Stephen and Gabrielle were extremely lucky to have picked a day in September with such glorious weather. That said, even if it were blowing a gale and raining a wedding held in Winchester cathedral would still have been magnificent and it was.
I have been sitting opposite Stephen for the past three years and though I don't deliberately eavesdrop it would have been hard not to follow all the detailed planning for the event. He is a real wine enthusiast and was very particular about the choices. I was slightly more surprised at his interest in the music and the key in which it should be played but on reflection it was time well spent.
We had arrived in plenty time and got a good seat in the choir section with space for the pram. A bottle of milk was at the ready in case Harriet got restless. There was one other baby which was a relief and plenty of children as well as the usual 'interesting' hats (unflatteringly referred to as the rear-end of a turkey by one fashion commentator sitting next to me).
Then suddenly the general chatter came to an end as the organ detonated like an Old Testament God. I had been struggling to take in the glory of the surroundings because there is only a small amount that one can focus on at any one time but the music filling the hall allowed me to transcend that. Gabrielle walked down the aisle to the Trumpet Tune from Te Deum accompanied by her father, her nine god-daughters as bridesmaids and her page boy.
It was a traditional service - well there was no wine for communion due to swine flu and no promise from the wife to obey but apart from that it was by the book. And if you are going to have people singing prose then the way to do it is simply to leave it to the Cathedral choir who will do it effortlessly and beautifully.
The Canon is Stephen and Gabrielle's neighbour in the Close and knows them well. They have been integral parts of the cathedral community for three years so he could speak not just as a churchman reading a script but as their friend.
Harriet had behaved extremely well. She had drunk her milk but only an ounce at a time since there was far too much going on that required her attention. She drifted off to sleep just before the last hymn but woke up coughing just after the benediction. It was so bad that Jay had to take her out and so sadly we completely missed the opportunity to take photographs as the bride and groom left.
Then we rolled up our sleeves and got on with the difficult task of testing the Champagne that Stephen had so carefully selected for us. I was quite diligent in making sure that the quality was consistently applied across several bottles. All the Credit Suisse people met up and we took lots of photographs in the sunshine, some of which were actually not too bad surprisingly.
We were seated at the 'Jane Austen' table and our name plates read "Dr Colin Mason" and "Jay Mason". You can imagine how well that went down.
I explained to our neighbours that I was not a real doctor and explained again when an agitated man came during the starter to ask if there was a doctor here. I called Jay who immediately went with the man to a commotion in the corner of the room. An elderly man had overheated and slumped unconscious. Jay got him into the recovery position and then managed to rouse him. It could have been very serious (especially since the rest of the table had just left him slumped in his chair until Jay arrived) but in the end his biggest problem was his embarrassment at having caused a scene. The paramedics did at least let him have the dignity of leaving under his own steam in a taxi in the end rather than blue lighting him out of the Close. The most shocking thing was the number of forms they had to fill out.
The speeches were excellent although it was poignant when Gabrielle's father announced that he was the only surviving parent and that the other three had all died within the last three years. I remember how terrible it was for Stephen losing his mother - he had just seen her in Australia the week before and then had to make that awful return journey.
The time came to return home. One of the couples we had met at our table was aghast at the the thought of us taking a train home and insisted on driving us back to London. In the end he insisted on driving us back to Harlow and in the comfort of that car it was hard to resist.
We got home all three of us crashed into bed. What a magnificent day.
