Mike's musings

My second wedding!

Vicky and Richard's wedding
Originally uploaded by MikeCamel

I took Vicky and Richard's wedding today, which was fantastic. I love taking weddings, though I've only done two to date. My main problem with them is that I have to work hard to control tears as the bride walks up the aisle! I do get a little emotional, it has to be said.

Labels: wedding

Baptism preparation

(backposting) As well as spending some time with John working on weddings and how I'll do them in Halstead, I had a couple of baptism preparation, too. They're planning to get married next year, and both she and their children are going to get baptised. I went through the service, and the more we talked, the more I realised that they didn't know much about Christianity, but also that they were keen to find out more. When, at the end of the discussion of the service, they asked if I had a Bible they could take away, I was really pleased. And I then took them round the church, explaining about some of the saints, and also about why Jesus was crucified: the basics of the atonement. It was fantastic to have the opportunity, and they both - the husband, too - seemed keen to find out more. It taught me that we mustn't make assumptions about how much people know about Christianity.

Labels: baptism, wedding

My first wedding

(backposting) Did some gardening, and for brunch, we had bacon and egg sarnies, with the bacon done on the barbecue (healthier, as no added oil, obviously). And we had it early so that I could be ready in loads and loads of time for my first wedding. I was glad because I wanted to make sure that everything was ready, I was clear as to what was to happen when, and that I was on hand to calm people down if required.

To be honest, I didn't get that nervous, mainly because I was aware that the bride and groom were both more anxious about things than I could ever be, and my job was to shepherd them through the service. I had to write out an extra copy of their marriage certificate, but I think I got it right.

Anyway, it was a lovely service, and I really enjoyed it. Congratulations to Kelly and Darren, and blessings on their family, too.

Labels: wedding

A week down

It's been a hard, challenging and interesting week. I'm not sure I feel a huge need to blog about it, and I'm aware that I've not done a good job of blogging church stuff recently. That said, I'm not sure what I want to blog about, so it seems clear that I'm going to be just wittering for a while. Heigh-ho.

The one major thing coming up churchwise is that I'm taking my first wedding tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it very much. Darren and Kelly have been together for quite a few years, and have three children. The elder two will be ring-bearers (so I've started referring to them as "Sam" and "Frodo", for obvious reasons), and will also read out a prayer which they wrote, and which they've been practising. I think it's going to be a really good wedding, and should be lots of fun.

Labels: wedding

And ... home

(backposting) And I slept for around 4 and half hours on the flight - maybe more. This made a huge difference, and I didn't do at all badly during the day, though I had a few minutes over lunchtime, I was pretty much OK all day.

It was so, so brilliant to see Moo and the girls, and as I called ahead a few minutes before I arrived, they were waiting, waving from the sitting room window. I got home in time for late breakfast, and then we played on the new Wii Fit (lots of fun, and the girls can manage some of it), and then we headed off to a café for coffee, cake, some shopping and some time out.

During the afternoon, I had to attend a wedding in order to prepare for my very first (as celebrant/president), next Saturday, and the preparation for it, which I did after it.

But I was back in time for the girls' bedtime, and a proper introduction to the Wii Fit from Moo. She wept with laughter at my attempts to do the "Hula" game. I can't blame her.

Labels: girls, home, wedding, wii