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Never the best man It just seems that I've been to a lot of weddings in my life ... but never been a best man for anyone, and one day when trying to think of them all I decided that the easiest way to remember would be to list them all out and publish them here along with a photo of the happy couple. Bizarrely at a lot of them, I tend to remember the score of the Tottenham match being played at the time, because weddings are so often on a Saturday afternoon, aren't they? Scores for that wedding therefore highlighted in each instance. In the beginning Let's keep this simple but only going back to the 'serious' weddings, i.e. the ones I've been to where I wore my own suit, and not just ones that I got dragged along to as a child with my parents. I can only vaguely remember a few of those anyway, but I know there were some. So we start in ... 1987 Where my first 'proper' wedding that I went to was between my 1 cousin Simon and his (now) wife Caroline, and all I can vaguely remember is that it was somewhere in Croydon. I was 15, and my dad wouldn't let me drink any beer at the reception. Spoilsport.
So we're on four already and that's just some of my family. 1990 Then I got see my 5 Dad re-marry on the day before my 18th birthday in 1990. It got to midnight at the wedding reception and he decided to embarrass me by bringing me out a a surprise novelty-shaped birthday cake. At this point my girlfriend at the time got a massive strop on, and I found out the next day that it was because she too (and some of my friends) had also got me another novelty shaped birthday cake. Oh, and apparently this was all my fault. 1994 On a cold December day in 1994 I went to the wedding of a work colleage - 6 Adebisi Ogansunya, at an amazingly colourful and happy ceremony in a Church in Dulwich. 1995 I went to the evening reception only (hey, it still counts!) of my work colleague 7 Jason, up in Watford one Saturday evening. I remember arriving late, getting to talk to him for about two minutes and then leaving early! 1996 The 'wedding a year' task which I seem to now be embroiled in, all kicked off in 1996, when I went down to Plymouth for the weekend to see my then landlady 8 Caroline get married to her latest flame, Richard. It lasted less than a year I seem to recall. I also went to evening reception (hey that still counts) of my work colleage 9 Jason who married his wife Deborah up in Watford. I can also remember going to two evening events in 1996 that were friends of my girlfriend at the time, but sadly for 10 and 11 I can't actually remember their names .. oops! I definitely went though, honest, albeit they just 'evening' occasions - one of which was in Dulwich, at the old college building I seem to recall. I also went to another weddding of friends 12 (Clare & Yomi) of the same girlfriend at the time that we also went to. 1997
They were shortly followed by 14 Adrian & Sarah on June 28th, the same days as Sarahs birthday - making their wedding anniversary easy to remember. [ Out of season ] 1998 Another evening reception followed for 15 Karen Martell, sister to my old school friend Peter (who's wedding is listed later below) in February of this year
Tottenham weren't playing that day, but it was FA Final day, and they laid on a TV screen for us so that some of us did catch a bit of Arsenal beating Newcastle 2-0.
1999 In September of 1999 my friend 17 Richard married Caroline - the stag do was in Amsterdam - say no more! Spookily enough, they also split with a year - the same as my landlady had done back in 1996 - another 'Caroline and Richard'. Suffice to say that if I ever I get invited to another wedding with these two names again, I'm going to think twice about going. [ Wimbledon 1, Tottenham 1 ]
Were there more weddings than usual in the new millennium year? The theory was going round that it would of course me a memorable year to get married in, and so it proved that I went to the most weddings in the year 2000 than any other. Ok, maybe it just happened to be the year when a lot of people I knew hit that 'wedding' phase of their lives - either way, I still increased my wedding tally significantly.
[ Tottenham 1, West Ham 0 ] in the summer I went to a wedding of their (Chris & Sheila's) friends - 21 Anita & Ian.
[ Tottenham 3, Leicester 0, a Les Ferdinand hat-trick, I seem to recall ]
This year brought the wedding of 23 Richard & Nicki in May, where I was an usher for the day, and also ran a sweepstake (£1 a go, £43 to the the nearest time) on how long the best mans speech would be. They since made me godfather to their son Joseph.
In July of that hear my mate 24 Dave (from the TubeChallenge!) got married to Nheke in Guildford. [ Out of season ]
I bought my first digital camera just before this and their wedding weekend is where I first took many of my photos. [ Tottenham 2, Middlesborough 1 ]
The reception was at a posh country club somewhere, which when I snuck into the memeber part of it only to watch the results come in on the TV, I got told off by one of the regulars for using my mobile phone, as they had a 'no mobile' policy! Love it.
In this year I then saw 27 my sister marry her long term bloke - Rob - down in Brighton. [ Tottenham 1, Liverpool 0 ]
They also made me an usher for the day, and I repaid their trust in me by stepping Katie's sisters foot and crushing her toes ... one of the bridesmaids. Oops! [ Tottenham 1, Aston Villa 0 ]
My 29 mum got re-married to Jon in May of this year. This was shortly followed by 30 fellow Spurs supporter Mark (and brother of Richard - wedding number 9 above) get married to his lovely wife Ilkay. [ Both out of season ]
[ Out of season ]
Whilst on holiday in South Africa in February of this year, 32 I went to the wedding of David and Angie in Durban. [ Tottenham 4, Portsmouth 3 ]
Likewise, another 'evening' do I went to was that of Rosetta Ramos 34 a colleague from work who married James.
First of this year was 35 James and Phillipa, who got married on a Friday (so no football scores to have to worry about, mid-dinner) in the lovely Buckinghamshire village of Jordans.
Spurs played Arsenal at home this day, and for the first time instead of getting text updates from friends, I used by browser on my phone to get the scores. I also got to play at being bus conductor for the day. Woohoo! [Blog entry here] [ Tottenham 1, Arsenal 1 ]
Friday weddings are strange because you feel like it's a Saturday and you party all night .. go home, get up .. and it's still (in effect) Saturday!
My first 'proper' wedding I attended since moving to the USA was that of 38 Maggie Brett and Hunter Kennedy on October 21st, in Charleston - South Carolina. I say 'proper' wedding, as I'd been to six other weddings that summer already - but ones where I was working as the photographers assistant. Tottenham played West Ham the next day and we won. [Tottenham 1, West Ham 0]
2007
My blog post from my Floria experience is here
[Fulham 3, Tottenham 3]
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I've
been to a lot of weddings ... 
More
cousins got married in the following couple of years - 
1997
brought the first of my close bunch of friends to tie the knot. And once
one couple had done it, it seemed that everyone else followed. So 
Come
May, and I saw 
On
a rainy May day in Middlesborough I witnessed 
In
September of 2000, was the turn of friends 
2001
Then
in October I was very fortunate to be invited to 
Wedding
number 
2002
2003
Then,
I saw 
In
March of 2004, I went along to the evening part of 
2005
Second
of this 
My
friend 
2006
I
then went to St. Petersburg in Florida on June 23rd 2007 to see 
I
popped back to the UK on the 1st September 2007 for the wedding of 