chris’ and mei’s wedding
On Saturday Chris and Mei tied the knot at Banjo Patterson in Gladesville. The ceremony was held outdoors on a beautiful sunny day. Both bride and groom looked very much the part, Mei of course looking beautiful. The ceremony was touching with self written vows, although Mei forgot some of her lines as she skipped over the promise to obey. I saw a number of the present ladies shedding a tear or two. Chris’ sister Megan (Megatron II) and her partner CC performed some special music and the speeches that followed were some of the best I have heard. JohnBoy, best man, was too scared to make a speech because he is a weak little girl.
The ceremony started at about 11:15AM so the reception meal was lunch. I sat with Adam and Bits and some unfamiliar people, with the bride and groom’s table at my back. The food was good and the wine excellent. We had a fun time.
We were kicked out at what they claimed was 5PM, but the time had flown and it didn’t seem like we had been there for six hours. Chris and Mei boarded a small boat (a launch?) in the old skool speedboat style, although made from fibreglass with speckled metallic paint rather than wood. Reminded me of my motorcross helmet from when I was eight.
Us kiddies, PP and cousins, headed off to the Bayview Hotel on Victoria Road, Gladesville for a few refreshments. My protest unheard, round after round of Jaegerbombs were produced and the tone got considerably louder. I got to talk to many of Chris’ relatives, I can see little pieces of his face in each of them.
After the Bayview we went to the Cat and Fiddle in Balmain. Surprisingly, it was my first time there. Despite Slorebags’ absence I was on Random Alert and I got my first within 10 minutes of arrival. A big guy came in wearing a ‘you looked hotter on myspace’ t-shirt. I had no choice but to approach him and start up a conversation. He was a nice guy, but he wasn’t on The Space. His brother gave him the shirt.
We went into the next room. For a $10 cover charge we got to see some live music, apparently the bass player was a friend of Kate’s brother (details sketchy due to alcomohol). Anyway it was entertaining, we drank and I recall dancing. My favourite memories don’t make it here onto the blog but we had a good time. Lots of photos here.
The next stop was to, you guessed it, Chinese Laundry. I cabbed it home and got changed as I am not going to go dancing in my black suit. The Laundry was, as always, great fun. It is such a consistent night/venue. You are always guaranteed a good time at Chinese Laundry. The group had slimmed quite a bit by this time as we lost people at every move. It was pretty much core Party Posse plus Party Greg and Kate. There may have been cousins but, to be honest, my recollections are not the best. I had been drinking since 11am, and this is 1am.
I had run out of cash by this stage but luckily JohnBoy took charge and brought drinks. He kept bringing me a seemingly endless supply of Smirnoff double blacks, to which I attribute my Sunday regret. We spent a lot of our time in the Laundry room, which is usually funkier. Imagine my surprise when, on the floor, I bumped into Megatron, my flatmate. She was there with her boyfriend and some guy whom I don’t know. She danced with us for the rest of the night. Kate left but gave me her number. It turned out to not be hers 🙁
Megatron, Hayden and I shared a cab back to Cremorne when, just before home, I heard the magic words: “let’s go to Maisys”/ Maisys is a twenty-four hour cafe less than three blocks from my new house and is a North Shore institution. Both Megatron and I ordered the excellent Eggs Benedict and Hayden got some chicken thing because he has gluten issues. A great end to any night.
On Sunday I awoke at 10:30am, after only (perhaps?) five hours’ sleep. I had a BBQ at Adam’s house, a birthday celebration for both him and Mel, who was up from Melbourne for the event. I was still too drunk to drive so Adam organised for our mutual friend of twenty years, Scott, another local, to pick me up.
To the BBQ. I was a bit tentative about both drinking and eating but Jem, true to form, peer pressured me into sampling a beer. It didn’t seem to do harm. I got to the point where I forced a sausage down and then the floodgates opened and I was a hungry man. There were perhaps fifteen adults there, and of those I would say that twelve I have known for over fifteen years. Good to catch up with so many old friends, even with limited time (and mental resources). There were five babies/toddlers and one six-year-old. My life is changing.
That thirty hour portion of the weekend, ramblingly documented, was a great time and I will retain memories for years to come. Congratulations to Chris and Mei, both for their union and for the excellent event that formalised it.