Glen and Emma

We were invited to a wedding yesterday of Glen Jones and his bride, Emma. We were invited because Dot is a very good and long-time friend of Glen's mother, Lorraine and indeed Glen used to know Emily and Rebecca, being the same age as them. The wedding was a civil ceremony held outdoors in the lovely grounds of the former Armidale Teachers College, now part of the University of New England, and there were well in excess of 100 guests present. Although we didn't know it at the time, the bride's father turned out to be the guy who sold us our recently installed new carpet - such is the way with small communities.

The ceremony itself was impressive with six bridesmaids in attendance, two tiny flower girls, and six groomsmen in addition to the best man.

This formal part of the event, conducted by a female marriage celebrant, lasted perhaps forty minutes before, after which the guests mingled on the lawns and admiring the scenery before shuffling off to the reception.

The final picture here, below, shows the very happy couple with Lorraine.

The reception was held in a private auditorium at the local Bowling Club and lasted a long time, maybe getting on for 6 hours. There was abundant finger food, a lovely meal, free drinks, energetic conversation, all the usual speeches and the cutting of the cake, the bridal 'waltz' (which was hardly related to the classic 19th century conception of the dance), and lots of gyrations on the dance floor by the younger set aided by strobe lighting.

By good luck, or astute direction on the part of the organisers, we were located on a table amidst Dot's friends who were all of our age group, so the conversation was pleasant and time passed rapidly - all in all a very pleasant event.

AS