Apologies for not posting ahead of time about my long absence. I was off getting married and then honeymooning in London, Ireland and Amsterdam.
The wedding was absolutely perfect. I was prepared for things to go wrong or to have some mishaps, but we kept everything so simple that the whole day went smoothly. The ceremony was beautiful - our friend Sameer did an incredible job, explaining to everyone why there was no priest or rabbi standing before them, and making everyone cry as he spoke about how honoured he was to perform the service and talked about Simon and me.
The reception was, above all, fun! The food and bar were great, and everyone enjoyed eating, drinking and dancing. I was overwhelmed by the sheer force of happiness throughout the day: every single person at the wedding seemed genuinely happy for us and genuinely happy to be there. We were surrounded by warmth and love.
Then, Simon gave the speech to end all speeches. He was charming and funny and loving. He managed to quote a Middle English text about love from the Chaucer tale I'm using for my Master's thesis (this was pure coincidence, since he didn't know I was studying that tale!), and then read an astonishing Shakespearean sonnet he'd written himself. It was so good everyone thought he was quoting Shakespeare and just reading something to me. He had tables of people in tears by the end of it.
We danced the night away under the stars, and then were surprised by a room at the Ritz by two of our good friends. The honeymoon was fantastic too: London, Dublin, southwest Ireland, and Amsterdam. Above all, I feel so, so lucky to have married such a brilliant partner.
As for the breaded part of all this bliss, I did indulge in carbs on my honeymoon. Lots of carbs: Guinness throughout our Ireland trip (starting off at the brewery), and traditional Irish meals that included three kinds of potato - roast, boiled and mashed - and then onto the glory of fries covered in mayonnaise in Amsterdam.
More thoughts on "cheating" or off-plan eating to come, but for now I have some serious poundage to remove! Returning home to the scales was a bit of crashing return to earth, but I'm sure I can shed the extra by getting right back to low-carbing.
Good to have you back. Congratulations on your wedding.
Posted by: Sue | September 17, 2007 at 01:19 AM
Congrats Kate! You make a beautiful bride! Wishing you a long and wonderful marriage!
Posted by: Sparkys Girl | September 17, 2007 at 07:47 AM
I love the mayo in Europe. It took me a few times eating fries to realize that the creamy goodness was mayo and not cheese. It tastes so different from the pasturized commercial mayonaise that we are used to here in the States.
Posted by: Big Daddy D (Daron) | September 18, 2007 at 07:18 AM
Congratulations! Love your dress, too. Nice to see a bride wearing something elegant (and not Little Bo Peep-ish or entirely too sexy).
Posted by: Anna | September 18, 2007 at 08:38 AM
Wow! Good to see you again, Kate. Those fries look awesome but not as good as you did at your wedding. Congrats and welcome back!
Adam;-)
Posted by: adam | September 19, 2007 at 05:42 PM
Congrats!! So glad to hear everything went as planned!! Hope you and your love have a long and happy life!!
Posted by: Cindy Moore | September 20, 2007 at 10:13 PM