ARTMAN ENGLISH GETS MARRIED
From Queen Lear to Princess Paloma! We transitioned pretty much straight into intensive wedding planning and management mode, Paloma going up a gear from what I thought was a world productivity record set by her with Queen Lear, but no, there is another gear and it’s called Wedding Gear... Unbelievable! It is a good job Paloma knew about this extra gear as it hadn’t dawned on me that there is so much to do when organising a wedding - crazy (I got it in the end)!! It’s like a theatre production, but where you then have to individually label the audience’s seat, feed them all great food, offer them drink and organise an after party where there’s yet more food for them, as well!!
The wedding was in London in September with the ceremony at the fantastic Islington Town Hall. My mother was amazed at the openness, joyfulness and playfulness of the ceremony, having never been to a civil wedding ceremony before (she has been a vicar’s wife since the age of 21 and I guess everyone she has known has got married in a church?! Strange but possibly true.) and everyone enjoyed the readings and the homemade vows that Paloma and I wrote together (ah).
After the ceremony, lead by David Dickey, a jolly white bearded gentleman, who looked like he was straight out of a children's fantasy book, our guests made their way to Hyde Park , where we had taken over a church for our marital revels, whilst Paloma and I had photos taken around Islington.
The reception was a fiesta fantástica, with love, friendship and feasting being the order of the day. Our London guests, instead of bringing wedding presents, “Cooked for Cupid” and brought a main course for themselves and an overseas guest, Paloma’s friends and family coming over from Spain. Wow, what a banquet was had with home cooked dishes from all over the world, our London friends being a very international crowd.
The sun shone in a perfect blue sky and there was plenty of wine, dance and song. Paloma’s grandmother Yaya was the undisputed celebrity of the day, glorying in the occasion, the company and the adulation that comes with being the 93 year old Reina de la Fiesta! It was so amazing having her celebrating with us in London, something that might never have happened if we hadn’t a wedding to legitimise such an expedition - another great thing that has come from getting married!!
So we hopped from marriage to honeymoon, waving family and friends off to Spain before we went. We fell in love with Greece (I can feel a Greek Artman English project coming on!) and, having paid homage to Homer’s tomb, a magical place of stone piles, distant islands and a blue blue sea, we returned to restart our wedding-halted life again... only this time as husband and wife. Cute! :)
Wedding photos by Adam Fletcher
Selfie on the way to Homer's tomb by Oliver Campbell-Smith
