Saturday 11 July 2015

Tina and Deano: The School, The Band, The Quiz and The Haka ... all in a days wedding!

'Schoooools out for summer....'

Well Tina and Deano's wedding actually, but without the kiddies running about and doin' all that learning and misbehavin'... what a beautiful, peaceful school it is. Laced in posh, gothic revival charm but nestled in our beloved city, Brighton College played the perfect host to an extraordinary day.

This wedding had everything. Literally. Everything. From the off, love and laughter displayed itself in abundance and with two – yes – two (!!) ceremonies it was simply brimming! First, the legal biz and then a blessing in the magnificent school chapel. Seeing these two lovebirds walk down the aisle together, Cheshire cat grins, just married, what a magical sight. This was swiftly followed by a congregational rendition of "You Got It" by Roy Orbison, which was so ridiculously heart-warming I almost cried. There was so much love and good vibes for these two people, you could feel it in the air and at that moment the lyrics of the song embodied it all. I knew the words as well (woo hoo!) so forwent the usual embarrassed mumblings. I sang and I snapped as everyone gleefully flexed their dulcet tones.

Tina looked incredibly beautiful, so stunning in fact, I likened her to a 30's/40's/50's movie star. I couldn't pinpoint a decade, so must amend… she looked timeless! A dress to most definitely write home about - courtesy of Joanne Flemming design. Bravo you clever designers; it was a masterpiece and suited Tina to a T... I couldn't imagine her wearing anything else.

Deano scrubbed up mighty fine too. Gorgeous I kept saying. 'GAAAWWWGUS' and what a stunning couple they make. So in love, so happy and with such genuine affection for each other - awwwww... if I wasn't such a hideous romantic, I might ask for bag ;-)

Drinks, pics and poses and then we all moseyed into the hall to toast these two lovebirds with food, speeches and merriment. Food was amazing; I could've eaten my right arm at that point and then OH MY LORDY, the cake. Wowzers what a cake. WHAT A CAKE! The delectable Choccywoccydoodah are to be congratulated for that mammoth masterpiece. 'Be still greedy tum, be still...'

Tina's Dad Colin gave a wonderful speech, as did Deano and Olivier. Now, I liked Olivier's speech and I liked Deano's speech, but which one was best? Hmmm... 'Only one-way to find out.... FIGHT!' I joke (thank you Harry Hill for that one) and not that I like to compare... but Olivier did cry, just a little, although Deano did do a Quiz and is a genius Quiz Master and he had amazing prizes such as bottles of Lambrini. ‘Where was your Quiz Olivier ‘ey? Or your Lambrini?’ Olivier did have a projector though with indecent and funny images of Deano... soooo... Olivier wins. No! Deano is the groom... I retract! Deano wins. Only by a smidge mind you ;-).

And then... da da daaaaa... one of my faves. Sweet Sweet Lies formed for one night only and oh how they have been missed. Deano is a member of the Sax kind, and I openly wept at 'Nobody Loves You Like I Do'. They were superb.

Later on as the sun set, the bridal party and I popped out for photo delights such as re-enacting the Haka, lots of 'Ooga Ooogas' replaced 'Kamate, kamate' (with the greatest respect of course!). There was some 'YES BLUUUUD' posing and general cigar smoking 1980's Wall Street style. I laughed so much and can't thank everyone enough for being such good fun to shoot. Stand-up salutes all round. 

To finish, I would like to wish Tina and Deano much, much, MUCH happiness. Your wedding was a brilliant day, packed with sunniness and entertainment and lots of lovely jubbly joy... I hope and pray that life dishes out more of the same for you both, as you clearly deserve the very best. Thank you for being so easy to work with and for choosing me. I feel truly honoured to have been part of it. Thanks also to all your friends and family for welcoming me in and for being AWESOME!
So go forth Tino, bring on the quizzes, bring on the music, long live the Master and remember if life gets a bit hard, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STAY AWAY FROM THE LAMBRINI, it's never that bad ;-) !

With much love and 'YES BLUUUUD's' to you both,

Loukie (and Dom - trusty steed/glamorous assistant)

Xx