The Wedding
After a 45 minute drive, we arrived at Quendon. My facts may be slightly askew, but apparently part of the land for the Hall was taken by the government for a motorway. The Hall was eventually bought by an Arab and then rented for five years by someone else who uses the Hall as we saw it. Quendon can hold weddings with up to 500 people. The grounds are huge and are home to a heard of 70 deer which we saw roaming the front garden.
We were staying in one of a handful of suites at the Hall. In old English fashion, our bathroom was located outside of the room and off of the hall. In fact, the bathroom was about as big as the bedroom.
The bathroom was so big, that I felt as if though I should be talking to someone as I was sitting on the john. "Hey, come in...grab a seat, I will be done in a minute...." Hell, I almost had to use the panoramic mode to take a picture.
Our room was beautiful and had an amazing view of the grounds.
I eventually found Zoe again and learned that she and Michelle had spent most of the night talking. No real surprise there, just an extended version of what Keith and I had already been exposed to.
The wedding started promptly at 2 PM. Zoe served as the Matron of Honor and escorted five year old Sarah who served as a Maid of Honor. Approximately 60 of Keith and Michelle's friends and family attended. Although I was repeatedly told that it would not be like
Four Weddings and a Funeral, it actually was. It was quite nice seeing every man dressed in a tux. It raised the formality of the evening quite a bit. Of course, once everyone was drunk, that bar quickly drops...but what the hell.
Ian, Keith and James are pictured here outside of the wedding hall.
Michelle made her entrance and looked incredible. I also saw Zoe in her dress and she looked fabulous with Sarah. Some friends gave some readings and the whole service was over in twenty minutes.
Traditional English weddings require the signing of the registry (I hope I am getting this right), which is why Keith & Michelle are seated at the desk. They sign the registry as husband and wife with witnesses verifying.
After the wedding, photographs were taken in the drawing room. Although I have only known Keith for 3 days, he was kind of enough to include me in formal pictures with his friends. (I'm behind the brunette by the curtain...just kidding). I was truly honored. It was evident early on, no thanks to Steve & Gavin, that people knew Zoe and I had traveled from the States to visit. Everyone was incredibly friendly and ready to exchange stories over a pint. The wedding was photographed and filmed. In fact, the filming was so complete, I would imagine that it could show up as a Dateline special.
An outside group photo was taken from a bird's eye position and then everyone was ushered into the wedding hall which had been set up for dinner.
Dinner was great. Of course for me, a Hungry Man TV dinner would be
great, but dinner was really good. We were served french onion soup, leg of lamb with veg and cheesecake for desert. I made the comment that where the French serve leg of lamb, they doll it all up and make it look pretty. The English, God bless them, lop the sucker off the lamp (while probably still in motion), grill it up and stick on a plate. Smashing!
One of the biggest differences between a US/UK wedding had to have been the toasts. I felt as if I was watching Parliament on CSPAN. As soon as Keith got up to speak, the heckles started. It seemed that everyone shouted something out at
one time or another. Keith it seemed handled it all with ease and threw most of the comments back to the crowd. He did a brilliant job. 
Michelle's Step-Dad Ian delivered a speech and James did a tremendous job as best man. As part of the best man speech, everyone was given cards to guess the length of the speech. For the most part, this was the basis for a lot of the heckling. Our table each put £5 for our bet. Being ignorant to the rules of the game, Zoe and I each bet around 4 -5 minutes. For the record, I bet 4 min, 22.5 seconds. Well the heckling tends to slow things down. James clocked in at well over 16 minutes...in fact he stopped exactly at Steve's time.Fortunately Steve was sitting at our table and used the winnings (£50) to provide drinks the rest of the night. Thanks again Steve.
Amazingly enough, the entire crowd of 60 was serviced by a staff of 4. Although people make cracks at British efficiency, I wouldn't use this wedding as a case against it. The staff was suburb. Through dinner, the pints flowed freely and after desert, the DJ showed up and I was effectively told not to dance and make faces....which I tend to do.
As I mentioned earlier, I was known as Mike, the policeman from Ohio. Everyone knew that Zoe had been friends with Michelle since they were six and that we had traveled from Ohio to be here. I was the only American. I met a ton of people including a cop with the Metropolitan Police in London and even a Lord who bought me a pint. Zoe spent the evening seeing to all of Michelle's needs and took care of her hand over fist. Everyone was touched that she showed up to celebrate the day. We wouldn't have missed this for the world.
I expressed to Gavin and his wife Helen, pictured below, how much we appreciated being felt so welcome. Gavin suggested that it was made very easy because of my uncanny love for British beer, British food and British humor. I told him the humor was easy. As a cop, most of us already laugh at things right of center anyway. This is of course right in line with the British!
The party ended at midnight. The guests had arrived at Quendon by coach (British for Greyhound Bus) because they were all staying together at another hotel in town. Because of the shared transportation, it was somewhat surreal as everyone left at the sametime.
The next morning, we had continental breakfast with James, Keith, Michelle and their parents. Keith's Mom used to work as a radio operator for the British Fire Service and was keen to talk about our experiences in the US. After quick good-bye's, Zoe and I were off to the Isle of Wight with Ian & Rita. Keith & Michelle head out tomorrow for their honeymoon, including nights in Hong Kong and thAustraliaaia. We wish them all the luck. It was sad to leave.
We were staying in one of a handful of suites at the Hall. In old English fashion, our bathroom was located outside of the room and off of the hall. In fact, the bathroom was about as big as the bedroom.
The bathroom was so big, that I felt as if though I should be talking to someone as I was sitting on the john. "Hey, come in...grab a seat, I will be done in a minute...." Hell, I almost had to use the panoramic mode to take a picture.
Our room was beautiful and had an amazing view of the grounds.
I eventually found Zoe again and learned that she and Michelle had spent most of the night talking. No real surprise there, just an extended version of what Keith and I had already been exposed to.
The wedding started promptly at 2 PM. Zoe served as the Matron of Honor and escorted five year old Sarah who served as a Maid of Honor. Approximately 60 of Keith and Michelle's friends and family attended. Although I was repeatedly told that it would not be like
Four Weddings and a Funeral, it actually was. It was quite nice seeing every man dressed in a tux. It raised the formality of the evening quite a bit. Of course, once everyone was drunk, that bar quickly drops...but what the hell.Ian, Keith and James are pictured here outside of the wedding hall.
Michelle made her entrance and looked incredible. I also saw Zoe in her dress and she looked fabulous with Sarah. Some friends gave some readings and the whole service was over in twenty minutes.
Traditional English weddings require the signing of the registry (I hope I am getting this right), which is why Keith & Michelle are seated at the desk. They sign the registry as husband and wife with witnesses verifying.
After the wedding, photographs were taken in the drawing room. Although I have only known Keith for 3 days, he was kind of enough to include me in formal pictures with his friends. (I'm behind the brunette by the curtain...just kidding). I was truly honored. It was evident early on, no thanks to Steve & Gavin, that people knew Zoe and I had traveled from the States to visit. Everyone was incredibly friendly and ready to exchange stories over a pint. The wedding was photographed and filmed. In fact, the filming was so complete, I would imagine that it could show up as a Dateline special.An outside group photo was taken from a bird's eye position and then everyone was ushered into the wedding hall which had been set up for dinner.
Dinner was great. Of course for me, a Hungry Man TV dinner would be
great, but dinner was really good. We were served french onion soup, leg of lamb with veg and cheesecake for desert. I made the comment that where the French serve leg of lamb, they doll it all up and make it look pretty. The English, God bless them, lop the sucker off the lamp (while probably still in motion), grill it up and stick on a plate. Smashing!One of the biggest differences between a US/UK wedding had to have been the toasts. I felt as if I was watching Parliament on CSPAN. As soon as Keith got up to speak, the heckles started. It seemed that everyone shouted something out at
one time or another. Keith it seemed handled it all with ease and threw most of the comments back to the crowd. He did a brilliant job. 
Michelle's Step-Dad Ian delivered a speech and James did a tremendous job as best man. As part of the best man speech, everyone was given cards to guess the length of the speech. For the most part, this was the basis for a lot of the heckling. Our table each put £5 for our bet. Being ignorant to the rules of the game, Zoe and I each bet around 4 -5 minutes. For the record, I bet 4 min, 22.5 seconds. Well the heckling tends to slow things down. James clocked in at well over 16 minutes...in fact he stopped exactly at Steve's time.Fortunately Steve was sitting at our table and used the winnings (£50) to provide drinks the rest of the night. Thanks again Steve.
Amazingly enough, the entire crowd of 60 was serviced by a staff of 4. Although people make cracks at British efficiency, I wouldn't use this wedding as a case against it. The staff was suburb. Through dinner, the pints flowed freely and after desert, the DJ showed up and I was effectively told not to dance and make faces....which I tend to do.
As I mentioned earlier, I was known as Mike, the policeman from Ohio. Everyone knew that Zoe had been friends with Michelle since they were six and that we had traveled from Ohio to be here. I was the only American. I met a ton of people including a cop with the Metropolitan Police in London and even a Lord who bought me a pint. Zoe spent the evening seeing to all of Michelle's needs and took care of her hand over fist. Everyone was touched that she showed up to celebrate the day. We wouldn't have missed this for the world.
I expressed to Gavin and his wife Helen, pictured below, how much we appreciated being felt so welcome. Gavin suggested that it was made very easy because of my uncanny love for British beer, British food and British humor. I told him the humor was easy. As a cop, most of us already laugh at things right of center anyway. This is of course right in line with the British!
The party ended at midnight. The guests had arrived at Quendon by coach (British for Greyhound Bus) because they were all staying together at another hotel in town. Because of the shared transportation, it was somewhat surreal as everyone left at the sametime.
The next morning, we had continental breakfast with James, Keith, Michelle and their parents. Keith's Mom used to work as a radio operator for the British Fire Service and was keen to talk about our experiences in the US. After quick good-bye's, Zoe and I were off to the Isle of Wight with Ian & Rita. Keith & Michelle head out tomorrow for their honeymoon, including nights in Hong Kong and thAustraliaaia. We wish them all the luck. It was sad to leave.
Mike Lang