The Bit of A Do – 19th February – Day 5

Today’s Daily Programme is here …..

Today’s Menu is here ….

It was a lumpy old night on the way from Lisbon. We’d had some engine issues which delayed our departure until after 10pm and as we went out into the Atlantic it got a bit bumpy at around 3am. I gave the gym a miss as I’m not a fan of finding myself in mid-air whilst running on the treadmill, as it was I’d be walking the length of the ship several times during the day. As part of the wedding package we had a Champagne Breakfast in our room and I’d made our selection the night before I was having a mushroom Benedict and Jane Benedict Royale along with fruit, muesli and yoghourt and the eponymous champagne. We had a nice lie in until 09:30 when our butler arrived and laid our table for breakfast.

The weather turned out to be fantastic so while Jane disappeared out to get primped for the wedding, I got to sit in the sun on our balcony. I had my orders to be out before she returned as I wasn’t allowed to see the dress, and Veronica, the Captain’s PA had kindly provided me with a changing room. This was an Oceanview on deck 4, so I headed there with my wedding outfit before heading up for lunch in the QG dining room. All of our table-mates were there which allowed me to kill quite  a bit of time before having a shower and dressing in my finery. I was nearly late because I am unable to competently tie a bow tie, but I managed it in the end and was the the Boardroom for 15:20 to meet with the Captain, Andrew Hall and our guests and witnesses, Pam and Max.

After a little small talk, it was time and we headed into the Boardroom to await the arrival of the Bride. She looked a picture draped over the Bellboy’s arm, absolutely radiant. The ceremony itself passed in a blur and once all the vows were out of the way and the ring deposited on Jane’s finger we moved out into the Commodore Club for a Champagne toast and the tea and cake. We had a two tier Victoria sponge which was beautifully moist and absolutely delicious.

After a celebratory cup of tea we headed back into the Boardroom to sign the register and have more photos with the Captain. Then it was more Champagne and chatting before we were ushered out to catch the remaining light for the photographs. The whole ceremony had taken about an hour and we spent another hour being photographed in various locations around the ship.

We had arranged to dine at 19:30, and when we arrived in the QG dining room it seemed like everyone knew about the wedding and offered their congratulations as we walked past and as we arrived at the table we were given a standing ovation, it was all very humbling. Jane had ordered the Lobster Thermidor and I was happy with the veal fillet. It turned out I was correct and the veal was delicious as was Jane who loved her lobster. We had ordered Crepes Suzette, but as we had a lot of cake left over this was served at dinner. I had thought they would have portioned out the remaining cake and distributed throughout the dining room, instead it was distributed amongst our table and it was just too much.