Wedding in London

A very special weekend coming up - our good friend Adrian, the eternal bachelor, was finally tying the knot. We were rather keen to meet the special lady - Jing - who had pushed Adrian into making such a commitment ;-)

For our stay, we'd decided on some rather unconventional accommodation - a Dutch Barge moored on the River Thames (we found the barge on Airbnb). The barge was located in Brentford, just across the river from Kew Gardens - handy, since that's where the wedding was taking place. After a train journey down from Gatwick, and some rather complicated instructions, we were finally able to find the barge, with some help from our friendly host, Hugh. Staying on a barge in the middle of London (well, outskirts of London, I suppose) is for sure quite an unusual experience, but one that we warmly recommend. The cabin was a bit cramped for sure, but the peace and quiet, friendliness of our hosts, the tasty (full English!) breakfast and just the general coziness more than made up for any inconveniences.

After checking in, we met up with our good friend Sinhung for a Thai meal in Brentford High Street. Great to see Sinhung again - it's been a while since the last time... Good choice of restaurant too - we are going on holidays to Thailand soon so good to prepare a bit ;) (my taste buds are not quite as used to hot food as they were while we lived in the UK - not eating enough of them Vindaloos it would seem!)

The next day, we had a bit of time on our hands before the wedding ceremony, so we decided to walk over to Chiswick along the River Thames. Quite a splendid walk, indeed, especially as we were even treated to a few rays of sunshine. We reckon those charming little houses by the riverside must cost a pretty penny... The diverse river barges moored on the river, a few of them looking fit for the junk yard, some resembling garden centres, others like hippie communities, also added to the charm. Chiswick itself is a nice enough, typically leafy London suburb, rather well off it would seem. After a bit of shopping, lunch and a walk around, it was time to head off back to the barge and get prepared for the wedding.

Getting off the barge in high heels and a dress was a bit of a challenge for Mathilde (due to the low tide), but eventually managed, and then off we were to Kew Gardens. Not a bad venue for a wedding, Kew Gardens (for those of you who don't know, Kew Gardens are the Royal Botanical Gardens, and contains the largest collection of living plants in the world)... A pity about the grey and cloudy skies, but at least it didn't rain.

The wedding itself was great fun. After the ceremony, which included a touching speech from Adrian in honour of his bride (who looked absolutely stunning - it quickly became clear that Adrian had done well to commit to this lady!), a very funny speech by his brother (outlining all the virtuous aspects of Adrian's character!) and a rather dignified speech from Jing's father (well, at least the translation from Mandarin to English by Jing sounded dignified!), it was time to attack the food and drinks.


For me and to some extent Mathilde, it turned out to a bit of a reunion of a bunch of old friends we've not seen for quite a while. Quite a few people I've not seen since the old Guilldford days were present: Denise, Yolanda, Gareth, Anita, Russel, Martha to name but a few. And naturally, Nick was there, still going as strong as when I first met him at the Nokia office 15 years ago in spite of a few grey hairs starting to adorn his head! (this being Nick, he also decided to leave the wedding with the wrong jacket, which caused some confusion later on). After plenty of chatting away, dancing (yes, even I danced!) and general Tom-foolery, it was unfortunately time to head back to the barge. Thankfully, we managed to get back on board, rather than falling into the Thames.

The next day, we had a bit of a lie-in, after which we decided to head into central London for a bit of shopping and walking around. We then met up at the Shakespeare pub, across the street from Victoria Station, for a last pub lunch before catching our flight back to Nice (after all, it really wouldn't be appropriate to visit London without going to at least one pub, now would it?). We were joined by David, Alison, Ed and Nick (happy to pick up his jacket!). Great to catch up with everybody - too bad it was all a bit quick this time!

I suppose you've already guessed it - we had a fantastic time, as we always do in London!