Day of the wedding

The day (yesterday) started with breakfast at the house rented by my friends for the weekend. I drove over from my hotel just a couple of minutes drive away. I had been invited to stay with them and in past visits had done so but this time my choice of the hotel over that accommodation reflected that my lack of concern my snoring disrupted their sleep was outweighed by their snoring disrupting my sleep.

Mid morning we strolled along the beach meeting up with other friends who are locals followed by late morning drinks at a nearby cafe with still other friends in town for the weekend. Then it was back to our respective accommodations for a brief rest before dressing for the wedding.

We assembled for the wedding at 3pm, one of three simultaneous weddings scheduled for adjoining alcoves on the beach side grassy amphitheatres. 'Our' wedding was in the middle amphitheatre with the weddings either side only metres apart but each was discretely separated from the other by full trees and bush.

Our bride was fashionably late due to a misdirected limousine. Otherwise the ceremony went off without a hitch with the majority of the one hundred or so guests standing for the entire ceremony in a semi circle around the lucky family members who scored the only 24 chairs provided. Still, the couple made for a very attractive view almost outshining the spectacular backdrop of golden sands and blue ocean. Photographs were taken of the bridal party and various groups of the guests according to an extremely well organised agenda. I don't think anybody missed out.

From there we strolled to the hotel (the same one I am using) for the reception, an easy ten minutes away passing the ceremony still underway at the amphitheatre to the south of 'ours'. I noticed that that ceremony had about 150 or more guests (all mostly standing) and was also attracting the attention of many onlookers from the resort apartments on the perimeter of the promenade. The groom was reciting his vows as we passed by and I glanced to see that he was very tall with a bald or shaved head. I took no other notice of that nor did I take any photographs of it as I walked by.

Later in the night I learnt from a guest at our reception that the bald/shaved headed groom was none other than the somewhat notorious Australian footballer Barry Hall. How I wished then that I had taken some photographs!

Barry Hall

The reception was very enjoyable with fine company, witty speeches, an enjoyable buffet of food and plentiful drink for the indulgers.

The bride, a daughter of my friends aged 25, was as beautiful as I have ever seen her. Her groom, a childhood sweetheart also aged 25, was as handsome as ever. He is a really gorgeous looking man, sadly for the gay community never a member of the rainbow family (well, as far as I know anyway). His gorgeousness is not only my opinion. There were references to it one way or another in every speech at the reception whether delivered by a male or female.

The dancing was hectic, so typical of wedding receptions. In my life I have become accustomed to seeing women dancing with women whether they be gay or straight but rarely, outside of the gay community, have I seen men dancing with men at Australian parties so I was quite surprised to see many of the mid 20s men, clearly straight, dancing together, hugging, embracing shoulder to shoulder in twos threes and much larger groups. It was quite fascinating to see this liberating behaviour among the next generation. Even more surprising, late in the evening, was the sight of these men, still in groups, dropping their pants to their ankles and dancing energetically with underpants and bare legs on full display. I held my breath in anticipation of the next step but it wasn't to be. These men are straight after all!

Nine and half hours after convening for the wedding it was over; for we senior citizens anyway. The mid 20s groups moved on to a nearby nightclub, presumably to party on until dawn, whilst we seniors made for the relief of our beds.

It had been a wonderful wedding.