Tag: Tim

1055: Tim’s Wedding Day

My friends Tim and Sophie got married today, and I’m sure they’ll be delighted I’m marking the occasion with a blog post hastily composed on my phone because the Wi-Fi at this hotel doesn’t seem to work properly.

It was a very nice wedding, all told. I know people always say that weddings are at least “nice” if not “beautiful” and “wonderful” and so on, but it really was. Taking place at Cain Manor, an old big house (remarkably similar to the one Tim grew up in) near Farnham in Surrey, the whole affair was pleasingly compact in nature — the ceremony started at 4, was over by 4.30 and after not too much milling around we were sat down waiting for dinner. An electrical mishap delayed the food a bit but even with that delay, it didn’t feel like there was too much standing around doing nothing, which was a blessed relief.

Tim and Sophie also decided not to have an official photographer either, which meant there was no standing around waiting for all that shenanigans either. I was relieved about that — one of my least favourite things about other people’s weddings is standing around in the cold while waiting for some person with a camera to finish shouting “Friends! University friends! Obscure cousins neither the bride nor the groom recognise!” Don’t get me wrong, wedding photographers do a great job and I know several people who make a good living from it, but man, that waiting around is dull. I can only imagine what it must be like for the bride and groom, having to pull increasingly-false smiles as their fingertips slowly succumb to frostbite and they’re surrounded by relatives they don’t know the names of.

Andie and I are back at the hotel we’re staying at now. It’s about 4 miles away from the wedding venue, and is called The Devil’s Punchbowl after the nearby park. It seems like a pleasant enough place, though it would be nice if we couldn’t hear all the drunkards in the pub part of the hotel doing karaoke, and it would also be nice if the Wi-Fi worked properly. The room also smells like a dental surgery for some reason, but that’s all right.

It’s been nice to get away for the day. There’s a super-stressful week coming up for both of us — I have jury duty and we’re moving house. I also have to squeeze my usual work in somewhere! Still, I’m not thinking about that right now. Just going to have a nice rest and return to stressing out tomorrow!

#oneaday Day 984: Stagging

I’m away for the weekend. Specifically, I’m in the middle of nowhere in Worcestershire for my friend Tim’s stag weekend (or “bachelor party” as you Americans prefer to call it). We’re having a weekend of drinking, board games and shooting each other (but mostly Tim) with Airsoft guns. Sounds like fun.

Of my friends who have got married whose stag dos I’ve been to, none of them have done the stereotypical “get hammered in Amsterdam, hire hookers then leave Stag Boy in an embarrassing position to be discovered by the police/his parents after several hours of considerable discomfort”. And I’m actually quite grateful for that. Although everyone jokes about that being the way that stag dos are “supposed” to go it never struck me as particularly fun — especially not for the Stag, who will probably be left rethinking his friendships in the hours between being chained to the lamppost and having to explain to the nice police officer why he is naked and covered in margarine.

My own stag do was relatively stereotypical — paintballing in the daytime followed by drinks in the evening — but I chose to invite my female friends also, and nothing embarrassing happened. Not that I remember, anyway. I remember it being a rather fun night — there are certainly a bunch of photos suggesting it was lurking around somewhere — but I didn’t leave it thinking “wow, my friends are a bunch of bellends.” Which, again, I’m quite grateful for.

A stag do should be an opportunity for the groom-to-be to have some time with his closest friends — regardless of gender if he so desires — and have a memorable “send off” before married life. That looks like exactly what this weekend is going to be, so I’m going to take the time to relax and enjoy it hopefully as much as Tim will.

Bed now. The drinks have been flowing freely and we’ve been playing Cards Against Humanity for the past few hours. Hilarity, as usual, ensued, but I’m more than ready for sleep now!