E: Wedded weeks

I am trying to catch up from putting most of my everyday life on standby the last dozen days or so for a bachelorette party and the wedding of a very close friend of mine; Marit Østrem Skoglund. Sorry for the lack of update, but it was online absence well spent. Also knowing the groom, Tor S Ditlevesen, and many of the family and friends invited, enhanced the experienced even more.

Friday was the big day. Following the bride the hours before the big day was a unique experience, during my best man-debut. Unorthodoxly, the bride chose both a best man and a chief bridesmaid (Camilla Isaksen). This was nothing but an advantage though, as we had plenty to do and could back each other.

The wedding itself was a time of great atmosphere, emotions and some nerves. Coming from music-gifted families, the ceremony was boosted from talented singers and musicians. That hour in church (of Finnsnes) was a natural high regardless, as we all knew the ones going through their life-long commitment. Although it was no doubt what the answer was going to be or what were to happen, as we practiced the day before, I felt strongly as if I was taking part in something huge.

After about an hour and a half with the photographer afterwards, we headed for the party where the 66 guests were waiting.

The celebration (at Holmen camp site) was traditionally divided into a dinner and a coffee segment. The bride, groom, bride’s father, groom’s mother, the chief bridesmaid and the best men (Tor also had one) got to share their moving talks. My speech was angled through comparing Marit to a pearl – which is the Latin origin of her name.

The night slice contained tasty cakes, songs, more speeches, cozy chit chat, a funny skit and humorous films from the bachelor parties.

Last weekend, 16th - 17th of July, we (Camilla & I) arranged the bachelor party, or more correctly bachelorette party, for the wife-to-be. Joined by a few other of Marit’s girlfriends, we went crazy in the city of Finnsnes. Unaware of what was to happen, Marit was snatched from the house of her boyfriend, given silly clothes to wear and brought downtown in silence. The theme of the day was for her to lead a campaign making Finnsnes a town again (remove the city status (Finnsnes is a small city (10.000 people) and not everyone thinks it’s big enough to be a city)). Promoting all supposedly rural-community stuff, she was to fish in the city lake (which has no life), wash clothes with an old-fashioned washing board, promote semi-serious arguments for why remove the city status through a megaphone at the city square, and collect signatures for her case (she got 27 in 30 minutes). Additionally she had to request a discount when she bought a dog leash – as she said it was for her husband-to-be. Later, some of us kidnapped her again. Blindfolded and tied up, she was driven to the pier where we threw her in a boat. A couple of hours later (she got to see after 20 minutes) we reached shore at Myklenes on the island of Senja (2nd largest in Norway) where we barbequed, enjoyed ourselves, had a night swim and a lot of fun. The only remaining challenge for the soon wedded was to try to figure out water-skiing.

Expect for two nights of work, most of last week was spent preparing for the wedding, with pictures presentations, movie editing, speech writing among other tasks. It has been a lot of work, but all worth it.

Pictures will be posted asap.