So the adventure started on Friday 12th March 2010, with an AirMalta flight from LHR to Malta. Prior to my commute to the airport, I bid my London colleagues one final goodbye as a single man and that was the first point when I realised the purpose of this particular trip: I was going to Malta to get married! And so the adrenaline started to kick in. The 30 minute delay, not unusual for Heathrow, further escalated my urge to be back home. We landed at 1.15 am, but I was unusually energetic and could not sleep that night. I was initially shocked to find that it was actually raining in Malta when only a few weeks before it was terribly hot. The rain did persist till Tuesday but then the enviable Mediterranean sun dominated for the rest of the week...
Saturday 13th March started off with a couple of errands: buying the booze, affecting payments and last-minute meetings with the parties involved. My wife-to-be and I then headed home separately to physically and mentally prepare ourselves for 2 events which are equally unique as the wedding itself: the stag and hen night. I had been left completely in the dark as to what awaited me; my brief to my (male) friends was, "I am open to anything, as long as I get fed and do not go to my wedding with a black eye and/or in crutches". A brief which they strictly adhered to: I was picked up by a mate at 8pm and headed off to the north of Malta and started off with a dinner at Fat Harry's in Bugibba. Generous steak portions and ample red wine, alongside ever-increasing levels of chit-chat, joking and noise, dominated the night. Until the cake was brought out...a tasty, chocolate gateaux with an ominous image of 2 cartoon characters exhibiting a particular coital position adorning its top. Most of the cream from the cake suddenly ended up behaving as hair gel and facial cream. Quite expected on a stag night...so far, so good. The dining bit was finished off by my friends giving me 2 gifts: a travelling-friendly sized Kama Sutra and a larger hardback version of a similar textbook...
The night progressed in a modest karaoke bar in Bugibba's main square, which on that particular night was hosting rain, wind and occasional spillages of sea water from the troubled waves underneath. The karaoke place was suddenly transformed from a peaceful lodge for amateur singers to a wild partying venue for us boys. A pitcher of Jack-Coke was emptied in seconds and substituted by a bottle of neat Jack, most of which somehow found its way into my system and this triggered me to sabotage the stage and the karaoke show. A remarkable version of Bohemian Rhapsody started off the performance, complete with me mimicking the guitar solo on top of the bar tables, improvised chorus parts between us males during the opera section and severe head-banging antics (synchronised with the "heavy" section towards the end) from my part. Another rock classic followed: November rain, which was mainly a solo project, including a vocal implementation of the Slash solo. And a final number: Mamma mia (or some other Abba song, I am not sure) which somehow led to us all being expelled from the place...
The group ended up in the pouring rain and thus we all headed to a bus stop, where we consumed champagne. The night was still young, so we raided a nearby bar. Pitchers of vodka with any additive possible (Red bull, orange, lime etc.) featured throughout the rest of the night. At some point, I was thrown out, soaked with water, bathed in flour (which then turned into dough by the end of the night) and ended up taking off my shirt in an attempt to cleanse myself. The rest of the night is beyond my recollection. I know that I was driven back home by one of my mates, who miraculously delivered me safe and sound to the correct address following my directions which (quoting) were as good as that of any GPS. Once at home, I was cleansed and had a solid 5 hour sleep for another day of preparations awaited me!
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings entailed my future wife and I hosting our guests at our parents' houses. Very tiring but pleasant evenings, accompanied by loads of work in the mornings: preparing customised thank you notes for guests, table layouts, delivery arrangements and clothes collections. And, naturally, 4 days which brought about tons of gifts from all our relatives and friends - a big thank you to all the readers who contributed to these gifts! Thursday and Friday were generally days of relative rest, with Thursday finished off by a night out with my dad and uncles, consisting of a typical Maltese meal of rabbit, horse and quail (heaven!) and Friday night being the last one as a single man. After picking up my ex room-mate (who travelled all the way from China for this special occasion) from the airport, I slept at 2am and woke up at 8am...and it was Saturday 20th March, the day I was awaiting for ages!
The entire morning was packed: I wanted to make sure all was nothing short of perfect. Trips to the church and reception venue to check on flowers, table layouts, music, food and all that jazz. I headed home at 2pm and started to get ready. Once all clean and ready in trousers/shirt/waist coast/bow/tail coat as well as my brand new shoes, the videographer and photographer started their job by shooting at home. A huge Mercedes drove me to the church and I patiently waited for my bride to turn up. As I caught sight of the Rolls parking outside, my heart started to pound for a few minutes, until I saw her: beautiful. Simply beautiful. The church service was moving - the knot was tied! I was the happiest man in the world!
At the end of the service, we made our way to the Villa Corinthia in our Rolls (after being showered with paper roses and presented with a glass of champagne). We found a crowd awaiting us there in the most enchanting venue which I had always imagined as being the only setting for my wedding years ago. The exceptional photographer stole 15 minutes to take a set of amazing images of my newly-wed wife and I against a backdrop of sensitively illuminated Maltese stone featuring some of the most lavish of Art Nouveau designs on the island. And then we made our solemn entry in the dining hall and the fun started!
The food was impeccable, the wine constantly topped up, the service flawless and the setting magical. With light jazz in the background, candle lighting, suggestive general lighting over crisply white walls and marbles floors, the setting was simply perfect. The evening also included my first (and, hopefully, last) public singing performance, which was totally unplanned; I intended to play a song for my wife but not sing, but the musician we hired insisted I ought to sing and so I did! The first dance, the subsequent dancing, the cake cutting and goodbyes brought the evening to a delightful end in the early hours of the 21st of March: a new season, a new spring, a new life.
The 2 newly weds, my wife and I, then ventured for a further 3 days in the same luxurious 5 star hotel which hosted the wedding reception. And the service was fit for any royal couple! Firstly, a delightful surprise in the wedding suite: a huge bottle of Moet et Chandon from a dear friend, constant greetings from the staff, offers of coffee and liquor from the managers, ample usage of the spa/pool/jacuzzi/sauna facilities and marvellous buffet breakfasts and dinners in the hotel restaurants. Once again: perfect. Alas, all good things come to an end...the stay at the hotel, that is. The new life as a married man was still about to start...in London! On Tuesday 23rd, we flew to London and here we are now!
Honestly, these few words are not enough to describe the joy, emotion and splendour of the day. I am sure every couple says that their wedding day was great and I cannot not apply this maxim to our own wedding: it was flawless! It has been almost a week since that fateful day and although details may start to fade from my memory, the magic of it all will endure forever. Now that we are both in London, I am sure many adventures will follow which will feature on this blog! But now, it is Friday evening and off we are to the pub!
