Carlowrie Castle it transpires is about half an hour down the road for and yet I have not conducted a wedding here before. Must be a new venue! Anyhoo, Ruth and Dan live in London so all the initial contact was on Skype although we did eventually meet face-to-face when the two of them ventured north in May.

Theirs was a classic wedding with the odd twist. Dan’s sister Victoria started the proceedings by reading the delightful W H Auden classic “Foxtrot To A Wedding”:

The soldier loves his rifle,


The scholar loves his books,


The farmer loves his horses,


The film star loves her looks.


There’s love the whole world over


Wherever you may be;


Some lose their rest for gay Mae West,


But you’re my cup of tea.


Some talk of Alexander


And some of Fred Astaire,


Some like their heroes hairy


Some like them debonair,


Some prefer a curate


And some an A.D.C.,


Some like a tough to treat’em rough,


But you’re my cup of tea.

 

Some are mad on Airedales


And some on Pekinese,


On tabby cats or parrots


Or guinea pigs or geese.


There are patients in asylums


Who think that they’re a tree;


I had an ant who loved a plant,


But you’re my cup of tea.

 

Some have sagging waistlines


And some a bulbous nose


And some a floating kidney


And some have hammer toes,


Some have tennis elbow


And some have housemaid’s knee,


And some I know have got B.O.,


But you’re my cup of tea.

The blackbird loves the earthworm,


The adder loves the sun,


The polar bear an iceberg,


The elephant a bun,


The trout enjoys the river,


The whale enjoys the sea,


And dogs love most an old lamp-post,


But you’re my cup of tea.

Don’t you just love that? I had all but forgotten it but Victoria absolutely nailed it on the day.

The twist came at the Quaich ceremony where, instead of the more usual whisky being poured into the Quaich, Ruth and Dan shared a gin and tonic. Well, why not?