Adelaide for the wedding of the year!

The real purpose of this holiday was to attend the wedding of Emily Duggan a friend who I met when I first moved to London back in 2002. (Not to be confused with Emily Chigwidden who I used to live with and was also there as a bridesmaid!)

I visited Adelaide two years ago on my last trip to Oz and it is a beautiful little city with a friendly atmosphere, good food market and great Victorian architecture. I was pretty tired from the jet lag, so once I had checked into the hotel I decided to take a nap. I had been invited to the wedding rehearsal on the Friday night, but in my jet lag stupor I managed to make a mess of setting the alarm and arrived 30mins late. Thankfully I didn't have a critical part in the ceremony so it didn't really matter!

After the wedding run through I was invited back to Em's parents house for a pre-wedding dinner with her family and the bridesmaids. The whole weekend was marked by being welcomed into the Duggan's home at such a family time for which I am very touched and grateful. During the evening Em just dropped into conversation that she had heavily edited the reading I was supposed to be doing at the service tomorrow. "Here's the new version, let me hear it..." It was the poem that Andy read to Emily when he proposed. So there I am standing in the middle of the kitchen reading through a text that I haven't seen before in front of the assembled family and bridesmaids. At this point I realised how nervous I was!!


My time keeping was really going awry as I was nearly late for the ceremony itself having taken too long to get back from Glenelg which I visited on the morning on the wedding. I sat next to a family friend who on discovering that I was English pronounced that "I love England, I love the English and I love the Queen. When can you come to dinner?".

Thankfully my reading was second in the order of service so I could get my part out of the way early and enjoy the service. Deciding that my English accent was probably my best asset I hammed it up a bit, peppered the poem with as many dramatic pauses and as much intonation as I could muster. Throughout the evening I received a lot of kind comments for people on my reading, so all those Rotary Young Speaker competitions must have taught me something!

The reading was Oh, the places you'll go by Dr Seuss for those that are interested.

The ceremony only lasted an hour which must be some kind of record for a Catholic wedding! I love going to weddings in different countries as you get to see the cultural differences to a UK wedding. (Nothing beats a Swedish wedding for me so far!) There were multiple grooms men, not just a best man. There is a choir to do the singing and the congregation don't get to join in. After the service the bride and groom disappear to have their photos taken and arrive at the reception venue an hour later. Goodness knows where they went in the mean time. Thank you to Pete and Cherise for looking after me during the break in procedings.

The reception was held on the Armory Lawns at Adelaide museum. It was a beautiful wedding breakfast with excellent food, wine, funny speeches and company. A second noticeable difference to the UK was that only the bride, groom, bridesmaids and grooms men sit on the top table. The parents get family tables of their own.

I have a bit of a complex about being the only one not thanked in wedding speeches having been a usher and reader for Rob and Joel respectively and missed out. I was greatly heartened to be thanked twice by Andy for reading and travelling all the way to Oz! :-)

On the Sunday before flying to Sydney I was invited to a recovery lunch at the Duggan's home. I am even more in debt to the Duggan's for their hospitality as I was one of a very few non-family members there.

If you are still here thanks for bearing with the longest blog so far. I am currently being techincally icompetent, but will try and get some photos added soon.