Married (with honeymoon photos - 56k beware)

[Starglider]

I got married last Saturday;



We are now going off to Ireland for two weeks of camping/hiking/B&Bs etc. I may put some more photos in an AMP thread when we get back.



I did all the lighting/music/games/fireworks myself, with my own equipment; between that and shuttling so many relatives around it was a very exhausting week. I think it went very well though.

[Bounty]

Congratulations. I love the clothes - very stylish.

And more weddings need bubbles.

[Dartzap]

Congratulations The area seems to have been struck by the weather daemons, though.

[Ford Prefect]

Smooth location. Nice tux too. Congrats to you both.

[Phantasee]

Wow. That's a fantastic looking wedding.

Good job, Starglider. She's beautiful, and you're surprisingly pretty yourself.

[Havok]

Congratulations man!! I just got married about a month and a half ago. Did you get as nervous as I did, once you actually saw your bride and she was coming towards you?

Awesome location too.

And FUCK! Bubbles. Man, I knew we were forgetting something cool.

P.S. See if we can get a mod to move this to AMP and post more pics.

[Zablorg]

Was there cake?

[Darth Nostril]

Congratulations !

[J]

Congrats!

There've sure been a whole lot of SD.net marriages this year...

[Rawtooth]

Congratulations, and I have to second the comment on the slick clothing.

[Starglider]

Just leaving for Ireland now.

And more weddings need bubbles.

The German relatives always bring bubble blowers shaped like wedding cakes to weddings. They give the children something to do, and it's an improvement on throwing rice.

Congratulations The area seems to have been struck by the weather daemons, though.

Fortunately the drizzle stopped an hour or so before the ceremony. I think it was ok actually, the mist in the valley was dramatic and apparently diffuse light like that is considerably easier to shoot photos in (no inconvenient shadows).

Good job, Starglider. She's beautiful, and you're surprisingly pretty yourself.

Thanks, I think...

Did you get as nervous as I did, once you actually saw your bride and she was coming towards you?

No. I was feeling pretty strange on the two days prior to the wedding day though, a kind of alienated 'who is this woman and why am I marrying her?' feeling. Emotions are irrational like that.

See if we can get a mod to move this to AMP and post more pics.

Could do, otherwise I will make another thread when I have some decent photos from the photographer.

Was there cake?

The wedding cake was chocolate. The general agreement was that it was 'delicious and moist'...

[Imperial Overlord]

Congratulations.

[Zed Snardbody]

That is the most stylish wedding I've seen in quite some time. Thumbs up!



Oh yeah, congratulations and all that too....

[LadyTevar]

Topic moved.

I wish you both a happy future together
And you two look fantastic. The wedding dress is absolutely divine!

[Darth Ruinus]

Congratulations!

Those bubbles do look great, and so the clothes. Hope you two have some good happiness together.

BTW, where was this wedding?

[Surlethe]

Congratulations! Welcome to the club!

No. I was feeling pretty strange on the two days prior to the wedding day though, a kind of alienated 'who is this woman and why am I marrying her?' feeling. Emotions are irrational like that.

Isn't it weird? It's almost like someone else is walking down the aisle. Did you also experience a moment of sheer terror right before you said the vows?

[Knife]

Congratulations! Welcome to the club!

No. I was feeling pretty strange on the two days prior to the wedding day though, a kind of alienated 'who is this woman and why am I marrying her?' feeling. Emotions are irrational like that.

Isn't it weird? It's almost like someone else is walking down the aisle. Did you also experience a moment of sheer terror right before you said the vows?

Not terror I think. Rather realization of the implications of the words you're about to speak. It was the weight of responsibility settling upon your shoulders I think.

[Starglider]

Here is a selection of photos from our honeymoon (post 1 of 2). Click on any of them for a larger version.

We started off by driving from Croydon to North Wales. We stopped for a picnic lunch in this valley, before camping near Bangor.



We packed my Audi Allroad full of stuff for the trip. It wouldn't have been feasible to take Leena's little Skoda Fabia. We took the fast catamaran car ferry from Hollyhead (north Wales) to Dun Laoghaire port (just south of Dublin).



We wandered around Dublin for the rest of the day. Unfortunately the Natural History museum was closed but we saw some other museums and landmarks, including Trinity College.



After a night in a Dublin hotel we drove down to Kilkenny, stopping at Dunmore Cave along the way.



Although relatively small, it was quite impressive, with a natural entrance, large caverns and very extensive flowstone formations.



At Kilkenny we couldn't go in the castle, as we hadn't booked, but I think the grounds were the best part anyway.



We camped at a farm near Kilkenny. Most of the camping gear was given as wedding presents; excepting the gas cylinder, which we got from a dubious looking depot in the middle of nowhere (central Wales). The salesman told us we could have the cylinder for free, no deposit - it had heavy surface corrosion but I was reasonably confident that it wasn't going to explode.



Most nights we watched a DVD on the laptop, in the tent or B&B room. The next day we drove over to Cashel, which had impressive ruins of ancient temples, devoted to a quaint religion called 'Catholicism'.



We carried on down winding country roads, through numerous small villages and up across low mountains to Nenagh, where Leena insisted on visiting a folk museum built out of a converted jail. Eventually we arrived in Portumna, at the top end of Lough Derg. It had another castle, piers into the lough that would've been very scenic if it had been sunny, and a fairly pleasant Bed & Breakfast.



Fortunately I'd brought some toys for rainy days.



The next day we went over to the west (Atlantic) coast, past Dunguaire Castle (in Kinvarra) to the coastal road, which wound its way along the cliffs.




We stopped at the Cliffs of Mohair. The visitor centre appeared to have been designed by hobbits. Frankly the 'wilder' sections of the coast were more impressive.

[Starglider]

Here is a selection of photos from our honeymoon (post 2 of 2). Click on any of them for a larger version.

We took a circular route back north, stopping at Aillwee Cave. Despite being much longer than Dunmore, it was nowhere near as impressive, with a man-made entrance and mostly tight featureless tunnels, with just the occasional high point such as the underground waterfall.



However there was a raptor centre at the same location, which was considerably more interesting. Leena got to fly an Eagle Owl.



Various other raptors featured in the flying demonstration.



We went on up to Galway but frankly there wasn't much to see, just a moderately quaint 'old town' area and some rusty modern art;



We continued up to Cong and camped despite the gale force winds. The tent held up but sadly the weather was too bad to visit the village's premier attraction, the mini-golf course (I was devestated, Leena was relieved). The next day we continued on up to Knock, where we discovered that the archaic 'Catholic' religion still had some living worshippers;



There was a so-called 'folk museum', which on closer inspection seemed to be a religious indoctrination centre - it was devoted entirely to the story of how some villagers had a mass hallucination during the potato famine and thus managed to save the town's economy by attracting hordes of pilgrims. The village's biggest claim to fame seemed to be that the 'pope', an Italian cleric of some sort, once gave a speech in the cathedral.

The shrine itself consisted of the back wall of an old church, which someone had built a giant conservatory around and filled with low quality plaster statues. We observed some kind of rite in progress, but a quick exit seemed advisable after I attempted to fill our camping reservoir with10 litres of holy water. This failure left Leena somewhat dissappointed; she had been intending to conduct a scientific experiment into the effects of blessed water on the taste of tea.



Finding warm food but little else of note in Sligo, we proceeded to Omagh, where both our primary and backup B&Bs turned out to be overbooked. We searched for further B&Bs, a trek which led us down increasingly narrow lanes to an abandoned farm. Eventually we gave up and drove to Cookstown, where we found a very impressive B&B converted from an old country manor house.



The next day we proceeded to the northern coast, starting with the beach at Portrush.



The weather was highly variable. We proceeded to Dunluce Castle and then to the Giant's Causeway.



The wind and the rain got severe as we ventured out onto the Causeway itself, but cleared up when we started climbing the cliffs beyond.



We camped near Ballymena that night and proceeded to Belfast in the morning. We visited the Transport Museum, but spent too long talking to my relatives to make it to the Folk Museum.



We were able to stay with some of my relatives for the very moderate cost of eight hours family talk. The next day we left Belfast and drove south, stopping at Armagh to observe more Catholicism-related ruins and then a remote lake for a picnic lunch.



We then visited a collection ancient tombs, originating from a superficially similar but somewhat older brand of supersition. One tomb had a fairly impressive reconstruction done on the facade; sadly we couldn't take photos inside the barrows themselves.



We stayed at a fairly luxurious hotel on the last night. I think Leena appreciated the free swimming and sauna.



Finally we took the fast catamaran ferry back to Wales. Thanks to widespread traffic problems, the drive home from Hollyhead took seven and a half hours, not including the two stops we made to drink tea and watch Stargate Atlantis episodes on the laptop.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Congratulations and Mazal Tov to you both!

You should try ot visit the Nat history museum on your way back, it's more fun than the one in London and it's very impressive (some awesome fossils/skeletons there).
The Portrush beach is pretty.
Looks like you visited some awesome castles and, temples you called them? interesting things . Have fun with the costumes and the rest of your honeymoon!