Celebrating the Royal Wedding in Style

It was kind of hard to miss that a royal wedding was being planned with all the non-stop press coverage for the weeks and months leading up to the big day.  Many of my co-workers were following the news specials and festivities and suggested we have a Royal Wedding party in the office.  

It was a simple plan.  All the ladies would sport colorful headgear in homage to British hats.  We'd have theme-appropriate snacks and then all we needed was a TV.  Check, check and check!  And, to our good fortune, being in Germany and all, the wedding happened right around lunch time.  So don't worry...your tax dollars weren't too terribly wasted this day!

And truth be told, it has been a long, busy, sometimes stressful few months for our office.  The United States being part of the coalition to enforce UNSCR 1973 in Libya was certainly no small part of it.  So, honestly, the chance for us to be a bit silly, dress up and watch something totally unrelated to our actual jobs, while at work, was a welcomed diversion and just plain ole fun!  And not in any effort to make you feel bad for us but we NEVER do stuff like this during the work day.  So I think a little fun was in order after the 2011 we've had so far!

Here's Nancy and Amanda sporting their festive head gear and their color-coordinating jewel rings.

Danielle and Rob sported hats.

For the party I tried my hand at making scones for the first time in my life.  I made one kind the day before to get everyone in the mood and then I made two other kinds for the wedding day.  Nancy made little cheesecakes and a cake (for what is a wedding without cake?), and Diane made bonafide English Tea Cakes using a recipe from a family friend who lives in England.  They were delicious!  I ate about five.  And that reminds me, I still need to get the recipe from her.

Our buffet table tricked out with jewels, crowns and celebratory china

Talk about creativity - see how Nancy made the British flag with berries!

Honorary china for the occasion

Most of us gathered in the Command Information room, which is our largest office, to watch the wedding.

Watching the Queen arrive at the church and the future queen leaving the hotel.

Even while trying to take a group picture, some folks still couldn't take their eyes off the TV. 

I think someone had just said 'There's the Prince!'

And only half serious, the men in the office were THRILLED!

Steven's face says it all

Actually Ken, who is standing next to Steven in the picture above, was sporting a commemorative tie pin for the wedding that he bought in Westminster Abbey the week before the wedding.  He was in England on vacation with his family.  That's the spirit! 

Loved the bright colors everyone wore - looks like Spring

Amanda and I sporting our tiaras

Totally unrelated topic, in the picture above, to the left of Amanda's head, you can see a picture of Tom and me taken at a Halloween party thrown by one of my co-workers and his wife.  (You can see them in their costumes to the right of me - the devil and the (very pregnant) angel.)  I was a desperate housewife, Peg Bundy wannabe, and Tom was my pool boy, a la 80s southern rock style.  I think we pulled it off.

And speaking of my honey, one of my favorite parts of the Royal Wedding was the message given by the Bishop of London.  I liked it so much that I went searching for it online.  Loved what he said about marriage:

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” So said St Catherine of Siena whose festival day it is today. Marriage is intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God meant each one to be, their deepest and truest selves.

...

In a sense every wedding is a royal wedding with the bride and the groom as king and queen of creation, making a new life together so that life can flow through them into the future.

William and Catherine, you have chosen to be married in the sight of a generous God who so loved the world that he gave himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

And in the Spirit of this generous God, husband and wife are to give themselves to each another.

A spiritual life grows as love finds its centre beyond ourselves. Faithful and committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life in which we discover this; the more we give of self, the richer we become in soul; the more we go beyond ourselves in love, the more we become our true selves and our spiritual beauty is more fully revealed. In marriage we are seeking to bring one another into fuller life.

It is of course very hard to wean ourselves away from self-centerdness. And people can dream of doing such a thing but the hope should be fulfilled it is necessary a solemn decision that, whatever the difficulties, we are committed to the way of generous love.

 
Amen!