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‘We found our sta onery and
photography at the London
Gay Wedding Show. We’d tried
to find a photographer using
the Internet but were
overwhelmed by the responses
and trying to work out
whether they would be any
good. At a wedding show we
were introduced to Graham
and that personal contact
made all the difference.’
62 » pink weddings magazine
Frank & Camilo
plainly iced and decorated just with some purple-hued flowers
by the florist. riccardo, one of our friends, also made us a
lovely single-tiered fruit cake, which was a wonderful gift.
When it came to the favours, the choice was obvious: it had
to be a cat of some sort! We found lava-stone cats on Covent
Garden market, put them into white cardboard boxes with
shredded tissue and tied with purple ribbon, and added a luggage
tag for the guest’s name. Chocolate mice completed the scene!
We bought other truffles in bulk and tied them into little
packages. Doing it yourself saves a little money and makes
them personal – a touch that your guests will appreciate very
much. our wedding organiser and her team helped enormously
with preparations, from sourcing a purple liqueur to mix with
the champagne, to immaculate table service on the day.
*****
The format of our ceremonies – there were two – was
determined several years ago, when an anglican vicar friend of
ours volunteered to bless the ceremony, should we get
married. although both Camilo and i were brought up in the
Catholic Church, finding a tame Catholic priest was not that
easy – and besides, this was going to be something very
personal for us as the vicar was a good friend. as fate would
have it, he was posted abroad before the wedding – but he
recommended another vicar; we got on very well, so were
extremely happy for him to conduct the blessing.
We kept the civil ceremony short and meaningful. a string
quartet played as people gathered and then we entered to
Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary – the two mothers first, escorted by
the two witnesses, followed by the two page boys (my
nephews), and then the two of us together.
my eldest brother gave a secular reading, followed by the
civil commitment and the signing of the register. Then Fr
robert took over and conducted a ceremony that was, to all
intents and purposes, a marriage ceremony, without us being
allowed to call it that officially. There was a reading by a very
good Spanish friend of ours – in Spanish, for the many native
speakers in the congregation. The vows were conducted
bilingually and we exchanged rings – white gold, with two
diamonds and the date of the wedding, and our joint names
engraved inside – made by a latino jeweller we know.
We asked seven of our friends to read bidding prayers and
had a candle-lighting ceremony – each mother lit a candle
representing the two families at the beginning of the service.
after the exchange of vows the two candles were extinguished