Whilst 18 years seems like a long old time, the amount of stuff we have fitted in during our marriage makes me feel like we must have been married for about a hundred years. Neither of us have ever been ones to let anything stand in the way of having a good time…..

 Thinking back to our wedding on Saturday 26th August 1995 makes me think, first of all, to our stag and hen parties. Both took place a fortnight prior to the wedding and whilst they were both separate events, they did converge at about 5am at our then home in Chiswick. Yet more partying ensued, resulting in a Noise Abatement Notice from the Local Council, still proudly displayed in our downstairs loo :-).

 Key memories of our actual wedding (in no particular order): 

 1. Russ causing some considerable mirth during the actual ceremony when he knelt at the alter and exposed “L” and “R” markings on the soles of his shoes;

 2. Beautiful sunshine and amazing and sumptuous surroundings in the form of The Orangery in Holland Park where we held our reception;

 3. Huge drunken merriment including some naked dancing (captured by the official photographer – probably not his standard wedding photographic shots, to be honest) care of Mac and Delmie;

 4. Hilarity for all guests when they were seated for the wedding dinner and each found a small envelope on their place setting inside of which Russ had kindly placed the most embarrassing photo he could find of other guests on each table (again, nakedness seemed to feature quite frequently). It definitely “broke the ice”…

 5. Brilliant wedding speeches, especially Russ’s 🙂 

 6. Nick Teasdale, never losing an opportunity to upgrade himself, gate crashing the top table part-way thru the proceedings; 

 7.Eventually leaving the wedding reception (about 1&1/2 hours later than we were meant to cos we were just having too much of a good time…..) to a 80-person moony “salute”, carefully choreographed into 2 lines in between which we were encouraged to walk and slap bums as we made our way to the waiting Roller (what was it with all this nudity??? The flushes of youth I guess…..:-s)

 8. My dad kindly getting the disposable cameras which had been placed on each table processed while we were on our honeymoon – and being “appalled” that they weren’t the nIce, clean, conventional “above-table” shots that he thought he was going to be picking up. I guess that many of the guests thought they’d get their revenge on Russ for the embarrassing photos he had so kindly left of them on each respective place setting…Fair cop, I say! Anyway, not many of those photos made it into our wedding album…

 Happy, happy memories – and one’s shared with so many fantastic friends (as well, of course, with our lovely families). We’re still close to all the friends who were at our wedding – and have picked up a good few close friends since then. All have been just sooooooo amazing in their support for Russ and I during the last 10 weeks and I just can’t thank them enough for that (you know who you all are). 

I’ve cried more in response to this kindness than I have about anything else; it has been so touching and so appreciated. Nothing like the milk of human kindness to get you through a testing situation…..

 So, as Russ mentioned recently, this anniversary is extra, extra special as it could so easily not have been celebrated at all. And it will be all the more special as I know that my brave, handsome, gorgeous husband will soon be back on top physical form, ready to party through the next 50 years or so of our marriage :-). Just have to get his wine palate back in proper working order first….. 

 Xxxx