Shock and Awww

I said the wedding deserved a blog post all to itself, but now that I get to it, I realise that I don't know what to say. It was just... lovely.

Wedding yay!

For one thing, it was amazing to have an excuse to see schoolfriends again, even though not everyone could make it. It's strange how we're all grown up and living all over the world, doing grown up things (or trying to, in my case). I'm not sure I'll ever quite get the hang of the passage of time.

Three little maaaaaaaids from school. (I'm sorry, it had to be done.)

The setting for the wedding was perfect. The scenery was unrealistically beautiful, and the decor was simple, but lovely. Plus, it matched my dress, which I thought was very considerate of it. Incidentally, La and I discovered that we had somehow chosen dresses which matched each other, right down to the asymmetrical hemline, an impressive feat when we bought them at different times, on different continents.

But no one was paying attention to us, because Anny was the most beautiful bride in the whole world ever (I know I love hyperbole, but this time I mean it). In a moment straight from a movie, La, Yennie and I burst into tears the moment we saw her arrive, and had to pass around tissues, which we spent the rest of the ceremony clutching.

Comes the pretty young bride! (I couldn't resist. I'll stop now.)

The ceremony itself was brief, and in English, which was nice for the two non-Chinese quota players, and then we got to take lots of photos and debrief ("Anny's married. One of our friends is married. Like, actually married."). And cry a bit more.

Shut up, we're not crying. We just got some happiness in our eyes.

This is not a Shakespearean comedy. We didn't all get married at the end.

This is their joy day unalloyed! (I'm really done with the G & S now. Promise.)

Ahahaha! This is even classier than our last picnic!

<3

I still can't quite believe that people my age are getting married. I can't believe that my friends are getting married. I don't feel ready for any of this. I guess I don't have to be, since I'm not the one in the pretty dress, but I do feel increasingly out of step with my peers in terms of this sort of stuff. While I like both pretty dresses and cake, I don't feel anywhere near grown up enough to accompany them with a decision to spend the rest of my life with someone.

But I do like weddings. (I may, in fact, just have a wedding at some stage without actually marrying anyone. Save all dates in the future, just in case.) This was my first friend-wedding, and it couldn't have done a better job of dispelling all cynicism about weddings, life, and the universe as a whole.

Congrats, Anny and Alan. I hope your life together is long and happy, and filled with all the cake you could possibly want.