The Trip Part 3 – The wedding

 Posted by Mark on Tuesday, 12 January 2016

 

Oliver and Nicola

The next morning I left Anna and Steve at the Hotel to go and pick up Oliver to take him to the wedding. As agreed I was wearing a dark suit and the gold bow tie that Oliver had bought for me to wear. He was understandably nervous but excited as well. After a few moments of chatting we decided to make our way to the venue so as to be in good time.

The Venue was Layer Marney Towers in Colchester, this is a beautiful Tudor building set in lovely grounds.

The Wedding went very smoothly and everyone seem to have a great time, the Bride, Nicola, turned up in a 1950’s American car and not shoes! She had planned not to wear shoes to her wedding and that is what she did, but Oliver made up for this with his gold shoes! I asked Oliver what was being done about the rings, he said that his godson dressed as batman was bringing them down the isle on a spiderman cushion! This was certainly going to be a very personal wedding. After the ceremony we all went outside for photos and then headed back to the Hotel to meet up in the bar so that Oliver and Nicola’s many friends who could not be invited to the reception could come and wish them well. It was certainly a packed bar!

Around 5pm we all walked across the road to the reception  at an underground American diner in Colchester called ‘Sloppy Joe’s’. This restaurant Oliver has been going to since he was a babe in arms and it was the first time that they had ever done a reception. They really pushed the boat out! The photographers set up a studio there with lots of fun props for people to have their photos taken and a magician went around the tables and amazed everyone with his sleight of hand tricks. I still have no idea how he did them!

The food was fantastic and a huge selection, there was no dancing as Nicola and Oliver are not the dancing type and so there was lots of chance to chat and it seemed that everyone have a great time and it was lovely to meet up although there was not enough time to chat fully to everyone there.

We ended up back at the hotel for a night cap and arranged to meet up the next morning for breakfast, it was at this point Nicola announced that she had forgotten to pack a going away outfit and so she would have to come to breakfast in her wedding dress! This caused some merriment amongst the other guests at the hotel the next morning. Well I did say is was gong to be a very personal wedding and as one guest said to me later, ” Of all the weddings I have been too, this was the best”. Well done Oliver and Nicola, and good luck on your lives together.

More Photos from Anna here