Our Wedding: The Groom

My second dedicated wedding post must, of course, be about my husband Roger. Without his actions our wedding would never have been conceived.

Lanre (Best Man), Roger (Groom) and Mark (Usher)
Suits hired from Impeccable in Hatch End – click picture to go to their website

He surprised me two years ago when we were on holiday in Toronto, Canada. Unbeknown to me, he had booked us a table for dinner in the revolving restaurant in the CN Tower. I nearly ruined it by eating too much for lunch as I wasn’t aware that we were getting dinner. He managed to convince me not to stuff myself silly and as the sun set we entered the tower and got the lift to the top.

We had been to the CN Tower once before during the day and I already adored the views of the city that it gives but being there at night was much more romantic as the city glitters below you as the darkness falls and the lights come on.

We ate three very good courses and drank some wine. We were relaxing and enjoying the views after dessert when Rog took my hand and told me that there was another reason that he had brought me there that night. He then produced a box containing a long heart pendant, that I now wear all the time, and asked me to marry him.

Crying with happiness we then went to the uppermost observation deck to enjoy the views together. No thoughts of the actual wedding were in our minds at this point, we were just taking in the moment.

For a year we simply enjoyed being engaged before we booked our venue, The Cavendish, and the planning really began.

My husband has been unusual for a groom in that he has given his input at almost every step of the planning process.  I’m glad that this was the case as in the end the wedding reflected both our tastes very well.

On the day of our wedding Rog made sure that he was at the venue on time and nervously awaited me whilst I was confirming my details with our registrar.

Once I started to walk down the aisle he did not take his eyes off of me and gave me a reassuring smile. When I reached the front he put his arm around me until I was able to hand my bouquet to my bridesmaid Jem and take his hand.

When our registrar, Lynn, asked if there was anyone present who knew any reason why we should not marry, we both looked behind us and jokingly eyed up the crowd with warning looks before turning back to face her again. Lynn then joked that Roger had not paid someone enough to say anything. This broke any lingering nerves we might have had and made our guests laugh.

Next it was time for the serious part. We had kept our vows simple and somehow managed to remember to put the rings,  handed to us by Best Man Lanre, on the correct fingers. Roger did call me his “unlawful wife” by accident but that will now be something that we remember fondly as a fun point of the ceremony.

Here is a small snippet of our vows:

“Please accept this ring, let it be a symbol of our marriage, of my love for you, of my commitment to you, and of our joining in matrimony today and for the rest of our lives.”

“I call upon these persons here present to witness that I Roger do take thee Katherine to be my lawful wedded wife.
To be by your side, in good times and bad, to support you and comfort you, to be a friend to you and love you always.”

With the formalities done we could relax a little bit. The joyous relief was very obvious on both of our faces but I particularly loved the beam on my new husband’s face.

After the ceremony it was time for the guests to be served their canapés and fizz whilst the formal photographs were taken. This is the part that Rog struggled with the most as he just wanted to go and greet everyone but I helped him realise that we could do that after the shots that we had pre-planned with our photographer Louie were done. It was actually nice to get a breather with just the two of us in the rose garden once the family and group shots, taken at the front of the building, were completed.

From the quiet of the rose garden it was time to enter the wedding breakfast room upstairs to our names announced loudly by Lanre and applause from our other guests.

Once seated it was time for the meal to begin. We had a buffet that was served by table and composed of jerk chicken, rice and peas, lamb cacciatore and a selection of vegetables. Some of our guests had never tried jerk chicken before and were pleasantly surprised. A few even went back for seconds. Pudding consisted of three mini desserts which also seemed to go down well.

When the meal was finished it was time for the part of the day that Rog had been most nervous about: The speeches. He thinks that he is not a natural public speaker but anyone that was there that day would tell him otherwise. His speech was wonderful.

He thanked both sets of parents and all our guests for coming and then he added an unexpected section that brought tears to my eyes:

“Unfortunately, it’s not been possible to have everyone we love here with us today. Such as Kat’s Gran who I know she would have loved to have here and one of our dear friends, Ken, who passed away in an unfortunate road accident. But we know they are here with us in spirit and in our hearts. So, with that in mind, would you please raise your glasses and join me in a toast to absent family and friends.”

Rog then went on to thank our bridal party and his sister Sandra whilst I gave out gifts.
Then he went on to flatter me as his new wife:

“Finally, I would like to thank my wife for agreeing to marry me and it’s an honour to be her husband. I think you’ll agree that she looks absolutely gorgeous today and I know I am very lucky to have her.  Kat put a huge amount of effort into organizing today and it really would not have been possible without her. Kat, you know and understand me better than anyone else I know and, I know I don’t say this often enough, but I love you with all my heart! So, ladies and gentlemen, please stand and raise your glasses for the most important toast I am ever likely to make: To my wife Kat!”

After the meal everyone headed back downstairs where the evening reception had already begun. Our DJ, the brilliant John Bell from G.P. Discotheques, was all ready to get the party started and as soon as everyone was gathered our first dance to Eric Benet’s One More Tomorrow began.

Once the romantic part of the reception was completed our guests and ourselves proceeded to tear up the dance floor. This is especially true of my new husband and his clubbing buddies who demanded everyone’s attention with their moves to the New Jack Swing tunes that they love so much:

I feel very blessed and privileged to have had such a wonderful celebration with my new husband. Here is to our future my Baby!

Love to you all

~Kat

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