{"id":5912,"date":"2022-06-26T10:20:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-26T10:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=5912"},"modified":"2022-12-18T11:54:32","modified_gmt":"2022-12-18T11:54:32","slug":"helen-mikes-wedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=5912","title":{"rendered":"FAMiLY: Helen & Mike\u2019s Wedding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The happy couple, and family, in a truly magnificent setting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Saturday, June 25th, saw the much-postponed wedding of my cousin Helen Charlston, to Michael Craddock, finally taking place. In the truly sublime setting of Trinity College Cambridge, no less!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting into Cambridge and parking, etc, can be quite tricky these days. I\u2019d assumed we\u2019d park in the Park St car park, near The Round Church. But that\u2019s been shut! Due to be demolished and re-developed, apparently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end things went smoothly enough. We allowed plenty of time, and were very lucky to arrive and find someone leaving the otherwise totally full Shire Hall car park. We could\u2019ve walked from there. But Teresa, in new heels, was adamant that we take a taxi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sat outside Fitzbillie\u2019s, feeling a little overdressed in the hot weather!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This we duly did. And we were dropped off just outside a new(-ish?) branch of Fitzbillie\u2019s, where we had a latte and a bacon sandwich. Mmm\u2026 scrummy! We really ought to have had at least one of their legendary Chelsea buns. But with a big wedding meal in wait, we thought it best not to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Inside the beautiful chapel at Trinity.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

None of my photos (all taken on my old iPhone) of the chapel – the \u2018pano\u2019 pic I took is so glitchy I\u2019m not sharing it – do the setting justice. Which is a pity. What a glorious venue for a wedding! And apparently Trinity very rarely grant anyone the privileged permission to use their facilities for weddings. So, quite how Mike and Helen wangled it, despite being College alumni, I don\u2019t know. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Teresa, and our side of the family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The ceremony and readings were a perfect fit for the venue. And made the occasion feel very special. Hannah King\u2019s Maya Angelou reading struck a different note to the other more trad\u2019 Christian ones. Was that down to Angelou\u2019s words, or King\u2019s own allure\/charisma?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My biggest regret of the day is opting not to record the 40-part performance of Thomas Tallis\u2019 Spem In Alium<\/em>. It\u2019s a piece of music I adore. And not what one expects to hear at a wedding! And it was a terrific performance. Owain Park really milked the final chords, almost like a \u2018big rock ending\u2019. Powerful stuff!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that Helen and Michael are both pro\u2019 singers, the music during the ceremony was tremendous. From the organ parts, kind of what you do<\/em> expect at a wedding, to the baroque ensemble with recorders and viol de gamba, and the anticipated Gesualdo presence, right up to the massive and less obvious Tallis \u2018number\u2019, the musical aspect made a special day even more magical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On this day, the Gesualdo Six were, for obvious reasons, The Gesualdo Five!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was also interesting, for me, as a former Christian, to experience (again) the intensity of High Anglican Christianity, in its rich and powerful religious form. I was never in this sort of church, growing up (Baptist and Evangelical, etc). It\u2019s weird, when one is amongst a flock who know their hymns!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some aspects of the religious side of this day – and for some it\u2019s doubtless just rites and tradition, for others, perhaps, a staunchly held belief? – were really lovely, beautiful even. But whenever confronted with the conformity of faith part of me rebels and is deeply troubled. But I set that part aside for Mike and Helen\u2019s (and everyone else\u2019s) sake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the wedding ceremony, which was really lovely. There was a brief hiatus, before drinks and canap\u00e9s in the normally off-limits Fellows\u2019 Garden. How often I would look into this space from the bridge over the Cam nearby, and wish I might be amongst the elect. And on this day, we were!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Leaving the Fellow\u2019s Garden for dinner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I made a conscious effort to chat with folk I didn\u2019t know. I started with some of the singers and musicians, feeling that perhaps we might have some common ground. Not just in knowing Mike, Helen, Terry, etc, but even as musicians! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later on, at the fabulous dinner, in the very opulent dining hall, this theme of chatting with strangers continued. And it was actually one of the really nice things about the day as a whole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Not a great pic, but get those windows!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The magnificent dining hall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And by some providential accident, Teresa and I were at the \u2018top table\u2019 end of one of the three massive rows of tables. With a terrific view of everything. And, \u2018by \u2018eck!\u2019 the chow was top-notch. As was the wine. The whole meal passed in a long rapturous reverie of chat and delicious grub!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were still \u2018in hall\u2019 and \u2018at table\u2019 when the time we\u2019d expected to leave came and went (my mum and Hannah and co did leave at this point). But we were enjoying proceedings, and opted to tag along to The Cambridge Union, for more drinks, dancing, and whatever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point, I did begin to flag. I managed a beer, and a little bit of dancing, before more or less flaking out! Some food arrived. Which was great, and very nearly<\/em> put the pep back in my step. Teresa wanted to stay longer. She was evidently less washed out than I felt! But in the end, probably around 10pm, we bad the happy couple and the few family and friends we knew good night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time we got home we\u2019d been out over 12 hours. That\u2019s not something, in the social way of things, either of us are used to any more! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, to finish\u2026 if you have a beverage to hand, raise it, and toast the happy couple, Helen and Mike!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday, June 25th, saw the much-postponed wedding of my cousin Helen Charlston, to Michael Craddock, finally taking place. In the truly sublime setting of Trinity College Cambridge, no less! Getting into Cambridge and parking, etc, can be quite tricky these days. I\u2019d assumed we\u2019d park in the Park St car park, near The Round Church. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “FAMiLY: Helen & Mike\u2019s Wedding”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[73,90,22,58],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-1xm","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5912"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7585,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912\/revisions\/7585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}