The wedding itself! An early start, 10:30am at the registry office, meant that there were alarm clocks in use, for the first time of our holiday. The day before we'd all been pretty good, getting up late after the various parties, but not going out late on friday night at all. (In fact, very few of us went out at all on friday night) Friday afternoon, a lot of us had been up to the venue for the reception, Sandeman House, and helped unpack supplies, decorate tables and setup the bar.
Setting up the bar was great fun. Eggert and Bel had organised four firkins of cask ale from Stewart Brewing, Edinburgh Gold and Edinburgh No. 3. Being firkins of cask ale, this meant they had to be tapped! None of this fancy (convenient, easy, reliable) modern sanke connector stuff. These kegs came with a bag of splines (wooden cone, much like a golf tee) 4 taper ended taps, and a hammer. You set them up on a rail, so they drain downwards, hammer a spline into the breather hole on top, (which will spout beer through the spline) and then hammer the tap into the bottom front of the keg itself. Much fun. You really feel like you've opened up the keg. (Cask ale like this has a shelf life from tapping of about 72 hours or so, and will be continually changing flavour as it continues to oxidise)
But back to the wedding!
The wedding was lovely, short and sweet in a nice big airy room in the center of town, with everyone all nicely dressed up. Because it was quite early, everyone then headed off their own way for lunch, before meeting back a the reception venue from 2:30pm. From 2:30, we had an extensive champagne hour, before some speeches and songs. An entire spit roasted pig was in a tent in the garden outside, upon which we merrily feasted, then a local band showed up to play music for a night of ceilidh dancing.
That's about all that can be said really! Much much much fun was had by all!
The camera was left out, and people were invited to use it at their will. Some of the people I therefore don't know very well, but hopefully they will find something they like here.
