One wedding 3 events and a lost voice

Bit of a hectic weekend what with :-

• Mrs B's sister's wedding (me as official photographer);
• Our niece Trinity's 18th Birthday (me as unofficial photographer)
• Varekai - Cirque Du Soleil (me as no camera allowed non-photographer) - The Beast had to stay outside in the car with a packet of crisps and a diet coke*

What is it with the second weekend in February? Last year we had events stacking up like planes over Gatwick in a snowstorm.  In fact we even had to sell our tickets for last year's Cirque Du Soleil and turn down a party invitation. This year, at least the timings were in our favour and even though we had long dashes between events, we made them all.

* Like McG, the Beast is somewhat heavy.   The vet has ordered us to cut down McG's food ration even more, as he is clearly not burning off the paltry amount he was being given. With even less of a ration I'm sure McG has now taken to leaving his food to dissolve on his tongue so he can conserve what little energy he has left to make it to the airing cupboard, his sleeping place of choice at the moment (perhaps we should try turning the heating up even more so he could sweat off the excess pounds.) and then crawl pitifully back to his food bowl for his next meal.

The wedding
A real fun day, there is something about second weddings that is more relaxed. This probably also explains why I was asked to be the photographer as they wanted informal wedding shots.  Just as well really. So as long as the Bride and Groom don't have second thoughts and miraculously expect to see traditional wedding shots, everything should be sweet...

A slightly nervous Groom and his best man

Mrs B's dad was gutted when he found out

he had to give JL away for a second time.

Perhaps third time lucky he might get

something for her........

The first kiss - feel free to say aaahhh

Mrs B - a very proud and happy sister

Sorry, this is almost encroaching on the formal.

I'll try not to let it happen again...

Some table decorations - I know some of you ladies

(and I guess some gentlemen) like these sorts of things...

The wedding Cake, hand made and

decorated by Mrs B's mum.

Feel free to give it the standing ovation

that it truly deserves

Those aren't real flowers

they are handcrafted in sugar.

I think that deserves another standing ovation

JL - a true rock bride

Matt not to be out done

No wedding is complete without an impromptu conga ....

I put the Beast down for a second to have a bit of a

boogie and Mrs B turns paparazzi on me.....

Is it me or are we starting to drink much younger these days?

The wedding night.

Fortunately they insisted on lights out.

I'm just shocked at how flexible they are.....

Hope you enjoyed the taster of the wedding shots and agree that I managed to captured the sense of fun.  I took around 500 shots, so  I'm going to be pretty busy for the next few weeks. 

The Bride and Groom are currently honeymooning in Africa.  The official photographer is currently recovering "quietly" in Britain.

18th Birthday party
It's interesting going to a dinner party when you have lost your voice.   I tried to hold up my end of the squeakersation but it was a losing battle.  Fortunately I was seated next to a woman who could talk the hind legs off a donkey (Mala she would have given you a run for your money).  She was more than capable of filling the huge gaps that I left.  To be honest I'm not sure I was actually required  for any part of the conversation ......

Trinity makes a little speech, I think her

first legal drink helped with that....

The venue for Trinnie's 18th, most impressive

The Beast had some competition, but

nothing it could not handle

Varekai - Cirque Du Soleil  
As Mrs B and I were being corporately entertained,  I felt I should be on my best behaviour, so no trying to sneak the Beast into the Royal Albert Hall.  This was a real shame as I missed the opportunity to take pictures of the Clive Room where we were wined, or in my case cranberry juiced and dined. I was informed that the Queen is entertained in this very room when she attends functions at the Royal Albert Hall  - Which  probably accounted for the chewing gum stuck under the table.

I could certainly get used to being corporately entertained - good food brought to us in an incredible environment.  The views over the park were fantastic (damn no Beast) even the rain didn't dampen down the view. Moments before the show starts you are escorted to your seats in a box (none of that boring waiting around with the great unwashed), where a program and a CD of the tunes (sadly not the show's strong point) awaits. Now I have to admit that Cirque Du Soleil and I have had a bit of a chequered history. For Mrs B's 40th we went to Las Vegas to celebrate and booked tickets for 'O' at the Bellagio. It was fantastic or at least the 5 minutes I saw were. Despite how much I was enjoying it, my eye lids had other plans and I spent the majority of the show pushing up the zzzzzz while Mrs B slapped and hit me to no avail. Rather infuriating because once I hit the fresh air outside I was awake and ready to go.....Grrrrrr. The next opportunity was last year but we failed to see the show because other events took precedence and we had to ditch the tickets . Double Grrrrr.  So this was third time lucky.

So how was the show?

I'll start with the bad points - there is no storyline as such or if there was I missed it (no, I was not asleep this time) and I could not help thinking that Mr Bean was going to walk on stage any second - all the hand gestures, squeaky noises for conversation (I'm a fine one to not talk, as a typical BlackLOG twist of fate left squeaking as my only mode of communication) I guess they try and avoid using language so that it makes it easier to tour the show around different countries. While the music suited the show, it was, as I said before, a fairly weak point.

To balance this, however, the acrobatic demonstrations just left me open mouthed with how clever it all is.  If only there was a Cirque Du Soleil show with guaranteed brilliant music.....no, wait, there is "Love" , looks like it's going to have to be a trip back to Las Vegas.....

Have a good week