***SPOILER ALERT – THIS POST CONTAINS DETAILS ON THE WEDDING VENUE***
My lovely Auntie (she really is lovely) said to me over Christmas, “You’re getting married the day before Valentine’s day – your theme should be hearts and flowers!”
I smiled politely and said we’d see, but I think she might be disappointed, what with our wedding being vintage afternoon tea meets Doctor Who inspired. Not only are most of our flowers going to be made of paper (which, by a lucky coincidence, I discovered was sometimes done during the 1940s), but I’m going to actively boycott hearts, for a few different reasons.
1. I don’t like doing something if I know someone else has done it before (yes, I’m that sort of person) and I’m fairly certain hearts and flowers have, indeed, been done. Ideally I’d like people to walk into my wedding and say “Well, I wouldn’t do anything like this, it’s ridiculous”.
2. The Boy (side note – once we’re married, can I continue calling him The Boy, or should he have an upgrade, Cyberman style?) (Oh God, the Doctor Who references are writing themselves) doesn’t particularly like weddings, and if I tried to make it a super-girly, traditional type of affair, he’d probably be found on a plane halfway to Rio instead of at the end of the aisle come The Big Day.
3. If you do the same thing as all your friends, it can become a steady cycle of one-upmanship, where everyone tries to outdo everyone else (“Entrance by helicopter, you say? Well, we’re planning an exit by hot air balloon.” “That’s nothing, the wedding we’re going to next week is having a flash mob for the first dance.” “Oh God, really? How 2010. When we get married, we’re going to have the cast of Cats serenade us down the aisle.” And so on. I like my friends, and I don’t think they’re the type of people to do this, but people get weird about weddings and you just never know.
Yes, that second example is from Nativity! 3.
And now, a passionate defence of why a vintage afternoon tea with Doctor Who flourishes is a perfectly acceptable wedding theme…well, why it’s a perfectly acceptable theme for us, at any rate:
4. Not only are we very informal people, but me and The Boy like things people might consider a bit weird. I’m never happier than the August Bank Holiday every year, when we spend the day at the Twinwood Festival before going home (or, in the case of last year, the cinema) to watch the latest episode of Doctor Who.
5. We are very lucky, and get to go to a few (lovely) three-course meals during the year for various work things. Therefore, we both associate three-course dinners with work. Which is probably not something you want to be thinking about on The Big Day (on a related note, I’m not saying he’s a workaholic, but I’m considering confiscating The Boy’s phone during the wedding ceremony, just in case.)
6. We’re getting married at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford,with the reception in an original 1940s building (see my earlier points about enjoying being the first to do things, and a bit weird). Afternoon tea fits perfectly with the venue. Plus, The Boy loves tea, and I really love cake.
7. The Boy loves Doctor Who and Zelda, and I preferred a blue colour scheme to a green one. (Obviously, there’s also my all-encompassing love for all things Gallifreyan, but that was really a minor factor in the decision-making process.)
And finally…
8. It’s our wedding. And we couldn’t imagine having it any other way.
Next week: More about the venue. And why “Yeah it’s nice. It’s a white dress” is not an acceptable response to the question “What do you think of this wedding dress?” even if it is just one from an episode of Say Yes to the Dress.
Something Definitely Happened 