What was your wedding like?

Dad & I were married at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Bromley, Kent on April 28th. 1970. I think it was a Tuesday. Dad & I had met, as you know in Canada in 1969 and my plan had been to return to the UK in 1970 after my big travel adventure to Vancouver. When I told Dad I would be leaving on the P & O ship, 'Oriana' in February 1970, I guess he panic'd and asked me to marry him ( that's another story!) The end of it all was that I did leave to sail back to Britain, down the West Coast through Panama, round the Caribbean, Portugal, and back to Southampton and Dad flew back to England in April for our wedding ( yet another story).

I had never had any aspirations to a big wedding, nothing was further from my comfort zone than being the centre of attention in a fancy white dress with bridesmaids. Being as our life and friends at the time were in Canada we both wanted a small ceremony but parents on both sides would have been happier I think if we had gone a more traditional route. I bought my 'wedding dress' after a lunch of much red wine & pasta with two girlfriends up in London.

I finally found something for the occasion in Fenwicks on Bond Street. That after I had blown a fortune on what I thought were absolutely fabulous shoes at Kurt Keiger's also on Bond Street. The shoes cost twice as much as the dress! At the time, the 'wedding' options in Britain were either to be married in a church by a Minister of the Church or in a registry office by the local Registrar.

Registry Office weddings had the taint of 'shotgun' weddings. and my Dad said absolutely not. So we ended up in our local church with the Minister that we had known for years, Sidney Evans - but with only our immediate families present. My Mum & Dad, Sheila & David and Karen who was about 16 months old, and my brother David. Jim's family was Mum & Pop and Philip & Jill who were engaged at the time.

The DID have the big white wedding about 6 months later. It was all a bit echo'y and quiet in the church, no hymns or flowers! but the deed was done and then we all went off to a lovely old pub 'The Leicester Arms' in Penshurst for lunch & wedding cake, then Jim & I left for our honeymoon in Devon & Cornwall in Jim's Mum's Hillman Imp. When we came back from our honeymoon we had a party at Jim's folks house in Wolverhampton and I met for the first time all the people whose names and faces I would have to re learn every time we went back to the UK.

Jim did likewise at a post wedding party at my parent's house in Beckenham when we stayed there. I certainly have no regrets about our choice, tho' it was all done in such haste that I think many thought that I HAD to be preganant!