 I
met Jon in a rather dingy pub in Waterloo, London five
years ago. We were both a little the worse for wear and
he noticed me as I was singing Pogues songs rather loudly.
We exchanged phone numbers and although I never expected
to hear from him again, in August 1998 he asked me to
marry him during an argument about a bank loan to restore
a rather old and decrepit Rover he had just bought.
There were no arguments over the type of wedding we wanted.
We both have large families and wanted our friends to
be there as well. We also both wanted to get married on
Raven's Ait which is an island in the middle of the Thames
at Kingston. So after one visit to have a look round we'd
fixed the date and paid the deposit.
Organising the wedding was reasonably hassle-free, the
crew at Raven's Ait were incredibly helpful and took almost
all the worry away.
The week before the 3rd April seemed to take forever.
We were both terribly excited (although Jon managed to
keep cool at all times). The two days before we got married
it seemed as though summer had started with the sun shining
and temperatures in the high 60s.
But true to form when I dragged myself out of bed after
a terrible night's sleep on the Saturday it was grey and
damp and rather miserable. I allowed myself a moment's
disappointment that the weather could do that to me, then
decided I really was far too excited to worry about it.
From that moment on the morning unfurled before me into
a mixture of panic attacks and giggles. My sister Rachel
who was my bridesmaid had stayed the night, and my friend
Veronica and her partner Colin also stayed over to lend
support and their new Range Rover. First thing we sat
around drinking tea and eating toast, well they ate toast
while Veronica tried to force feed me with dry toast as
I had some difficulty eating. Then it was off for a morning
of getting ready (yes a whole morning). Veronica and I
had a relaxing morning of massage, manicures and pedicures.
Then the hairdressers (along with a few other members
of my family). It was while sitting in the chair at the
hairdressers that it really did hit me that this was the
day I was getting married to the man that I love so completely.
This feeling was beyond anything I had felt during the
run up to the wedding and made me shake all over. I started
shaking and didn't stop until the register was signed
later that day.
 Back at home we had our makeup
done, the flowers arrived right on time and Veronica and
Colin spent hours decorating the Range Rover. The photographer
arrived in the midst of complete bedlam at my house. For
some reason the 6 hours we had given ourselves to be ready
for the photographer didn't seem quite enough and I ended
up getting dressed in two minutes flat. I hadn't even
looked in the mirror to see what I looked like (in fact)
I didn't see myself until I went to the loo at Raven's
Ait minutes before we got married.
All of a sudden it was time to leave - poor Veronica had
about five minutes to get ready as she'd spent all morning
running around after me. We piled into the Range Rover
after waving to the neighbours who'd come out to cheer
us on. Colin drove really slowly and people waved to us
and smiled and laughed and shouted "Good Luck".
We pulled up across the river at Raven's Ait and I could
see everyone on the other side, they noticed the car straight
away and everyone was waving and laughing.
We clambered into the boat (rather difficult in my dress
and shoes) and sailed over the river. When we arrived
I just stood at the bottom of the steps and looked around
me. How wonderful to see all those happy smiling faces
looking back at me, camera's flashing and all trying to
talk to me.
I stopped briefly to give my Nan a kiss and then the MC
whisked me away. I was hidden in a room while Jon and
his best man Tommy were taken to the ceremony room. I
had my interview with the registrar and then it was time.
 I heard the music start (the
Air from Handel's Water Music). I mustered every ounce
of myself, gripped my step-dad's arm and in we walked.
Jon stayed staring out the window until he couldn't help
himself and turned round and the smile on his face just
told me everything I needed to know. When I stood next
to him there was nothing and no one else in that room,
just me and Jon.
The civil ceremony we had planned was short and intimate.
Jon's sister read a few verses from O
Tell Me the Truth About Love by W.H. Auden. Then Jon
put the ring on my finger and promised me that he would
always love me, I did the same and, in what seemed like
a second, we were Mr. and Mrs. Musto!
I turned round to take a look behind me and all of a sudden
I was back in the room with 100 of our closest friends
and family and the smile on my face just grew and grew.
We stopped to grab some of the champagne then disappeared
to have our photos taken on the steps by the River, both
of us laughing and smilinglike complete lunatics. Luckily
it had stopped raining, but was still rather grey and
overcast, but we didn't really notice the weather at all.
Right on time, the MC announced that dinner was soon to
be served and everyone piled in. We stayed behind and
we were announced in to the dining room amidst cheers
and applause. The room looked fantastic, and everyone
enjoyed the Saucisse de Pereguez et Puree de Pomme de
Terre.
Jon's speech turned out to be not one of his best public
speaking appearances. After being so cool and calm beforehand
he found himself welling up as he was speaking and finished
it rather abruptly having completely forgotten to mention
how wonderful his new bride looked - he shall never be
able to forget that one! Tommy, his best man, made one
of the funniest speeches I have ever heard which, thankfully,
seemed to pass quite innocently over the heads of my grandparents.
 We
had booked an English barn dance band for the evening.
Jon and I started off the dancing with an 8 part dance
with some of our friends and it wasn't long before people
got the hang of it and we didn't stop dancing until 11pm
that night when the MC announced that the bride and groom
would be leaving.
It took us half an hour to leave, as we had to say goodbye
to everyone. We had planned a boat trip up river to take
us to the Mitre Hotel in Hampton Court. Unfortunately,
the weather being a little unpredicatable put paid to
that idea. We ended up having to call a cab of the rank,
I think the driver got a big surprise!
When we got back to the hotel Jon had arranged roses and
champagne and chocolates so we carried on drinking until
about two in the morning.
The next day, still in a daze, we met some friends for
a beer or 3, picked up all the presents and went home.
It took us two hours to open all our gifts and we'd already
had one delivery before the wedding. Then it was early
to bed to get up early for our flight to Malaysia on Monday.
 We
had the most glorious week in Pangkor Laut, a private
island off the west coast of Malaysia. We celebrated one
week of married life with dinner on a private beach watching
the sunset over the sea. We finished our trip with a couple
of days in Kuala Lumpur.
After a couple of days relaxing our memories of the day
started to come flooding back. We both had had the best
day of our lives and agreed that it was everything we
had ever thought it could be. We raised our glasses to
the rest of our lives together.
Do Differently: Start earlier! There's not enough
hours in the day and it all goes too quickly.
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If
you would like to contact Jo and Jon, you can e-mail
them.
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