Civilly Wedded

Will and I were first married in the Tunbridge Wells' registrar office at the Mansion House. We had to since we were not members of St. Nicholas in Sandhurst (where the blessing took place).

This was the day that Will did not see me beforehand, so he was surprised when I walked into the room. He had seen this dress though, and not the other, but Saturday, we were old married people so he saw me getting ready for blessing.

But the morning start was not so hot.

I slept in the barn with the single ladies, getting to bed late because of the minor vehicle crisis my brother and dad realized we would have on Sunday too much luggage, too many people, not enough spaces in cars to get folks to the airport. Crisis adverted, I went to bed closer to midnight than planned. I tiptoed into my room, to crawl up a steep ladder to a very high bunk bed in a very dark and very hot room. I brought a flashlight with me.

Then, I felt the roof was going to fall in on me and so after an hour of me turning on and off the flashlight, hoping not to disturb anyone in the room, and finding that the roof was still just an elbow length above, I got down. This time, even more slowly than I crawled up. I was going to sleep on the couch.

I was laid on the couch for about 5 minutes-- in my clothes, as I had forgotten to bring my pjs from the house--and then thought that there were beds for more guests joining us on Friday. I will go sleep in there, as they will never know. So I felt my way over to the where the beds are, only to think that there was a light switch along the wall. Yup, found it. Flipped it. The light bulb popped and then there was the power down sound.

I blew the enture barn's electricity and water supply (electric water pump, so one flush and you are done). It was 1:15 am at this point.

Rebecca was awake upstairs and she realized that something was wrong when she couldn't flush the loo. So we met up, flipped fuses in three different closets on two different floors, only to be joined by Mom and Dad. We four than flipped the same fuses before. We went outside-- them in barefeet, me in my shoes-- and found another fuse box and flipped those switches. Nothing.

At this point it is 2:00 am and it will be light at 4:00 am (yes, England is that far north). We say sod it and go to bed, thinking we can deal when it isn't dark and we don't have to be walking in sheep dung in the dark looking for more fuses.

At 6, I wake up (yes, in the bed meant for other guests) and start trying to figure out how to get water and power back to the barn. I wander around the grounds trying to find someone to help, only to wander over to find the gardner (who is supposedly the only who can help) leaving in his car at 6:30 am. This is not good.

I wander back to the barn and meet Darren, who saved the day: he found the unfound fuse box (on the back of the house, in the sheep pen that I did not find at 2 am because I am was not willing to go back in that dark corner in the middle of the night), and flipped the fuse. Water and lights were back.

Now, at 7 am, all is well and now my alarm went off to get up to get ready for the day.

But the rest of the day went really well. I walked down the aisle with my Dad. Mom and Dad presented me for marriage. Will and I exchanged giggles and vows and rings. We signed the marriage certificate, our witnesses signed the certificate, and the little kids signed the commemorative certificate. We were photographed and walked back down the aisle, as Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham.

It was very exciting and lovely and everyone was pleased, me especially as the day didn't start off well. But it certainly ended in a fairy tale.