Friday, August 5, 2011

Holly and Alan

The whole purpose of the last few day in London was to attend what many guests thought was a birthday party. Our friend Holly's 50th birthday party, but it was in fact going to be a surprise wedding. Let me explain.
A whole bunch of people had been invited to a 'party' at Mosimanns in Belgravia.
Mosimanns, which is an exclusive private members dining club, as you may or may not know, catered the evening meal at Buckingham Palace after the marriage between Kate and Wills, (so you see I now have a royal connection).
The other surprising fact is that you can get married at Mosimanns, so Alan's idea was to propose to Holly during the 'party' and they would then get married.
I was given the honour of being 'best man', the whole thing worked like a treat and was such good fun. Only a handful of us were in on the secret and if I've been 'out of sorts' recently I must admit that I was a little nervous at having to give a speech to a group that included a very prominent former cabinet minister.
Anyway, as you would expect, the food was outstanding and another fabulous treat was that throughout the wedding, and the party after, we were entertained by 'Tenors Un Limited.' God they were good.
When the party entered 'the chapel' at the top of the building, for the wedding ceremony, as a total surprise, the tenors sang the duet from 'The Pearl Fishers.' This was hair on the back of your neck stuff.
Throughout the rest of the party, at various break points during the meal, they sang a mixture of opera and more recent fun songs. They were so, so good, so entertaining. What a very clever idea.
A fabulous, memorable day and a public heartfelt thanks to Alan and Holly.

3 comments:

  1. What an incredible sounding event. You and Jan must have felt very privileged to be there at such a special occasion.
    And the Pearl Fishers duet - my favourite piece of music ever, bar none. Whilst I love Bocelli, check out the "original" with Jussi Bjoerling and Robert Merril from the 1950's when you have a moment. Quite remarkable.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDn_t4tEWiQ

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  2. Craig, privileged is exactly how we felt. Jan and I organised my son's wedding in France a few years back and many guests said that it was the best wedding they'd ever been to. This was way more spectacular. It was amazing.

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  3. What an amazing experience for you both - a wonderful occasion to give very treasured memories.

    And Craig, thank you. I ADORE the Pearl Fisher's duet and this is by far the best version, in my opinion. Having said that, whoever sings it, this music never fails to bring goosebumps and tears pricking at the back of the eyes.

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