Wedding anniversary, that is. Handsome Partner's journey ended eleven years ago, but he's here in memory still.
No pictures today, not quite up to it.
We had intended to marry the previous October, but technical difficulties with the registrar refusing to settle on a date and time, held it up.
To be clear, it was a wedding in a Catholic church, and unlike other religions in the UK, Catholic priests do not have the legal power to marry couples.
The law dates back to the Reformation, like a lot of other laws against the practice of Catholicism. So unless you go to the registrar's office,which gives you a ceremony recognized by law but not by your religion, the registrar has to come to the church.
They hate traipsing about doing this, particularly if they administer a big area, and try to postpone repeatedly, or they suddenly come up with a time and date and everything else has to scramble to fit in.
He gave us twenty minutes starting at 3.20 pm on February 16, 1963. At about two weeks' notice.
It was okay since it was a very small wedding, couple of dozen guests, so everyone, especially the priest, was very flexible. It went just fine.
Many years later a friend I knew here in the US, but who was originally from near Manchester, where we lived then, said oh that explains that wedding we went to.
She had noted the date and said they were invited to another wedding that same day, a few miles away, at 2.11 pm! We concluded it must have been the one before ours! She said the invitation was very last minute, and for such a weird time. So now all was clear to her, including the reason for the timing.
There are quite a few reasons why the separation of church and state really is a hill I will die on. This has been just one of them. Don't get me started on the others. It was a driving force in my emigrating. But moving on..
Beautiful full February moon is now rising over the rooftops. Nice evening to remember a long history. And a nice life all in all.
