We met Laurie on the day of the wedding (12th Dec 2013) and walked to our local brunch restaurant that we have now been almost every day since arriving.
After eating gorgeous eggs Benedict and orange juice, we all headed back to our hotel room to get ready together and use the iron that the staff had provided us with. I couldn’t decide on whether to wear a bow tie or a normal tie, but decided on both in the end, pocketing the bow tie for later use.
Laurie and I decided to learn once and for all how to tie a Windsor knot, but as you can see from the picture, my first attempt failed terrible. The knot is quite a hefty thing, but looks nice and solid.
It was quite surreal knowing that in a few hours we would be married, but it was nice to be getting ready with my brother and wife-to-be without all the stressors of a normal wedding such as wondering if the bride will even turn up. Fiona headed out for an hour to find some place to wash and style her hair while I practiced doing up my bow tie. Luckily, I can still remember how to do it from my graduation day and can even do it without a mirror!
When she came back we all went down and asked reception to call a cab. The staff escorted us out onto the street and tried to hail a taxi for us. We had to wait for over 10 minutes on the curb, as the concierge seemed to pick the most inconvenient place for a taxi to pull over.
Luckily the drive to the Cotton Tree Drive located in Hong Kong Park is only 15 minutes and we arrived in good time. Here we met Fiona’s cousins, and walked up to the registry office. There was already a wedding party 50 strong who were taking the opportunity to take pictures in the beautiful park, and the guests were all dressed to the nines. We were very lucky that the marriage registry was located in such a lovely place and it saved renting out an expensive venue for the occasion.
Linda and Patrick, Doris’ parents arrived shortly after and we headed inside to check in. Once checked-in, we headed back outside to take some pictures and have a quick Skype with my sister and parents.
at 4:30pm we were called inside, and entered into the ceremonial room where we were told the process. A few moments later, an unusually young and attractive official came in to do the legal bidding. We each had to stand and listen attentively to the countries rules and regulations, as well as the conditions of marriage etc, and then we had to read a statement to the tune of ” I hereby take thee….” .
She then said I could kiss the bride and exchange rings, and that was that. After this, we collected our wedding certificate and walked around the park some more, snapping pictures along the way, until we made it to a bar where we had champagne, beers, and warm whiskey with honey.
After a merry hour we decided to get out of our restricting clothes, and headed back the hotel room to change. By this time we were all quite tired, but we met up again in search of nice food and more fun times in the evening.
Scribbles in the Sand 