A Toast

---

Today was encroached on my Wedding Day - to Covid-19. But that will not stop me, my groom provides the speech, so make sure that your glass is collected.

[Taps prosecco flute with the fork], It is great to see that so many of you not be Here Today . Thank You all for coming.

There are so many people who have helped to make today, nothing special in any way. I don't want to bring a thank-you to our photographers for not taking pictures; one of our florists for you, no flowers; and to all the staff at our reception venue to Get In , The Doors and Windows so that nobody can reach. My Wife and I - oh, I'm sorry, my fiancee and I really can't say how grateful We Are .

I really need to pay homage To My future parents-in-law. You have welcomed me into their family and treated me with every kindness. I'm so glad you're not Here Today , my Marriage with your daughter. I would be scared, which they killed on The Virus and you.

My Own mom and dad: I owe you everything. I'm incredibly grateful to be that what is meant, is the happiest day in My Life , you are hundreds of Miles Away in Scotland. Now , let's get serious, stay in the house.

I would raise A Toast to the bridesmaids, but there was never any. Or witnesses, for that matter. We don't want a lot of fuss. This Was a low-key, laid-back Affair - a short civil ceremony then a buffet upstairs in a nearby pub. And I think, in spite of everything, have we stayed true to our original vision. You can't low much longer-key and relaxed, as no wedding at all.

But to mention The Most important person, that Kathy, The Woman I plan to spend the rest of My Life . Don't they look amazing in your white dress? I can't tell you first hand since I've never seen before. I think they hid it somewhere in the back of your wardrobe. But of course, you will look great in it, because, well, it's her.

We met in the summer of 2016. At this point, I was pretty disappointed with dating. I would hate to have to through all the apps, without much expectation of ever being The Right person. But when Kathy arranged to meet for a drink in a pub near Borough Market , everything changed. It wasn't just that she was even more beautiful In Person than in your photos. She was funny and smart and friendly and liked the same wonky indie bands, which I did. Most incredibly of all, they liked me also.

I spent much to long to save for a Engagement Ring . I had read that you should set aside a month's salary - even though We Are talking only a month ago the BBC's content, this proved to be greatly exaggerated. If we went to a antique jewelry fair, to select it, liked a Kathy most of all, it costs £80.

Now , I really should have predicted this. Kathy's hunter-gatherer instincts are deeply rooted. She is a vintage clothing dealer that spends their week in search of bargains on flea markets. To the extent that they are not affected, if you buy something for a knock-down price, what's The Point ?

I knew all of this. So I could and should have proposed much earlier And Then we would have been married long before the lockdown. Sorry, Kathy.

Anyway, after we left the jewelry fair, Kathy and I went to a cocktail bar and I put the Engagement Ring on your finger. This Was in December 2019. With the money left over from The Ring , we calculate we could pay for a summer wedding itself. By The End of the month, we had booked an appointment and a Registrar, a South-London, the venue for The Ceremony and the pub for The Reception . Our closest friends and family all to get together and have a great time.

What could go wrong?

in fact, if We Are planning The Wedding , there were many possible things that we expected, we have to do, perhaps. The guests in the Last Minute ; the Spotify playlist I had made for the disco to go still through my old laptop is breaking up My Friends are drinking, The Bar completely dry.

What we didn't factor into our calculations the possibility of a global pandemic was, or is, in fact, that the government, the ban on weddings as a whole. But I mean, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

If anyone makes a biopic of My Life , it is an Assembly sequence is definitely, I always told smugly Kathy, how well we have done to sort it all out-so be quick and painless, while a succession of increasingly ominous news plays in the background:

"have infected the Chinese authorities in a mysterious viral pneumonia has dozens of people in the Central City of Wuhan..."

"I know why The Wedding magazines make it sound so complicated. "

"South Korea has raised the Corona-Virus-alert to the" confirmed case numbers continue to rise..."

"the purchase of the prosecco wine on a sale-or-return basis, was definitely The Right decision. "

"The Last patient with the coronavirus in England in the UK is diagnosed. "

"Uh, maybe I should think about The Wedding insurance After All . "

As with most non-epidemiologists, I expect that The Virus snuck up on us all of a sudden. One minute we were the choice of the readings for The Wedding ceremony and the order of Confetti - The Next , all of which seemed to belong to a completely vanished world.

We had a really excited One Day feel right. The Thursday, March 12, was The Day on which the government Say the Committee changed its advice on dealing with the pandemic. Looking for a lockdown began inevitable.

I had to consume the annual leave, so we'd booked a Long Weekend in The West of the country. As our train rolled out of Paddington station, I checked my Twitter feed. It was stream of warnings about how life as we knew it was to come to a standstill.

when we arrived, it had decline started, that The Wedding would not happen. We found a pub, ordered a few pints and stared at her, thinking about the fantastic day we'd planned.

There were a few tears at this point. We had not even finished The Invitations to send.

But we have to be very quick about it.

As the effects of The Virus began to subside - the thousands of dead, the possible collapse of the health System - a canceled wedding seemed to be a very trivial thing. Grieving family members and front-line employees work on Covid municipalities sympathy earned. We were much further down The List .

do you know of any reason why these two can't be together in Marriage ? Well, Yes, I know how it happens - if this wedding went ahead, we would Spread putting additional pressure on the NHS by the support of The Novel coronavirus to - oh, and we would potentially kill all of our guests.

We sat down at my laptop to compose an E-Mail to those of you who would cancel.

"you've probably noticed that a pandemic is," he began. "It's not quite the romantic build-up to 2, we Can had hoped for. "We wrote that we hoped we would see you again Another Time , and asked them to stay safe. Then We Are logged out.

And because our suppliers are incredibly beautiful, we were able to rearrange everything for a different date in the year 2021. Who Knows if weddings will be allowed again and if this is so, what will be the appearance on the earth. But it is nice to have something, you are entitled to The Most beautiful hopes, if you are stuck inside on lockdown.

Today We Are going to celebrate our wedding, even if we have not obtained a certificate to make it official. We will dress up, and open a bottle of champagne. Then we will cut the Red Velvet cake that Kathy bought from the supermarket. Once we have Zoomed in, with some of them, We Are dancing around the Living Room .

And although the greatest tragedies of the infection with The Virus to cope with The Most attention to, it is worth Recalling the more mundane victims. If you have any kind of social life at all, there will be some case that you were happy, and Now will not happen. Our cancelled wedding can be canceled, baptism, or sports day or birthday night.

So, in this sense, I would like to invite all of you to join us, no matter where you are, while I deploy A Toast : to better times.

follow on Twitter

image editor: Emma Lynch

this may also interest you.

recently, Sue Elliott-Nicholls was a lot of weddings where The Bride and groom have been together for decades. And last month you also have the fact in your 50s. So why are all these middle-aged couples, finally, the decision for Marriage ?

coronavirus lockdown measures, coronavirus pandemic, weddings, long reads

Source of news: bbc.com