No More Tears in 2008

I won't be crying in public for at least another year. Yes, that's right - Wedding season is over for 2008.

We definitely had a good year for weddings. All in all, J and I were invited to six weddings in 5 different countries. We manged to attend five of the weddings which meant a year of amazing trips and side-trips (not to mention huge expense). So, to recap:

1. Pete and Laura (English and Italian): February 29th, St. Albans, UK. This was definitely a date we can't forget. The wedding celebration took place in a beautiful spot outside London (pic to right was taken close to the venue). The wedding also allowed me to catch up with old Yahoo! friend - Greg G. Then the topper of the evening was the chance siting/meeting of Paul Weller of Style Council fame staying at our hotel. How cool was that for a girl stuck in the 80s?
   
   
   
2. Xiao Dan and Marco (Chinese & Swiss): May in Bejing, China. As there were two ceremonies, I'm not sure if I should count this as wedding 2 or wedding 2 and 3. In retrospect, I felt like Xiao Dan's wedding was a rehearsal for the Bejing Olympics Opening Ceremony. We were treated to acrobats, opera singers, musicians, drummers and dragons. Lots of fun and an incredibly memorable holiday.
   
   
   
   
   


3. Tania & Marcel: (American-Canadian & Dutch-Canadian); Toronto, Canada. Whoohoo! What a partee! This wedding definitely reflected the bride's sensibility. We started on Toronto Island in a beautiful little wooden church (felt like our many canoe trips together) and ended in the stylish Distillery District. Loads of great drinks, food and dancing involved here. Great to catch up with old friends including Jim, Sian and Rian to name a few.




4. Gina and Kenvor: (English);Harrogate, England. Think Four Weddings & a Funeral. Can you picture it? That was this wedding. It was so perfectly English. I even got to wear a fascinator (more on that here). J was busy filming the event (we won't expect a DVD for a while as he still needs to finish Tania & Matt's 2007 wedding).
   
   The evening ended with crazed dancing to "500 miles" square dance style with whomever I could grab. It's good to know there are consistencies across every wedding you attend. We spent an extra few days in Yorkshire, where we hiked the nearby cow-country
   (our pics).
   
   
   
5. Chris and Margaret (Gosia): (Canadian & Polish) Krakov, Poland. As Chris said in his speech no one at this wedding was from Krakov. Everyone (over 80 people) traveled to this fantastically beautiful locale. J, Daryl & I all arrived via night train from Prague and were deposited in the city centre without coffee at 6AM (that will have to be a story told in person). Luckily, the arrival was the most stressful part of this wedding trip.
   
   The remaining 5 days in Krakov were relaxed and incredibly social. Days & nights were filled with catching up with old Uni-friends, meeting new friends (from Sweden, Crotia, Poland, Norway & England) and numerous shots of Polish vodka. This wedding took the cake for most historically significant church of all the weddings we attended this year - St. Peter & St. Paul church of Krakov. I think my own claim to fame at this wedding was the fact that J and I were the last ones at the reception which meant we arrived back at our hotel just as the sun was coming up. What fun to act like I was in university again.

Thankfully, not everyone has the same approach to getting married as J and I, otherwise I would never get to visit such amazing places. Thanks to everyone for deciding to keep the tradition of marriage alive. (here is a quick peek of all the weddings I've been too in the last few years).