On Saturday March 8th, 2014, at 3:30 pm or thereabouts, at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel in London, Ontario, my nephew Nicholas James Green married Elysia Margaret Chopra.
The edible Nikki and I were in attendance, of course, and both enjoyed the festivities immensely. From the pre-wedding drinkies at the hotel bar to the farewells and closing ceremonies, coincidentally also at the hotel bar, the event went without any noticeable hitches, so I am glad to say that I lost that bet with myself, and I owe me $10. No punches, no fights, no hair pulling or hurling of drinks. No inappropriate pairings of tipsy guests. No exuberant dancing on tables leading to accidental injury. No singing of songs to make your grandmother blush. Actually, from that perspective it was quite boring, as weddings in our family go. Which is to say that in every other perspective it went exactly as it should have.
The ceremony was flawless. Bride and groom both glowed, particularly the groom, oddly enough. The usual components were in place: Top table, speeches, first dance, food and drink aplenty. It was a very nice day. Nikki and I wish to thank the parents of the bride, Pawam and Elaine Chopra, for their invitations and their hospitality. It was a pleasure to meet them both, as we welcomed their daughter into our family.
The photographer had a moment of panic when the camera in use announced it was full, just as the Father – Daughter dance started. The extra memory card they brought was not in their pocket, but back in the hotel room. As the nearest sober guest with a decent camera I was dragged up to take emergency photos and I was happy to oblige. I did get some rather fine shots on the day, including the one you see here.
Due to a hitch with the actual wedding ring it was not ready in time, so for the ceremony a different ring was used. During the reception the real ring arrived. This photo is the moment when the real ring was finally placed onto the finger of the bride by her groom, on the right hand in Indian style.
The cash bar at the ceremony didn’t have draft beer, so Nikki and I spent half the day running downstairs to the main bar, where they did have draft beer. If any other guests noticed our absences, we were unaware. It was commented at one point that we had been gone for over an hour. We did not notice the time passing as we took the party with us and everybody was deep in conversation. Certainly the bride and groom were too busy socializing to notice, though the way they looked at each other you would think they were the only two in the room.
It only now occurs to me that during those downstairs absences we may have missed some of those traditional wedding calamities listed above. Bum.
Without further ado, on to the main point of this blog post: Here’s to Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Green.
Congratulations!