was, and her little bridesmaid, R! Let's, of course, also focus on the whole wedding, my role in it (as I'm so erm important and it was flippin' hilarious, after the initial embarrassment!) and the little stories that go with a wedding.

Let me say the service was sufficiently weepy (lol) but more importantly, the presence of God was definitely tangible. They made it very clear it was a Christian wedding so that everyone who came was exposed to worship and the Christian basis for marriage. Pastor Chris also gave them an insight into why a relationship with Jesus is fundamental for any relationship, especially the most sacred on earth, to work:) One thing that has always struck me is the fact that in India we never sang 'In Christ alone'. I love that song. Tis beautiful ;) Another thing I appreciate about pentecostal weddings (I am not being denominational, it's just something missing in some other denominations) is that the bride and groom have communion together. That's something so essential as one of our Christian covenant symbols. It is a symbol - I'll agree before you hit me with that - but it is the symbol of a covenant.

Well, after that lovely worship and he kissed the bride (studio audience: siiiiigghhhhh, awwwwwwww), I was asked by MP if I wasn't coming to the hotel and that he would see me there. Now... let's get serious. You are all dying to hear (I hope ambitiously!) about my mortal embarrassment. Tis a good laugh, so you shall hear it. Because I'm soooo nice, I don't mind being a complete idiot! Which I most certainly was that day! Ah well, like V said, God knew what He was doing. But then again, like I said, yes but S didn't!

So I said of course I was to MP. Now S had told me the previous week to make sure I got a lift to the hotel in the evening. And I assumed they were fantastically generous even if I had only known them for three months max. Since I'd definitely been invited to the hen night, I thought it was normal for the British too to invite you to their wedding parties. In India, you are just invited to it all, on the wedding day usually. I knew there was a big do at the hotel and had heard all the details of it and it had been planned for months! So to make space for one was, I knew, quite a big thing. I also knew I was only invited for the evening. What I didn't know was that between the evening and the afternoon, there was something for a select few normally, both at the hotel! I might have guessed had it not led so naturally to my gate-crashing that it caught me completely without suspicion! LOL

So I went up to D as asked and requested a lift. A sari is not very bussable! Not at all, with a thick winter coat on! She then told me that she was not, in fact, going to the hotel. She was just going to an afternoon tea and cakes at the bay with a friend. But she knew just who might be able to help and she sorted it all out and left me with a lovely couple and their very plush Jaguar. In fact, it just might have been this year's. If it was last year, it was a later one in last year's models. I know from M & VP ;O They were so kind and we had fun. They then told me that they were going to P & J's for tea before the hotel (ah, the elusive hotel!) and they wouldn't hear of my not coming. Neither would P. I apologised properly for inviting myself (well, at least I wasn't invited directly by the hostess!) and then on the way there, tentatively asked R & J, the couple who were giving me a ride, what time the reception was. They said "Oh... you mean the food... Oh that won't happen till at least a quarter to six! We've got plenty of time. But she did say there was a surprise so we shouldn't be too late".

Now in my limited vocabulary as an English teacher six-ish constitutes evening. As it turned out, it was even later than six. But THAT is how I gatecrashed a wedding. I didn't realise. I even sat at a place meant for someone else! How fantastic was that! There was just one person who couldn't make it, and he was even at M & VP's table! I mean I was at M&VP's table, LOL. I thought they had decided that he wasn't going to come so they could invite me!

It only dawned on me with horrible, slow inevitability when people started coming in later for the barn dance and sandwiches! And since V and I were then engaged in an involved discussion of the hilarious-excruciating (depending on perspective - V's or mine:O) circumstances, the photographer thought it was a Kodak moment. I was even photographed in my most embarrassing moment! LOL

LOL LOL LOL

But the wedding was spectacular. The bride and the groom landed in a helicopter! The view of Cardiff was breathtaking from the hotel. The meal was sumptuous and the cake deserves a mention - a white chocolate, strawberry cream-filled profiterole mountain that the happy couple slashed at with a large fencing-style sword! MMMmmmmm. It was a roast dinner and a five course meal. VP looked lovely too. R had her natural curls and tints, in a half-up, half-down do. She looked stunning. S of course topped the day. It was a two-piece sequinned lavender-white bridal ghagra choli, that looked sufficiently combined enough for S. And the marquee was fantastically detailed. I was too tired to dance but thankfully the embarrassment was late enough and not mortal enough to prevent an enjoyment of the wonderful Saturday.

S&P went off to Cornwall and are enjoying their brief stint there. Their real honeymoon's in May when they're going on a cruise - it's Alaska or bust!

Pas Chris told the church of their courtship. Some of it I know. But CD, when she prayed for S, mentioned their faithfulness to each other. P has been asking her every year to marry him. They started together SIXTEEN years ago! And every year, when P asked, S always said she did not see why as she was perfectly content as she was and wanted nothing more. Poor P did, of course :). But how absolutely gorgeous of them! But last year, when S went to Barcelona she sent P a card that made him keel over in shock. The card read 'To my fiance'. A phone call later ('Really, S?') and the rest is history. She is so blessed to have found and waited for that kind of love and faithfulness. They had very interesting toasts about their childhood too. They are indeed a special couple.

Way to go, S&P.