The wedding day

What do you write after leaving a post that simply reads, 'Getting married today' ...?

It was a puzzle too difficult to solve the day after the wedding.
Perhaps it will come to me this morning.

How did it go?
It was the most deliciously low-key wedding that I've been to which was the way that we wanted it. It was the day we discovered that the people we've come to call friends here in Belgium, could meet up in one room and talk without ceasing ... it was also the day that we learned just how special our friends over here are.

Having specifically written 'no gifts' on the email invitation, we were blushingly surprised as people arrived bearing gifts, flagrantly disregarding our idea of 'more about people and party' and less about the formalities we had previously associated with wedding.

The wedding ... a Belgian wedding?
Ours was very informal. I had to return to the scene of many a defeat. District Huis opened it's doors to us and one of Gert's colleagues performed the marriage ceremony. It was very relaxed, with space for our laughter ... all in Dutch and ending with a surprise poem that Marleen, our celebrant, read out in English.

Those who have read my blog for a while might remember that District Huis has presented me with many a difficult and downright depressing challenge over this last year, so it was with some amusement that we accepted their gift of District Huis coffee mugs and chocolate, with a small wine reception after the ceremony.

Diede, an old friend from the Netherlands, drove over with his partner Francien. Diede is the man who endeared himself to me years ago by promising my daughter that 'yes, he would become her stepfather but she had to find herself a new mother first'. He came in the capacity of almost-family and old friend.

Alison was there as our witness, photographer and friend, bringing her husband for audience and porter duties ;) and reminding us, once again, of the many reasons we value our friendship with the wandering Canadians.

Amanda and Marlon came in from Brussels as the Kiwi members of the wedding audience ... 8 month old Marlon won the hearts of all who met him.

Freddy, Gert's Belgian friend, colleague and witness, was still recovering from gallbladder surgery, so he brought his parents with him, bumping our Belgian audience up to 4.

Socially, one of our aims in Belgium is to get the number of Belgians at our expat parties higher than just my Belgian. We were getting there, Saturday night we had 5 ... the best result so far.

Our planned balcony party became a lounge party as the weather fell to pieces, and it was fine as our lounge was easily big enough to fit in 13 friends and 5 nationalities. It was a night of conversations ... a delicious night actually.

So we did what we wanted to do and married very quietly and afterwards we were able to spend time with people we really enjoy spending time with. I wrote home with the details for my daughter but it would have been so much better to have had her there. She turned 20 the next day ... Happy Birthday Jessie!

Perhaps Gert and I will marry again over in NZ, another informal occasion for the couple who said they would never bother with marriage again.

Oh ... in response to emails demanding photographs.
They're coming. Our photographer has taken them away to work on them. I've asked that I be made to look like Sandra Bullock so she could be some time ... but I'll post one or two as soon as I have them.

Postscript: One of the highlights of the day, I'll confess, was Alison arriving with two jars of Vegemite ... a toast spread hated by people the world around, much-loved by many New Zealanders and Australians, much-missed by those abroad, especially me.