As Seen On TV!!
I can finally post about my appearance on E4′s Don’t Tell the Bride!
Filmed in April I’ve had to keep the secret until now!
Richard & Latrice tied the knot on a steam train down in Ongar, Essex.
The nervous groom and best man paid me a visit, a week into their planning to discuss their plans and I was well up for conducting a ceremony on a steam train,I mean who doesn't love a steam train ride?!
As a celebrant, it’s actually quite a challenge to write a ceremony for a couple, when only one person is party to the whole process, and that person is running around like a headless chicken!
Organising the flowers...didn’t he do well?
the transport...
the venue...
and all the other stuff going on behind the scenes...but rise to the challenge I did...
I took what details I could from him at our meeting and over the phone too, and managed to craft a ceremony for them that was personal and meaningful. With a rose exchange as well as vows that we devised between us...they made promises to each other that went backwards and forwards and involved quite a few tears from the emotional groom. I then ended the ceremony with an analogy...
Marriage is akin to being a steam train…
To keep your fires burning and the engine moving you do need to shovel coal into the firebox. Right now, your train is made up of just a couple of carriages, the two of you. It’s easy for the engine to pull, there is no excess baggage, you’re young and in love…The hills are easy to climb, and the stations are the gateways to adventure.
As you grow together and the track becomes more travelled, with luck multiple little carriages might well be added. The engine will have to work a little bit harder to pull the extra weight and you’ll have to work in unison to shovel that coal!
There might not always be time for a stop and an exploration at every new station; because as we all know, little carriages need care and attention, but never, ever forget to keep on stoking that fire.
For when you work in unison the train will chug along quite nicely. As long as the train is moving forward, it doesn’t matter the speed. The views will change; sometime sunny, sometimes cloudy…Sometimes the engine will labour under the weight of the carriages on the uphill stretches. But if you always remember to open that throttle when you crest the brow of the hill and let the momentum carry you forward, you’ll have the wind in your hair and your co-coal shoveller by your side enjoying the exact same ride!
I know the tv edits never show the ceremony in all of its glory, but I think it actually went rather well, and the feedback I received was fabulous.
The film crew rose to the challenge too... a very tight space to play with, we had to cram the guests in, the crew in, and of course yours truly!
During our planning meeting I did tell Richard he needed to sort out a good hen do...lol....he didn't listen, every groom in every episode cocks that bit up! Latrice, was less than impressed!!!
But he made up for it with his choice of dress, she looked stunning as she finally clapped eyes on him again after 3 weeks.
I think I was on the telly box for all of 30 seconds, it’s not about me after all...lol...but I can now put it on my website with pride....
AS SEEN (VERY BRIEFLY) ON TV!!!!
Now then....where’s the contract for my own tv series....(rolls on the floor wetting myself in mirth!)