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An Antwerp Romance.
Jan. 26th, 2010 10:03 amSo, my bro got married.
The ceremony was carried out by the mayor of Antwerp, whose service was entirely in Flemish, with translation from Els, the lovely Best Lady. Bro didn't understand much, except the bits that mattered...'Man and Woman, or Man and Man, you are Equals, and we recognise you as Equals...'then there was the point where, in a church wedding, the priest/vicar would ask for any objections 'Or forever hold your peace.' In Belgium, the equivalent seems to be a specific 10 second interval where you think in silence about whether you really want to go through with it. The Brits thought it was a joke, but those officiating do seem to count those seconds down...
The wedding breakfast was, quite literally, a full English breakfast at a Brit eatery, all union jack mugs, tomato ketchup and braaaahn sauce. On a cold morning, it was absolutely the ticket. Then on to a very posh hotel stayed at by Gaultier, Galliano and Tommy Hillfiger, though presumably not at the same time, and in the evening, due to my brother's hatred of buffets ('They look a mess within seconds of the guests getting near them') waiters presented us with elegant fingahfud, followed by sit down dinner, witty speech from the Best Man, and deescoparty, at which the Brits excelled in leaping around to 80s/90s pop. We were superb.
My brother is very happy. We hugged and he told me about his intention to marry only the once and stick with it through thick and thin. I curbed my instincts to yell 'Don't be a bloody idiot!' Because all the fine pretties in the world can't make me trust matrimony, that's just family history for you. He paid tribute to our illustrious background by having the Addams Family theme played when the wedding cake came out.
It was a fine time. Two high points I must remark upon for myself; the wee baby elephant in Antwerp zoo is the cutest being on earth, but the most dedicated being on said planet is easily the photographer, who was with the couple from morning to midnight, had 18 memory sticks and took thousands of photographs. He was even photographing the wedding cab as he drove behind it, steering with his knees. A few of his photos are here:
http://www.fotomomenten.be/pascalenxavier/presentatie.html
The ceremony was carried out by the mayor of Antwerp, whose service was entirely in Flemish, with translation from Els, the lovely Best Lady. Bro didn't understand much, except the bits that mattered...'Man and Woman, or Man and Man, you are Equals, and we recognise you as Equals...'then there was the point where, in a church wedding, the priest/vicar would ask for any objections 'Or forever hold your peace.' In Belgium, the equivalent seems to be a specific 10 second interval where you think in silence about whether you really want to go through with it. The Brits thought it was a joke, but those officiating do seem to count those seconds down...
The wedding breakfast was, quite literally, a full English breakfast at a Brit eatery, all union jack mugs, tomato ketchup and braaaahn sauce. On a cold morning, it was absolutely the ticket. Then on to a very posh hotel stayed at by Gaultier, Galliano and Tommy Hillfiger, though presumably not at the same time, and in the evening, due to my brother's hatred of buffets ('They look a mess within seconds of the guests getting near them') waiters presented us with elegant fingahfud, followed by sit down dinner, witty speech from the Best Man, and deescoparty, at which the Brits excelled in leaping around to 80s/90s pop. We were superb.
My brother is very happy. We hugged and he told me about his intention to marry only the once and stick with it through thick and thin. I curbed my instincts to yell 'Don't be a bloody idiot!' Because all the fine pretties in the world can't make me trust matrimony, that's just family history for you. He paid tribute to our illustrious background by having the Addams Family theme played when the wedding cake came out.
It was a fine time. Two high points I must remark upon for myself; the wee baby elephant in Antwerp zoo is the cutest being on earth, but the most dedicated being on said planet is easily the photographer, who was with the couple from morning to midnight, had 18 memory sticks and took thousands of photographs. He was even photographing the wedding cab as he drove behind it, steering with his knees. A few of his photos are here:
http://www.fotomomenten.be/pascalenxavier/presentatie.html
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