A covid wedding

 Obviously this virus has had an effect on many things, including weddings. For most weddings the effect has been postponement. One suspects 2021 will be a very busy year for wedding venues, coping with both that year's weddings and the backlog from 2020. Ok not as serious as the NHS backlog, but a thing nonetheless.

However, Thibault and Clarissa decided to plough on as intended. Well not totally as intended given the stag do got cancelled and the restaurant for the reception has not re-opened. But they always intended the ceremony itself should be a registry office wedding at Islington Town Hall. So that could go ahead. The bad news though was that the authorities informed them that due to space restrictions inside and social distancing, they could have no more than two guests, which not unreasonably were going to be Thibault's parents. Bad news for me though, having waited half a century to be someone's best man, I couldn't even attend the wedding. My role was to be downgraded to looking after the bikes outside while the couple took the plunge!

If you don't know it, Islington Town Hall is a suitably grand although slightly austere edifice built in the neo-classical manner of the 1920s. Classicism with a touch of Art Deco creeping in. It is a very well known wedding venue. This was not the first wedding I have been to here. 

I had intended to walk it (about two hours from my house), but in the end the high heat and humidity forced me onto the train.

What every well dressed wedding guest is wearing these days

Me being me, I arrived an hour early, so took a few photos of Compton Terrace on the way down. It is a nice, if busy area.

I was able to watch the wedding photos of the previous two weddings while I waited. That early!

Now with the summer heat, and everything else having gone on, the happy couple sensibly eschewed all the normal trappings of formal wear and wedding cars which would all have seemed a bit incongruous in the circumstances. So they arrived by bike, stopping off for a drink on the way, in smart casual.

Bride with very soon to be mother-in-law

Finally the wedding party arrived 

Then came the good news. For whatever reason they had moved the ceremony to the main chamber, so the two person limit was removed and we could all actually attend, so I got to see the event after all. It was all very informal and friendly and rather sweet. Especially when the couple got the giggles during the vows. So much nicer than the solemnity that normally surrounds these events. 

But the social distancing certainly gave an odd atmosphere, with our congregation scattered around the capacious chamber. And in face masks!

The ceremony finished with a round of applause, and then went on to formal photos. The Town Hall does have nice staircases for set piece photos.

And then it was off to the reception resplendent in their "just married" bikes!

 The reception was in Caledonian Park and consisted of the, by now larger, wedding party sitting on the grass and quaffing beers, sparkling wine and spirits, followed by pizza and kebabs. Gave me a chance to catch up with old friends. Was nice to see Ted for example, with whom I had gone on holiday some years before with Thibault in Croatia. He had set up his own business with a partner and that was now finally flourishing. And he had shrugged off the chronic fatigue he had suffered from so for a decade, so just looked far better and happier than I had seen him. Although of course he has always looked far healthier than me without chronic fatigue as an excuse. Will let that thought pass....

Ted. Although now with covid beard. Covid has a lot to answer for - almost all my male friends have taken the opportunity to move to somewhere between designer stubble and full pirate beard! 

So overall not the wedding as originally envisaged, but it will be one to tell the children about. Love in the time of covid. I got to be best man, but with no reception I avoided the need/opportunity for a best man's speech. Thibault's dad noted that I had not been in touch for anecdotes about Thibault's childhood. I pointed out that as a lawyer, making shit up was within my skill set anyway. But I had no intention of doing the classic best man's speech stuff recounting humiliating anecdotes from the groom's adolescence as I have only known Thibault as a grown up (well from his mid twenties, which is almost grown up in my books). And anyway, Thibault is not a man I enjoy humiliating. But it did deprive me of the opportunity of saying something nice about bride and groom.

I think the nicest thing I can say about Thibault, having know him for about six years now, is that I only like him more the longer I know him. That has to be a good sign. The intelligence, wit and rationality are clear to anyone. But only by really getting to know him well do you pick up the kindness, the thoughtfulness and the man of principle. I mean, we all like to think we have principles, but in my experience as I head towards 60 and get very cynical, most people's principles tend to be very closely aligned with their self-interest. Thibault is one of the few exceptions I know to that. I think he will do things he really does not want to do, just because he feels it is right. I think any best man could say how much they like their best mate. Probably few would say they admire him, especially when talking bout someone half my age. But I do look up to my best friend, metaphorically as well as obviously physically😊

As for Clarissa, well I loved Clarissa from the moment I met her. I think everyone would. She has that way. If you don't like Clarissa as soon as you meet her, you know the problem is you, not her. There is a very good routine the US comic Tom Stade did about when you get married you suddenly find out that all your old mates are really arseholes. You find out because your wife tells you. But I feel on safe ground with Clarissa. I still remember the time that poor Thibault was stuck in an all day lawyers meeting on a particular transaction. Meanwhile I was taking his girlfriend out for dinner followed by theatre. I felt I was taking one for the team.😀

So overall I think things will workout for the pair of them. And if they don't, I look forward to the custody battle over who gets to keep me!

My mind did turn to advice for the young couple, as what pair of newly weds wouldn't want marital advice from a bachelor? The cutest bit I saw on this was just be a bit nicer to each other than you have to be. That isn't so arch as it sounds at first. Just being that little bit more generous, putting oneself out that little bit extra, for each other, I think matters. And maybe it is when you no longer feel you want to do that that you have started to fall out of love.

And finally for comic effect. Me. No I am not singing!

And Thibault looking momentarily anxious! Too late now mate😄