Phil and Danielle's wedding

Sorry for the delay blog fans, been a bit of a busy week. Anyhoo... This past Monday another wedding was clicked off; that of Phil and Danielle. This move now incidentally leaves me exposed as the only male left unmarried in our group. John, Jason, Chris, David, Martin and now Phil, all hitched. If you guys are waiting for me next you better get yourself in a tonne of mothballs because those suits are gonna be on ice a LOOOOOOOONG time!

The wedding was held in a town called Roxwell just north of Chelmsford in a marque, quite uniquely (must of thought they was Posh and Becks), and we were due to have the ceremony itself on the lawn but due to the inclement weather the service was brought inside. Just like Lynsey a few weeks before, there were a few tears from the bride, Danielle, and her parents and some friends had flown from overseas just to be there.

Everything seemed to go well, even though Phil seemed to be more 'hands on' with to minute by minute running of the day than any groom I'd seen before. John handled the Best Man duties like a pro although talk of 'erections' during the speech had me a bit worried.

As is customary, dinner and dancing followed the service, with the official photos tucked in between. The video above is clearly from the dance portion of the evening, but contains footage of Phil's dance style which he is now infamous for.

Hope you had a good day guys. All the best!x

John and Lynsey's big day

I found Langdons quite easily I thought considering I had never been to Hornchurch before and had loose directions from Martin to turn right at the fork; apart from that I was basically using the 'force'. I was very surprised to see Phil again. Maybe the others knew, but I didn't know he was coming back from Hong Kong.

The service itself seemed over quickly, but later on that day someone told me they had gone for the concise version. Both bride and groom looked dapper, though I think Lynsey had a touch of the nerves during the service. The official photos were conducted outside in the grounds as we had nice warm weather that day. Once that was done everyone headed for the Cheery Tree pub in Rainham for the reception.

There was a rather tasty dinner laid on with the speeches being as concise as the wedding. Phil, Martin and Jason did a 'Best Men' speech, tag-teaming back and forth, doing a few lines each. Very good. Once the dinner was over the tables and chairs where swept aside to expose the dance floor for the '1st dance' and the disco.

It was a very good day and all the best goes out to both Lynsey and John. In a months time it will be the turn of Phil and Danielle, then that would leave me as the only one left unmarried from my male school chums!




Sadly I went and left me camera at home so had just me phone to take a few shots.

Another weekend, another wedding!

Another weekend, another wedding. This was a tad bit closer to home, but who else can say they have been to 2 weddings on consecutive weekends, in 2 different continents, in 2 different hemispheres. Not many I wager! Someone call the Guinness Book of Records!

David married Luan in a lovely and concise ceremony. Which I think Dave was glad was over quite quickly because he was as nervous as hell! Luan's mate Nikki and her daughter Lucy were bridesmaids and both looked beautiful in their red dresses. The venue was a lovely, grand building in the Essex countryside. And we did have a little difficulty finding it.

I was following Jason and Michelle in convoy as they followed Anna and Chris, and we got to one particular roundabout and we had lost the trail and ended up circling the roundabout 3 times. 3 cars all in a row. We did amuse some of the motorist there as well. Jason took the lead after that and Tom Tom got us there. Phil and his lady Danielle arrived after us so missed all the fun. Tracey was also there. As the BEST MAN! and she did the job just as got as any best man before her.

Thanks Dave and Luan for the invite. Hope you guys had a fun day too!

Michelle and Jason
Phil and Danielle
David and Tracey
Chris and Anna
Lucy and Nikki
Luan and Tracey
Rhys (Tracey's son) and Me!

No church. No bell

Ah. Saturday was the wedding and thankfully the weather held up and the ceremony was held in the gardens of this magnificent looking function hall. It was really good, with us guests disappearing to the local bar for an hour whilst the dj set up. The dinner was very tasty and the dj played the standard wedding stuff, disco and party. Quite spookily both me and Mel caught the bouquet and garter (I didn't know this, but the garter is the male version. Maybe an Aussie thing. After the 12 o'clock finish a few of us headed into town to continue the evenings festivities. Dragged ourselves back to the hotel bout 4.

The next day I joined the 2 now joined families for a BBQ lunch down by the banks of the river in a picturesque suburb. Mel was feeling the effects of a cold, and jet lag, so stayed in bed. It's now Monday, and our last full day and night here, so we've gotta cram all the remaining stuff in. Today will be a river cruise and visiting the coast. Up and at em!

Wedding Day!

Me! (Don't worry. I didn't fall)

Toady is wedding day. Actually is less than 2 hours! Last night a lot of the wedding guests, family and friends met for dinner in an Afghan restaurant. We had a set menu so wasn't able to explore the cuisine fully. The weather has turned to its more seasonal temperature of low 20s but its still quiet pleasant. My plan to upload my photos from the hotel lobby terminal has been thwarted by the fact that it takes 4 years just to do 1 photo. Its cheap to be online though; $1 aus for 10 mins. That works out to be around 40p!

The Old Orleans Stag

Old Orleans

Dave, Chris and the cocktail

Phil

It was the first time I'd ever been to the bar cum restaurant where my brother used to work as door security, but my first visit to the Old Orleans was for Dave's Stag night. Dave, me, Jason, Chris and Phil all stuffed ourselves on some pretty darn good food and good conversation. Jason told me of a shopping centre that deals in discounted clothes so I'm gonna head there today; see if I can get a suit for the wedding I'll be going to next weekend in Australia (Steve and Carley).

Dave

Me, Chris, Dave and Jason

Me, Chris, Dave, Jason and Phil