The special day

Dear all,

Apologies for not having written earlier – it’s been non-stop in the Copeman Household since the wedding with school carrying on at a thousand miles an hour and other plans in the works. Needless to say we’re in need of ANOTHER holiday! Only five weeks until the Christmas break now.

Anyway, we thought our dear friends back home might want to catch a glimpse of our special week in Italy. Apologies to those who don’t, and extra apologies for not having more personalised e-mails. The time will come, I promise….

PREAMBLE (skip if you’re too lazy or have a problem with multiple paragraphs in one reading)

Now, to say we had the time of our lives would be both predictable and glaringly obvious – but there, I’ve gone and said it! Everything went perfectly… lets have a brief run down…

We arrived in Pisa on Saturday, Mums in tow, and after working out how the heck to navigate my way around a Chrysler Voyager (upgrade thankyou very much!) we found the villa near San Donato that would be our home for the next week.

Villa is a bit misleading. In reality, we were staying in an apartment on the ground floor of a villa that was occupied by the wonderful Federica, our landlady for the week. She was fantastic, and her and Zoe, her daughter, made us feel so warm and welcome in their part of the world. Now, I hope nobody is getting any hifalutin ideas about Scott and Lou splurging out on some grandiose Tuscan monstrosity with pool, cable and butler – we are still teachers you know – our apartment was firmly classified as ‘rustic’ and ‘authentic’ – boil the kettle on the stove and sans-dishwasher – exactly our style and perfect for the week.

When the sun arrived the next morning, it finally sank in where we were. Although we’d visited in the summer to check the place out and make sure we weren’t in for any rude surprises, the Mums (sounds like a team from the Amazing Race….) I think were suitably impressed with our little piece of the Chianti Hills. Surrounded by olive groves and vines and graced by the constant presence of Federica’s cats, idyllic doesn’t begin to describe it. I couldn’t have cared if there was no fridge or shower – it was beautiful.

We spent Sunday enjoying the area with some walks around to nearby villages and a day in Firenze mainly for Lou and I to attend a meeting at the Marriage Office, but a good chance for the Mums to cut their Italian teeth before they would head off on their grand tour of Italy on Thursday – easy actually, as Mary’s Italian made Lou and I look like beginners – well, made ME look like a beginner. (NB. We are currently in the POST-beginners class, so nyah.)

Marriage Office, 10.00am, Firenze, Monday morning. We had an appointment. We were there. We were told that the Marriage Office is closed. Great. It begins.

We insisted. Appointment. 10.00am. Definitely. The bloke at reception made a phone call, and then ushered us through the doors, where the FULLY FUNCTIONAL AND FULLY STAFFED MARRIAGE OFFICE WAS OPEN. Where are the cameras? This must be being filmed for TV… We sheepishly wandered through to Marriage Office and began to try and explain why we were here to one of the staff – whom we identified as someone we had been e-mailing daily for the past week to make sure everything was in order. Now, these e-mails had been exchanged in competent English. Everything was understood. Imagine our reaction when this woman not only refused to engage with us in English, but looked at us blankly when we told her who we were and why we were here. Talk about an adrenaline rush… she chastised us for not bringing a translator (which she told us in the e-mail we wouldn’t need for this meeting ‘cos Lou’s Italian was good enough) and generally made us feel like crying! Thankfully, another translator who was dropping off some documents came to the rescue and briefly translated a thing or two. The penny dropped for everyone when Louise saw a manilla folder lying on the desk RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE WOMAN with our names on it, and pointed to it whilst saying ‘That’s us! That’s us!’ Light bulbs around the world flickered on and it was all smiles after that. Everything was in order. Not just in order – documents we’d brought in full knowledge that they needed to be seen and examined were not even sighted! ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! This was supposed to be easy!!!

(NB – events in the previous paragraph may have been exaggerated somewhat for dramatic effect)

Anyway, all we had to do now was turn up on Wednesday and get hitched. We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting Filipepe, the restaurant where we’d eat after the nuptials, and then met Cat, Carmel (Cat’s mum) and our pal Marco, at whose B&B Cat and Carmel were staying, at Cambi for the world-famous Bistecca Fiorentina. (See previous e-mail re: Florence to witness this truly lovely hunk o’ meat.)

WEDNESDAY 22nd October 2008

Having conquered the Italian bureaucracy (And felt pretty good about it!), ordered a lovely wee poesy for Lou to nurse, and approved the wine list at Filipepe, the only other variable in the wedding quadratic equation was the weather…. hmmmm

Tuesday afternoon – Lou, Scott and Mary decide to go for a stroll. It’s been overcast for the past few days, but as we head into the valley and up the hill, the clouds start to look ANGRY. They RUMBLE. They are BLACK. Yucky. Looks like rain. Although we’d invested in a perfectly tacky frescoed umbrella from a stall on the Ponte Vecchio just in case, we didn’t REALLY want it to rain on Wednesday. Actually, to be honest, we knew it was out of our hands, so we weren’t bothered. I was slightly bothered about returning to the villa on Tuesday afternoon drenched to the bone however…. (didn’t happen.)

But, having read the script, the weather turned on a STUNNER for us on Wednesday – clear, sparkling skies and beautiful sunshine. Lou was a little disappointed she didn’t need to use the umbrella…

We enjoyed a relaxing morning – Lubi and Mary helped Lou look absolutely stunning (not that she needed help, but you know…) and Scott gave it his best shot. (He even SHAVED!) We enjoyed some champers and the photographers arrived right on time to take some piccies of the villa and then in San Donato (don’t get those ones til December….) and then it was off to Firenze with Max, our driver, whom we graciously thanked for the good weather.

We met Cat, Kat & Allan and Helen & Andrew (our Scottish friends) (not Cat, obviously) at the Palazzo Vecchio, and picked up Lou’s lovely bouquet which was a perfectly named bunch of Marrakech roses – our honeymoon was in Marrakech! Before long we were all nervous tinkles and lining up outside the Sala Rosso waiting for our turn – didn’t we feel overdressed when the couple getting married ahead of us left in jeans and hoodies! NO!!! We did not!

I think everyone’s collective breath was held when we saw the room for the first time – a stunning Renaissance-inspired chamber of deep red, beautiful tapestries and mirrors that recklessly danced that line between kitsch and genuinely beautiful – certainly surreal and intoxicating. We took our places and waited for Lou to stride in and then the service began. In all honesty, all the ceremony involved was the mayor’s representative reading out sections of the Italian law pertinent to marriage and starting a family which were then translated by Marta, our beautiful assistant, and then the ‘I do’ utterances – although I think I threw a few people when I splurted out ‘Si’ instead of ‘Yes’. I’m sure everyone knew what I meant! (NB – I don’t think I said it in the El-Guapo-like ‘Si! Gelato! Vespa!’ context, although I can’t be sure….)

After the formalities, we were allowed to exchange our rings and vows which isn’t traditionally part of a civil service, but of course happens all the time. (You’ll have to wait for the director’s cut to see the vows!) Aside from our wedding certificate, we were also presented with a beautiful pure silver plaque from the City of Firenze celebrating our wedding. We felt like we’d won a medal! (Only silver, we know…..)

It was beautiful. We eventually stumbled downstairs and into the square below where Lou and I set off with the paparazzi Angelo and Ricardo for a fun meander through Firenze whilst the others enjoyed an espresso (Lubi a gelato!) and made their way (somehow….) to Filipepe for lunch. Lou and I had a brilliant time with Angelo and Ricardo – we can’t wait to see the photos, which will probably include some with a human statue (you know, the spray-painted guys who don’t move a muscle) and a group of school kids.

Lunch was something else – it was kind of novel (and fantastic) to be able to order different dishes at a wedding! Even better, it meant we all got to try some really delicious food – our favourite was undoubtedly Il Piccione (wood pigeon… mmmmm….) but we enjoyed a fantastic afternoon eating, chatting, and listening to Lubi and Mary say a few words and pass on wishes from some friends. As always, Lubi’s poem brought the house down! (Again, you’ll have to wait for the DVD!)

We were back at the villa before long, to be greeted by a red carpet and some beautiful flowers from Zoe! The evening was lost amidst chat, vino and a remarkably early night!

EPILOGUE

The next morning we were up early to take the Mums to the station – they were off to Rome for their Italian tour (which by all accounts was about as frenetic as the Amazing Race!) and Lou and I got to try to sort out how to legalise the wedding certificate (you’d think it came legalised, but no, those Italians had one more surprise for us!) and then welcome Kat and Allan to stay the last two nights with us at the villa. We took the chance to explore San Gimignano as well as a few other towns not too far away, and to be honest, just unwind and take it all in. The week had been glorious, and even felt like longer than a week – not often that happens when we go away! But the memories of our time in San Donato and Firenze will last forever, no doubt about it.

Married life is exactly the same as pre-married life, only we don’t have a wedding to plan. I do, however (much to Cat’s jealousy) have a visa and some vaccinations to get in order before I’m off to Mali at the end of the year for the Festival in the Desert (looks AWESOME Cat…. Ali Farke Toure’s son is playing…) and hear is a brief list of happenings both recent and yet to happen:

Louise and Scott were paid a visit by Cat in Edinburgh. Had a lovely time. She cooked for us! Scott amazed Lou let someone in the kitchen.

Mary returned from Italy to spend a lovely few days with us before heading off to Turkey and Greece. Welcome home Mary – this e-mail will be waiting for you! Looking forward to your photos!

Scott has camera-envy of Mary’s camera.

Scott has joined Edinburgh Singers and is finally singing with a choir again!

Louise and Scott are attending Italian lessons on a Tuesday afternoon. It’s fun, especially when the tutor suggests we bring antipasto and ‘nibbles’ so she can bring the aperitifs.

Louise and Scott have caught up with good friends Jason and Heidi who are visiting from Melbourne.

Louise and Scott have booked tickets and accommodation to New York in February 09!

It didn’t cross Louise or Scott’s minds that it would be Valentine’s Day when they were in New York in February.

Scott came off his bike when riding with some students on Friday in the forest near Glentress. Hurts. Pride more than body.

Next visit to Australia is TBC, but will either be Christmas 09 or Easter 0-ten.

Louise and Scott miss everyone lots and look forward to hearing from you all sometime soon. Invitation to visit stands!