CEO Renewal Programme and Chaplain to the Queen Cllr Rev Canon Ann Easter loves weddings

Suddenly, I’m involved in several weddings – and I love it!

Attending as a guest or officiating as a priest, every time I’m thrilled all over again to see the dresses and the flowers and to hear those old familiar words, “I will”. And I always make sure that the congregation can hear them, loud and clear.

Each wedding is different and special, from the one I conducted with just the bride and groom and their two witnesses, to a recent one where there must have been at least 250 people in church – mind you, there was plenty of time for the congregation to arrive because the bride was almost an hour late.

I remember one when it was the groom who was late.

I sat in the limousine with the bride as she went through anger, despair and fear until, some 40 minutes after the wedding was due to begin, I came to the conclusion that the only thing left for her was prayer.

I prayed and the groom raced across the churchyard, his mother beside him trying to pin flowers to his jacket.

I leapt out of the car and directed him to his bride. He went down on one knee, begging her forgiveness (apparently he’d had to work).

She pointed to the church and said: “Just get in there, you ******!” and he did.

I often wondered how many times she reminded him of that day.

Nowadays, I know that a sizable percentage of the people who marry will split up and, of course, a number of those who come for marriage have had one attempt already – but they obviously think it’s worth trying again and so do I.