After the wedding it was time to leave the gardens and the vehicles of choice were two 60s GT Falcons and with the white streamers on the front everyone was looking at us (with the exhausts on them they could hear it too) along the way to the reception which was being held at the local golf club. And this is where we had the only hiccup of the night. The family of the bride had somehow gone AWOL and calls to both their mobile and their home number went unanswered. Combine them with the fact that the MC for the night was driving them and this presented a small obstical, they couldn’t be introduced to the gathering. So there was the wedding party hanging in the other side of the bar for around 30 minutes until the family arrived and they could be introduced.

Now while it sounds a bit ordinary to have a reception at a golf club, the food was great and generous helpings too. Much alcohol was consumed yet as far as i could tell, no one consumed too much and there wasn’t any of the problems that can be associated. Basically it was a good night. My speeches went well as did everyone elses and i muddled my way through my role in the bridal dance, dancing was never my forte although later in the night my dancing took on different characteristics. But we will get to that.

Most of the mutual friends i share with Dean and Marie were sat at the same table so i spent some time there. There was some inital confusion where for some reason some of the table thought Suzi and i were a couple and needed to be left in peace, there were some people that had table hopped to that table because they thought the table they were at was boring. And then there was Pam and Mel, two nurses Dean knows. Both suffering from bad colds which made me worry about the standard of our health system. Now by far the strangest thing was these two being at the wedding. While i don’t know for sure, I am fairly confident that Dean cheated on Marie with Pam, yet Marie seems to have forgiven her to the extent that since Pam is a qualified Midwife, she wants Pam to be the midwife at the birth. Its kind of strange I know but while i don’t have any relevant experience, normal seems so bland in comparison. So when not at the official table, it was my table away from home and once the situation with Suzi was clarified, people stopped leaving us in peace too!.

After the bridal waltz the place heated up a little, much dancing was undertaken to the point that my legs and side still hurt from dancing so much, or maybe its that the dancing was a little more … like jumping up and down. In between there was drinking and my drinks getting stolen by my favourite table since being bridal party my drinks were on the tab and theirs ended up not being. Actually on reflection it was mostly pam stealing my drink.

As we commited crimes against music and dancing, the crowd thinned out and before we knew it it was last drinks at midnight, so we grabbed the last drinks and eventually there was just the four of us, Moose, Pam, Mel and myself sitting at the table with the place being packed up around us. Then it became time to catch a cold ….