jack

I think I already thanked those friends etc who did massive things for the wedding, but also wanted to make a lot of plugs for people/companies who were awesome and come recommended if they're ever available to do something you want (some we just got lucky with, some did things because they're personal friends and they're awesome).

* Guildhall. No civil wedding license, a bunch of faff with finalising the booking, us failing to arrange sound, etc. But a great venue in the centre of Cambridge, and friendly and helpful on the day, and it sounds like a lot more helpful and organised than 5 years ago when several ppl had a hard time booking.

* Jen. Awesome illuminated manuscript wedding contract in style of jewish ketubah. Awesome Awesome Awesome. Everone should have one of these!

* Shelford Deli. Awesome vegetarian food, great cheese, v v friendly and helpful. Helped out extra much because they know Liv's family.

* jollydicey.co.uk made the awesome period suit I wore, were everso helpful, and obviously able to make a wide range of mens and womens period or semi-period or contemporary clothes.

* Harston hall. Contact was v busy and hard to reach at first, but helpful and v friendly. Hall big (with kitchen and several large adjoining rooms) and beautiful. Good parking but no public transport.

* Big round band. V good, v good price. V v good at calling dances appropriate for v mixed ability group and making them v fun.

Liv may add some Ive forgotten, or add some caveats, but all were v nice. (Thank you.)

For people coming to our wedding ceilidh, it's in Harston village hall (about 5 miles from Cambridge, CB22 7PX). Unfortunately there isn't any good public transport and we haven't been able to arrange anything sensible, but it makes sense for people to arrange to share taxis or lifts. If you want to do so, you can fill out a poll on Liv's dreamwidth http://liv.dreamwidth.org/370573.html or comment there.

We have ordered rings. We've got most people's addresses, told almost everyone about the wedding with a pre-invitation email (a couple bounced and need to be sorted out), have a beautiful design for inviations, and are nearly ready to get them sent.

We have a venue for ceremony, and a venue for the reception, and a place for the post-wedding holiday, although we still need transport between them. We provisionally have officiants, although we've yet to plan the ceremony properly.

Rachel has clothes. We have the start of a website, although it isn't finished yet. (It will have a FAQ.) We've started trying to organise the ceilidh, although we still don't have a venue.

But we're confident that we'll have a good wedding :)

A summary of wedding comments.

* The day started with a surprise LARP picnic. I'm a bit vague on surnames of people I don't know well, so I dropped in to a birthday celebration as invited on Sheila mailing list to say hi to everyone, and found that Katy(sp?) was someone I recognised but didn't know the name of from Larp. It was fun.
* The wedding was very shiny. They both looked so happy, and everyone was dressed up so pretty. It was my first wedding and I was more touched than I would have expected. The ceremony was not as I would have had, but very sweet throughout. Bubbles in place of confetti is a marvellous idea :)
* There was a communion/blessing as part of the wedding, which makes sense for them, but led to an extended dialogue in my head between the part that wanted a blessing and the part that said that was stupid since I didn't believe they did anything.
* I liked thed wedding ceilidh phenomenon very much, if I choose to get married or equivalent, it'd be nice. Though of course people who don't dance found it as difficult as some of us found prayer :) But there was much room for milling also, and many people I knew slighly and found out who they were, or who met and were lovely, and hordes of wonderful people I knew.
* It's lovely to have a ceilidh where I know most of the people. I tried to dance with everyone, and mostly did (though there were a couple of people it would have been really nice to who I didn't see), but for me it was jolly. I danced nearly every dance in addition to circulating.
* Apologies to people I shied away from because they were taking photos :) It's a habit I picked up somewhere and doesn't mean much any more. Actually, I could do with some nice pictures of me, I mostly don't look good (though since most people who say that I disagree with it may be the case I'm just not used to looking at me.).
* It is somewhat unfortunate that the rain came back just in time for this weekend. Though since it was warm and I was happy I didn't mind.
* And a group of us went to Gardies restaurant (above the takeaway) in between reception and ceilidh. I'd never been and it was cosy and the food is good when you can get something you can put on a plate.