Love and marriage

Things are getting chaotic - too many subjects to blog about, too little time. I shall have to prioritise my friend Mari's wedding and all the associated shenanigans . Let it be said first of all that this was the most laid back wedding I have ever attended, and it is unlikely to be beaten to the poll position by any future matrimonial ceremony that I shall ever witness.

Let's begin withTuesday when the bride, myself and Ana the Spaniard with hubby Austin took a ferry across the Gulf of Finland to Tallinn, supposedly for cheap treats. We procured pedicures at competitive prices, eat and drank well... and I did the unthinkable, that is to fall for the "cheap beer" trap which is really laughable these days. Having bought two crates of Saku, I calculated a maximum saving of 9 euros in total! But it was all about the experience of trolleying the crates across the bumpy pavements of Tallinn, thus joining the ranks of dozens of other Finns on the beer trail... The only saving grace was that my beer trolley was at least dubbed the "Ferrari of beer trolleys"! Ana is the queen of photo opportunities so she should be able to provide us with some visual material from the day.

The wedding crowd were treated to the best Finnish late Spring weather imaginable on the Big Day. I had the privilege of acting as the hair stylist and make-up artist of the bride, and in return spent the afternoon with Mari in the exclusive Kämp Spa - lush! The bride and I made our glamorous way on foot along Esplanadi (turning a few heads, naturellement) to the Suomenlinna ferry around 5.30 pm, the only bride I know of having caught public transport to her own wedding ceremony (Mari pictured en route in her smokey grey wedding dress, left, and below, she slips a ring on Gokhan's finger). I think Petite Anglaise (aka the celebrity blogger & Brit expat in France, Catherine Sanderson) tied the knot this weekend too, and in her blog she has hinted at having ditched the seating plan and other traditional things too, but I doubt very much she quite reached Mari's level of informality.

Towards the tail end of the night we (the Manchester gang) took the ferry back to the mainland and headed to Kappeli for some late drinks. We started off by polishing a couple of bottles of Cava, after which the nasty Finnish style shots were served, as well as the ominous sounding cocktail "Helsinki Hell" - highly recommended! There was nothing nasty in particular about the shots flavoured with Fishermans Friend, if it wasn't for the fact that I had been first introduced to the darned things only the night before after the official launch party of the summer season at restaurant Vespa.



At the end of the night, much later than I care to think right now, I walked back to the Glo Hotel (pictured) with the newly weds to pick up my stuff from the reception, and what else was playing in the hotel bar but "Love and Marriage" - what a hilariously fitting end to the night! I continued, by foot, back to Kallio for a few hours' sleep before....

... my impromptu roles continued the day after the wedding at Mari's parents' summer cottage. I rather took to my alter ego as the (almost) Naked Chef. It came about as I visited the kitchen after a quick splash in the lake and was drafted in to prepare a salmon soup for the wedding entourage. Gokhan's friends, also known as the Turks, were entertained, I'm sure, by my less-than-fitting chef's outfit which consisted of a swimming costume and nothing else (I'm glad to point out this is a NEW piece of swimwear, purchased after one fateful visit to the local pool in Kallio). The story sounds even better if I add that Mari actually works for the Jamie Oliver brand and we indeed had his exclusive range of table spices with which to liven up the soup!

We had all kinds of entertainment at the cottage, including a game of boules (Gokhan pictured performing one of his winning throws), where I very expertly stepped into the shoes of the (almost naked) adjudicator. It didn't really matter that I haven't any notion of the rules, I discovered all you have to do is make them up (convincingly, I might add) as you go along, and if in doubt, ask the Father of the Bride (pictured, gutting a fish for smoking later).

The wedding well and truly over on Monday, after a site visit to Kontula launching my public internet access point user survey, I met up with Mari for a very, very long lunch at Teatteri, followed by lattes & cinnamon buns at Cafe Esplanad (the latter a MUST, they serve cinnamon buns about the size of a dinner plate at Cafe Espa).

I concluded the day's socialising with a sunny walk around Töölönlahti [the Bay of Töölö], talking about love and marriage(s) - what else!