Twenty-two years ago today...

I have a confession. Mr Squidge and I are very bad at marking our wedding anniversaries. I think the premise was set when he forgot it - after the first year. And I always have to stop and think whether it's the 23rd of 1992 or 22nd of 1993: it's the latter.

We rarely buy cards, and don't bother with presents. We work on the theory that if we can't show we love each other the rest of the year, why make a big deal of just one day in our marriage? But that's just us - and on the occasions where cards and presents have been involved, it's rather lovely.

So, twenty two years. Long time.

There was a rainbow theme to the day, even though my dress had an oyster and shell-pink bodice, my sister (bridesmaid) was in deep rose pink, and both our bouquets had pink flowers.

Rainbow balloons outside the house

There were rainbows on the cake, although it didn't look quite how I'd imagined it would. It was traditional that my Grandma made all our wedding cakes - proper fruit cake, not a sponge in sight - and we kept a layer for J's christening cake. (It still tasted as good six years later.) The mistake occurred because I wrote instructions for the decorator that I would like a rainbow down the cake (ie red and orange on the top, green and yellow in the middle and blue and purple on the bottom) but if it didn't look right, please could I have a mix of rainbow colours on each tier.

I ended up with both...

Spot the mistake...

We had a white Morris Minor convertible as our wedding car. Mr Squidge had owned a Moggy Traveller since his second year at uni, (it's still on the road now!) but it wasn't in very good nick at the time. So we trawled the pages of the Morris Minor Owners magazine to find someone close to us who was willing to let us borrow their car (and themselves as the chauffeur!) for the afternoon. I now have a silver Moggy on my charm bracelet to mark our wedding...

Morris Minors featured a lot. The priest who married us gave a wonderful sermon about marriage, based on them; he also owned a Moggy, albeit a rather clapped out black (or navy blue) one. He admitted to the congregation that he had ditched his pre-prepared sermon and instead, made a comparison between the two vehicles - said that's what marriage is like; it needs constant maintenance to keep it looking good. 

Mum and H setting off for church

I remember it rained just before I was due to drive off with Dad. He was so cross, because it meant we'd have to have the top up. Fortunately it was just a shower, and Dad got to ride up the hill to church in the Moggy with the top down, looking like a cat that'd got the cream. And my veil stayed on too, which had been a bit of a concern...

And here we are. Don't we look young? Hard to believe we looked like this - I'm now grey and Mr Squidge is somewhat grizzled - but we were so happy. Still are.

Mr and Mrs Squidge, 22nd May 1993

Looks perfect, doesn't it? But as Revd Day said on the Big Day itself, marriage takes work.

It's not all kisses and roses. It's putting the bins out and washing socks and mowing lawns and sacrificing a lot when you grow from two to a family. It's supporting each other when times are tough or when you have a mad-cap idea, like...oooh...I dunno... putting up a wind turbine or self-publishing a book, perhaps? It's about disagreements and finding a way beyond them. It's about respect and love and saying sorry. Most importantly, I think it's about helping each other to be the best you can be.

Happy Anniversary, Mr Squidge.
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