Bro-law wedding - boy

The Belgian wedding was a very pleasant affair, wedding Leo (Cassie's brother, my brother in law) to Sarah (and vice versa of course).

On Friday after work we had a relatively painless Eurostar and SNCB journey to Liege, a city (if Liege can be considered large enough to be a city) on the right side of Belgium (if Belgium can be considered large enough to have sides).

We didn't get to experience much of Liege since (a) the wedding was on a farm a few k away and (b) we arrived after 10pm Friday night, which is when Liege fluffs up its pillows and goes to sleep, along with its B+Bs apparently, including ours. Fortunately, we were pre-warned about this so arrangements were made for Sarah’s friend (who was staying there too) to let us in so the owner could get her beauty sleep in order for her to be fresh and revitalised for what must have been a challenging morning preparing our breakfast of bread and cheese.

There was some shuttling around Liege on the Saturday before the main event; a family gathering of quiche and wine at Sarah’s parent’s house, a ceremony at the town hall and possibly other places.

At the town hall there was the customary queuing of the couple and guests. I think there were a couple of weddings in front of us and one behind (the one behind had a huge white limo too, urgh, very tacky, who gets a limo for their wedding? probably the sort of people who get married in Vegas). Once in the ceremony room there was some distinct traces of Belgian humour in the clerks choice of music, but the chap who officiated did well to recite what must be tired lines in a non-mechanical way and the clerks to his left and right did some admirable smiling, nodding and general paper shuffling. Friends and family cried, Leo and Sarah beamed.

The main ceremony (the one that really mattered) took place on the farm where both sets of parents spoke and Leo and Sarah made their vows. Not being a very emotional person I feel a little under qualified to comment, but I could tell from the faltering tones and expressions that it was a sincere moment of positive reflections.

And the rest of the evening, well what wedding wouldn’t be complete without great food and wine, more speeches (this time from the siblings and best people), good company, pots of melted cheese, a ton of dessert, an especially nice blonde beer and lots of dancing. As well as the obligatory wondering around the village in the dead of night, peering at house numbers and trying keys in random doors to find our night's abode.

A superb breakfast (which I suspect we still haven't paid for - need to sort that out) and afternoon BBQ finished off the festivities perfectly. All in all, a fun weekend.