North of the Stupid Line

16 months after we got married, we have finally got our wedding album! Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

You may not have realised, but Rachel and I have now been happily married for nearly seven months. Yes, you read right, seven months. Amazing how time flies, doesn’t it?

For those of you who are keen to see the wedding photographs, all the ones taken by our official photographer, Jon Perkin, can be found here. If you’d like copies of any of these photos, simply add them to a shopping basket and purchase them. The smallest size pictures are 20p each, and they’ll be delivered to your door.

As of 19 August 2006, I became a married man to Rachel Johnson, who is now of course, Rachel Wilks! Rachel was absolutely stunning in her wedding dress – I was over the moon! We had a brilliant day – everything went smoothly and it was very emotional for the two of us.

We are currently waiting for the official photos, and will let you know when we have them. In the meantime, you can check some out at my Flickr account. Here are a few.

Last weekend I had that dreaded night of all, the stag night! Some of you will be wondering what it is. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition:

A bachelor party (also called a stag party, stag night (UK, Ireland and Canada), or bucks party (Australia)) is a party held for a bachelor shortly before he enters marriage, to make the most of his final opportunity to engage in activities a new wife might not approve of, or merely to spend time bonding with his male friends (often in his wedding party afterwards).

A bachelor party may involve activities beyond the usual party and social gathering ingredients (often drinking alcohol and gambling), such as going to a strip club, hiring a female stripper or escort, and in some traditions more hazing-like tests and pranks at the future groom’s expense, which shows the whole thing is also a rite of passage from bachelorhood (associated with an adolescent lifestyle, often in the common past of most participants, e.g. in their student years) to (more ‘responsible’) marital life.

The task of organizing a bachelor party is often traditionally assigned to a male sibling of the bachelor or to the best man; otherwise any (close and/or reputedly party-minded) male friend will organize it.

Mine was a joint venture with the hen, and both of our families attended as well. We all stayed at the Zeus Hotel and Restaurant in Baldock, Hertfordshire.

On the night itself, we had a Greek-themed meal followed by belly-dancing, plate-smashing and a disco. Pictures can be seen here, but here are a couple for you viewing pleasure.

Rachel and I had the pleasure of being invited to Rachael and Matthew’s wedding today. It was a lovely occasion, as most weddings usually are, but the bride and groom are a special couple. They are both regular attendees of the Gospel Tabernacle, Pontllanfraith, and are both devout Christians. As are their families it seems! It was a very highly charged, very devout service, which included a lot of hand waving in the air, “Halleleujahs” and “We love you, Jesus!” It wasn’t as cringing as I expected, and I was actually touched by the outpouring of love, not just for Jesus, but also for Rachael and Matthew. It was great.

Rachel and I were dressed up in our Sunday best, and you can see a picture of us on the left. It’s not very often we get a chance to dress up, and it was nice to feel and look good. I look rather dashing, don’t I?

The Reception was held at the New House Country Hotel in Cardiff, and was just lovely – food was great, company was good. All in all, Rachel and I had a lovely day, but we were knackered by the end.