Last week, I managed not only to forget to mention any of Alternative Press Fair events that were on, I also managed to entirely miss all of them due to feeling a bit under the weather and really not wanting to end up ill and having to miss Jeremy and Tim's wedding on Sunday. Did anyone go to Wednesday's book launch? I was quite interested in going to that (not least because I actually used to work in Housmans eons ago). Annoyingly, I'd hoped to pop by the fair itself on Sunday, but was too disorganised to make it there. I haven't heard any reports from it yet, except that Matt Sheret sold off the last copies of the Phonogram vs The Fans zine he edited, which I must admit I am curious to read. (Matt actually asked me to submit something to it but I never got my act together to even email him, which I am sorry about, mostly 'cos it was rude of me to ignore him, but anyway…)
I did, however, have time to meet up with a handful of Oxford Flickrites, even though I'd thought I wouldn't be able to. Their picnic was over by the time I arrived in Oxford, but fortunately
they'd moved on to one of the two pubs that I actually know by name in Oxford, The Angel & Greyhound, where we always end up drinking during the bits of Caption that aren't at the Caption venue itself. It was one of those lovely occasions where I sat down with a bunch of people I knew nothing about and who knew nothing about me (other than two or three brief exchanges with Garrett), and we all got on really well from the minute that I sat down, chatting about all sorts of things, from transgendered friends, to beer, to the several mutual friends and acquaintances that we inevitably discovered that we had. So, cheers to Garrett, Adrian and Caroline for being so much fun to talk to. I was really sorry that I had to dash off.
On the other hand, the reason for dashing off was a fabulous one; not just the fact that Jeremy and Tim were being wed, but also the fact that I had to be at the hotel in time to see this before it was cut into pieces:
Yes, that is a wedding cake built to look like Tatlin's Tower. Yes, it is made of awesome, isn't it? It was one of the things I'd been looking forward to seeing at the wedding since I'd got the invitation a few months ago, which announced, "The cake is a model of an unrealised masterpiece of Soviet architecture, the Tatlin Tower [...] Guests are advised the girders, although edible, are very hard."
They had to cut the girders before they could get to the actual cake, and seemed to have a lot of fun doing it, and throwing pieces to the waiting crowd. In fact, the girders weren't as hard as we were expecting, being made of simple firm sugar icing. Pretty impressive, overall, I think.
I'm sad that I missed the actual ceremony, not just because I love that part of weddings, but also because it meant that I missed seeing the page boys and bridesmaids dressed as dinosaurs:
Dinosaurs! How great is that? (photos by motodraconis)
However, I still had a great time, not least because the wedding looked good, which was no mean feat, given the dismally uninspiring hotel decor. The chosen colour-scheme for the wedding (orange, green and silver) was a great touch. It made for some really interesting flower displays, including bright orange and pale green roses, fuzzy orange brushes, and peculiar triffid-like things.
It was also great that so many people agreeably followed the wedding's colour-scheme with their clothes. Jeremy had mentioned it in the invitation, more as a suggestion than a demand, and many of the people made a great effort to stick to it, which resulted in a lovely colour palette of different shades and tones. Of course people wore other colours, too, but they really popped as a result of standing out more. I definitely approve of this sort of thing; I hate it when weddings look like a sea of black and navy blue. It's so dreary, and dreary is something that weddings should never be, and this wedding definitely wasn't!
There were some fun moments on the dancefloor, too. Watching it get swamped during Just Can't Get Enough was a particular highlight. Seeing D'emon D'raughtsman D'israeli and his girlfriend dancing up a fantastically frenetic storm especially put a smile on my face, and pogoing to You Could Easily Have Me was something I don't think I'll ever experience at another wedding.
It was also lovely just watching how happy Jeremy and Tim were with each other. (it was very cute how they would keep leaving conversations with other people, and cross the room to have another snog). I'm sure everyone else joins me in wishing Mr & Mrs Day all the more happiness for the future!
Yay!
