14. The Wedding Post

In January 2015, I proposed to B in Marrakech. I had bought the ring more than 2 months earlier in the UK on our last visit, but I hadn't told anyone about it. I had known since July that I was going to ask her, as I had almost done so on the spur of the moment after a rather perfect day on holiday in Crete. However, I am a bit of a traditionalist, and wanted to do things properly so I held myself back, but knew in that moment exactly what I needed to do. After she had said yes, we discussed how we wanted to do things. Neither of us were after this super formal, 'perfect day' type affair, but rather a more relaxed feeling, we just wanted the people closest to us to be there and share this moment with us. We both agreed that we did not want to wait more than a year either, so we set about looking for a place and a suitable date.


We looked at a lot of places online, but most seemed to either be crazy expensive, or rather sterile hotel type venues. We just wanted something chilled, and when a work colleague of mine mentioned he'd been to a wedding at a country inn, in my future in-laws home town, we knew we had to go check it out.

As it turned out, it was the only place we visited in person. We visited on a rather wet and grey day in winter, so the place wasn't exactly sparkling or inviting, but we both knew that come the summer, it would be the perfect place. Cosy, with a chilled country vibe, lots of wood and a nice outdoor space to hang out in. We booked the place and set the date for August 22nd.

We were really surprised by how many people from the UK said they would come. I thought only my mum, brother, and perhaps a couple of others would come, but in the end almost 20 came. It was really awesome to have so many come over, and to have everyone meeting and mixing for the first time.

The day before the wedding, we had decided to have a pool party at B's parents place. We thought that things could be a little awkward on the day, everyone having to meet each other for the very first time, so we organised this in order to break the ice a little. It was a great time, and as it turns out there was little ice to be broken. Everyone seemed to have a great time, some Brits really took to the pálinka surprisingly well!

Then, the day itself arrived. I have to say, I think B and I were both remarkably chilled out for the most part. We both got ready in Üröm, at B's parents' place, and the mood was completely mellow. It was so good, you hear stories of crazy, last minute panics and freak-outs, but there was no sign of this. Everyone was just in a good mood. I would get my suit on, and go to the venue, meet some of the guests and wait for my future bride.







  
The place looked absolutely awesome. Our friends had been decorating and organising the whole morning, and their hard work had paid off. It just looked amazing. Everything we had hoped for. So personal, cosy and intimate. I mulled about, saying hi to the guests who were already eating, drinking and talking away. Now the nerves were starting to get to me a bit, I must admit. Not so much about the ceremony, but more to do with the speech I had prepared to deliver before the meal. It was half Hungarian, so that combined with my total fear of public speaking was playing on my mind somewhat..

News came that the bride was on her way, so the crowd and me ushered to our places. The ceremony was taking place outside, and the weather was just perfect. Blue sky, with a few clouds and not too hot, as can sometimes be the case here in August. I stood up by the wedding official, with my best man to one side and B's sister on the other, as they were to be the tanúk (witnesses). Our chosen song started to play, and my heart instantly started beating 10 times faster. Here we go, I am about to get married! How much can one's life change in four and a half years. B was being walked down the aisle by her father, she looked absolutely beautiful. I felt so proud to be standing up there, about to make my life-long promise.




The ceremony had been personlised somewhat, and we also had a friend of ours doing the translation. This was so nice for us, such a personal touch. Half way through the ceremony, emotion got the better of our friend, and she burst into tears. It was so touching, I was welling up as well and I think probably most people in the crowd as well, although I could not see them at that point. It took a couple of minutes for her to compose herself, I felt a little bad for her as it was obvious she was a bit embarassed and thought she was holding up the ceremony, but I think for us this was probably one of our favourite moments of the day, as it was such a personal moment.






B and I had both prepared small vows to say to each other. I had to read mine, I think I would have fallen to pieces without a physical prompt in front of me. B seemed to have hers memorised though, and as she was saying them to me, with tears in her eyes and her voice trembling, again I was just filled with pride and happiness. What did I do to deserve such good luck in my life?




After the ceremony, everyone got a glass of pezsgő (champagne) and said a cheers, and came up to greet us one by one. Everyone was so happy for us, we are really fortunate to have such amazing family and friends in our lives. Then, it was time for some photos. I have to say, this part was a bit challenging. We had not really prepared a plan for this, and it was a little chaotic and tiring as of course everyone wanted a picture, so the whole thing probably took more than an hour. It was dragging on much more than I would like, and my nerves about delivering the speech were getting worse and worse.




Finally, photos done and it was time to move inside for the dinner and speeches. I cannot tell you how I was feeling about this speech, I am petrified of standing up to speak in front of a small group of people, let alone 80. As the hub-bub settled down inside, I stood up and took the microphone. My heart was beating so loud and fast I was sure everyone in the room would be able to hear it when I opened my mouth. I started a quick hello in English, and then delivered the first few lines in Hungarian. Well, it seemed that most people could understand what I was saying at least, it was met with loud cheering and clapping, and it gave me much more confidence to deliver the rest of what I had to say. Several others gave speeches, my best man, two of our friends, B' grandfather, B's father all saying very beautiful, kind words to us both. All of these speeches had to be translated either into English or Hungarian, so you can imagine it took some time to get through. I think everyone was quite happy when we eventually finished and could eat something at last!




 The food came out and everything was delicious, although I have to admit I didn't eat very much at all as I was still feeling pretty shaky. The food was pretty traditional Hungarian wedding style, but all seemed to be greeted favourably even by the English guests.

After the food, it was time to get the party started. We had given a playlist to our DJ, but he seemed to be ignoring it and playing what he wanted to, which we were not best pleased about. However my new sister in law took care of him later and told him off, and after that our music choices were all we heard! Thanks F! 

There was another part of this day that I was extremely nervous about. The first dance. I cannot tell you how much I dislike to dance, I don't even do it when I listening to music alone, so why anyone would want to do this in front of a large crowd of people is anyone's guess. However, I understand it is a tradition, so we had had a few dancing lessons in the weeks prior to the wedding so I would not make such an enormous fool of myself. We would dance a foxtrot to 'L-O-V-E' by Nat King Cole. As the music started up, I could instantly feel my memory forget all the steps we had learned before. Oh god, here we go. B was great but I stumbled through it somehow. Some people came up to me afterwards and said it looked great but I felt like I was stepping on my own toes for most of it. I was happy to have that part over with.





The rest of the night was a great party. I did even dance a couple more times, albeit under protest, but it was fantastic to see everyone enjoying themselves, and to see B so happy meant the world to me. I think we drank, danced and partied until about 5am, thankfully we had a bed waiting for us at the inn, so we just crawled into bed as the sun was rising. What a day. I still cannot believe how great a day it was. Thank you to all of you who came, and an even bigger thank you to those of you who contributed to the wedding itself. We really could not have done it without you all.





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