Monday, 20 July 2009 18:17 | Written by Nigel Hillen
I stumbled across this collection of candid photos taken at a family wedding. They are not so much concerned with the wedding itself, but with individual moments in the course of the day.
Monday, 20 July 2009 18:13 | Written by Nigel Hillen
Nigel and Joke visit friends and family, celebrate Halloween in the Sandpit, adopt a kitten, and go on a safari in the desert. For all the gory details just read on.....
Sunday, 19 July 2009 19:21 | Written by Nigel Hillen
On March 1st 1979, Nigel and Joke travelled to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia...to open another chapter in their life together...and to perfect their sweating skills.
Sunday, 19 July 2009 19:06 | Written by Nigel Hillen
What's the first thing you do when you have just installed a new scanner? Why, you head up to the attic, dig out the wedding album and off you jolly well go....
Joke looking fairly happy, as every girl should on her wedding day.
Joke and Ma enjoy a tete a tete before the festivities commence.
Our hero arrives with the bouquet, and a smile
Smiling at the camera and pressing the doorbell while holding a bouquet, all at the same time ... who says that men are no good at multi-tasking.
A peck on the cheek for the mother-in-law
Boy meets girl, girl grabs bouquet ... it's the old old story!
Oh for goodness sake, get a room!
Surely it is unlucky to open an umbrella indoors?
Pretty little bugger isn't she? Joke shakes Wilma's little finger (must be some quaint local custom) "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" Smiling at some idiot who insists on photographing us from inside the car...looks like Joke is expecting rain. Wow...now the photographer is getting REALLY creative - he was worth every penny. Smiling heroically, our young couple head on into the Town Hall Nigel looks serious ... Joke is going to need plastic surgery to get the smile off her face... Pa and Ma have a little natter while we wait for the ceremony to start. Shy smiles all round... Just sign on the dotted line... Pa signs on the dotted line, Ma tries vainly to suppress a fit of the giggles... Wow! We did it!!! It's too late now mate ... you're mine! Having completed the civil ceremony, our two young lovers climb back into the limousine for the journey to the church... Nigel and Simon (carrying off the dual role of brother and best man like the talented bugger that he is) making a tentative entry into the church (visibly bracing themselves to dodge the anticipated lightning bolt). Joke enters the church on Pa's arm. Taking a moment to read through the pre-nuptial agreement...no, just kidding. Eyes down, look in ........ Bingo! The Hillen family and hangers-on struggle to stay awake...with the exception of Olive, they are not used to spending much time in church. Joke's Opa has dozed off, but the rest seem to be coping OK Wow, these kids are looking solemn, things must be getting serious! Another serious moment as our young lovers exchange rings... Nigel checks out the priest's bald spot... Now we've tied the knot twice ... there is no going back! Group photo, with all the nearest and dearest. Caught by the camera while trying to escape into the bushes, our lovers put on brave smiles. We had paid good money for those outfits, and the photographer asks us to lie down in the duck poo! Still, we were able to grin and bear it! Good grief... we were pretty good looking way back when. By this time the cheek muscles are beginning to go into spasm, but Joke goes for it - this kid could smile professionally if she wanted to. Possibly even potential Olympic material. ...meanwhile, back down amongst the duck poo You can almost feel the chemistry.... More formal shot, less hormonal.... Fatigued after a long photo shoot, Joke takes five on the grass... OK, enough with the photos already ... Nigel scoops Joke up and heads for his castle (every Englishman has one apparently). And - 28 years later they are still living happily ever after. Oh yes, here's what we had to eat (click on the menu for details):
