The Tilleys Part 1

  Asker, Oslo, Norway
Saturday, September 6, 2008

Hello friends,
On popular demand here is a little report on the wonderful Nordic wedding of Dominic and Beate, now known as the Tilleys of Dortmund. This is actually my first blog. I think that a blog must be a good way to share this great souvenir. These days I do not go to weddings as much as I used to, but my last wedding before this one was a quite incredible "factory wedding". My friend Ying had invited me to participate. The place was indeed a hugely romantic factory hall in Yuhang, a rundown suburbs of Hangzhou, China, where I live at present (game: find the 5 odd pictures). 

With the keen next of kins

Well, Dom & Beate's was more my type of wedding. It took place in Asker, a very nice suburbs of Oslo, on Saturday the 9th of August 2008. It started at 2pm with the service. A smart and well informed pastor said touching words and the musician did the rest to lift us all. After the ceremony we took a few pictures but the weather was not always cooperative. (Jeg elsker det norsk sommer!).

Superwomen

Dom & Keith (Superman & best man)

Signing the guest book

And then we started to mingle. Apart from Dom and his mother, I did not know the participants. As expected it was quite cosmopolitan with Norwegians and Zambians and Brits of course, but also Germans, crazy Danes, an Australian, a froggy and probably more nationalities. Besides, there was no set dress code. I liked this diversity. We were coming from different horizons but I must say the the Norwegians had a very warm welcoming attitude that set the tone. Despite the noticeable absence of alcohol (btw I vaguely remember ending this memorable factory wedding of Yuhang under the influence of Baijiu, a lethal Chinese liquor), we were definitely merry. By the way, the homemade cakes were delicious. 

Now it got serious

A couple had taken in charge the animation and they did a fantastic job.

The Tilleys listening joyfully

No way without Norway

 

The crooners

So British!

  Apart from excellent speeches, there were songs, plays, and videos.

Teaching the big kids a Zambian dance

We also performed a Zambian dance expertly taught by Dom and Beate, unusual and definitely great fun! While thanking people for coming I did appreciate that Dom mentioned the "midnight picnic"which we organized in Copenhagen. It was one of his many great ideas, which became a memorable night indeed.
I was very frequently with Dom while we both lived in Copenhagen and after having heard of many of the people dear to him it was great to finally meet them. It was also the first time I met Beate, who besides looking pretty gave me the impression of being very kind. The videos from her little students in Germany and herself clearly witnessed this as well. There was also an hilarious video of her in Norwegian which I would love to upload on this blog. I say hilarious but this is judging from my neighbors laughs. In fact I did not understand much. Whatever was meant the Norwegian language always sounds fun to me. I also remember a lovely German transvestite princess fairytale!

Ils sont fous ces Teutons

  I had not felt the time flying and it was already dark (remember it's Norway in the summer) when we all left Dom and Beate, who flew to the Seychelles the day after. I am sure they will not feel the time flying together as well.

The Tilleys, Dominic & Beate (& behind ?)