Mary Wollstonecroft |
And Oh, it was fun. It was held at Newington Green Unitarian church, which is a very long established Unitarian (formerly Dissenters) church, dating back to the early 18thC. Mary Wollstonecraft was a member of the congregation there, and there is a graffiti portrait of her outside. It was also the first religious establishment n Britain to refuse to carry out any weddings, until gay people have equal marriage rights with those who are straight. So, all in all, a good and welcoming venue!
I was a little later arriving than I'd planned, due to First Great Western's inability to stick to their own timetable, but fortunately the party started a couple of hours before Amanda was due to arrive.
Amanda (and friend) |
I only knew 7 or 8 of the 40 people at the party, (well, that's all I knew when I arrived. Later . . more than that!) While we were waiting for Amanda to arrive we did all the things you do at parties, chatted, drank, ate, founded a new religion...
The religion will be rolling out worldwide as soon as we can think of a really good acronym and a reliable source of communion absinthe. I think. I was enjoying myself too much to remember the details.
The Grooms await their Bride |
When Amanda arrived, she spent a little time mingling, then we all drifted through to the church. And around that point, it was decided to hold a ninja wedding, for three of the house party guests, Thomas, Meta and Aurelien.
With help from flower-girls, ring bearer, holders-up-of -the chuppah, photographers and such, all recruited from the guests.
Presenting the rings |
While the vows were being written, the rest of us sang some hymns (All Things Bright and Beautiful, and 'We Will Rock You', but not Bohemian Rhapsody,)
Amanda in the Pulpit |
Amanda and Meta duetted with 'What a Wonderful World', then, like all the best wedding, there was more partying.
We were treated to a fairy tale, and then Amanda played and talked to us, about love, and music, and her visit to Palestine, and then sang to us, including 'Coin Operated Boy', 'Map of Tasmania' 'Vegemite', and a candlelit rendition of 'Hallelujah'.
And more mingling, and conversation, and hugs. And people sitting on other people's shoulders (well, if we're honest, mostly people sitting on Random Dave's shoulders) That one may have involved more absinthe, in at least one case.
Me'n'Amanda |
And, well, FUN.
The party ended all too soon,although even the clearing up stage, being in such good company, was more fun than the average party. (admittedly, the average party does not involve mugs of champagne)
I know that some of the other guests went on, later, to the White Mischief Hallowe'en Ball. I would have loved to go, but one must (occasionally) accept one's limitations, and I've sadly never really mastered the art of going without sleep, so I ended the evening asleep in a rather dull hotel, rather than partying with beautiful zombies and vampires.
And feeling very grateful that I had the opportunity to go to such a great party. Thanks again to Amanda, for coming to play to and with us, and to Clara who organised it all, and trusted us all to come, and pay our share.
I think (and hope) that Amanda enjoyed it too.
(My full photoset is here ) Another nice thing which happened at the part was that Hijo told me that there is an article in this week's New Statesman magazine about amanda's relationship with her fans, which includes a photo from the London Kickstarter show.. which was a nice way of reminding me of where this whole party started..)
4 comments:
If I had known you were in a hotel, I would have been very happy to have you as a guest again.
Next time, please ask, the worst we can do is say it doesn't work.
Thanks for the blog
x
Thank you for your nice recounting of the day :)
Thanks Mike - it worked better for me to stay in the city centre this time but I appreciate the offer.
Aurelien - glad you like it :-)
What a fabulous blog of a most fabulous day....I feel very lucky to have been there and to have so many beautiful friends (old and increasingly new at each gathering) in my life! And what a total honour to be the Ring Bearer for such a wonderful union of wonderful souls :) xxx p.s Drinking Champagne out of mugs with you at the end of the night! Epic! Marjory, we rock! :)
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