The Reception

Wednesday 5^th January (as 2011 begins to speed past).

We were all ushered into our tables by 6.30pm and not long after that the bride and groom walked in to loud applause. It's fun watching these two together in front of a crowd as Enda is right at home on stage and squarely in the limelight. He’s the bloke who at his stag weekend with the lads in Melbourne was dressed up in a low cut tight bright pink tutu in front of 90,000 people at the Flemington race track in the lead up to the Melbourne Cup. And he felt right at home. Enda is not a man who’s easily intimidated. Angela on the other hand can be somewhat shy and is much happier not being the centre of attention. There was no escaping it today. She was it!

We were seated at the Bondi Beach table right next to the Opera House and were joined by Kevin, Treasa & Mark (little Dylan was at home with the doting grandparents), Scottish Martin & his beautiful fiancé Siobhan, and Kieran as well as Martin McGinty’s finance together with her Mum. Martin was occupied as the MC of proceedings.  Lisloughrey Lodge is a special place. The service, the food, the rooms, the view and the atmosphere are all exceptional and the reception was no different. 

Once dinner food was served and before the dancing began it was time for the speeches.  Treasa came up with the suggestion that we each put in €5 & pick the length of time the speeches were going to take. Having been to a few weddings where the speeches drag on I opted for 42mins with Gene taking 24 minutes and others settling on various times in between.  As it turned out they lasted just under 28 minutes with Enda taking about 15 minutes, Marc as the best man coming in at 10 minutes, Enda’s Dad, Sean, taking 2 minutes and James, Angela’s eldest brother, taking exactly 55 seconds. James was short and very sweet in welcoming Enda to the Hegarty family and raising a glass to the bride & groom.  He’s so economical in his approach to public speaking that if voters knew how succinct he was, he’d be the new member for Mullingar come the March 2011 election. Sean was also very much to the point and welcomed Angela into the Stankard clan with a smile from ear to ear. 

The Groom and the Best Man then both gave us what we’d come for; speeches that were heartfelt, riotous and rollicking portrayals of Enda and Angela’s time together. In the meantime Siobhan won the bet & spent her winnings by shouting us all a shot of Bailey’s and Guinness. I had my first Guinness the night before and didn’t really feel like a Baby Guinness at the wedding, but these things, unavoidable for the past 30 years, caught up with me at the wedding: down the hatch it went & it felt none too flash.

By way of some recent history it’d taken Enda 13 years to propose to Angela and when he did, he did it in such a way that it was impossible for Ange to say no.  He booked out a room at the Shangri-la Hotel in Sydney’s Rocks district and after dinner back in the Executive Suite overlooking the Opera House and Bridge, he asked her to sit on the lounge then regaled her with a series of placards one after the other (a la one of life’s favourite films - Love Actually), imploring her to marry him while at the same time begging her not to open her mouth until he’d finished his proposal. The guy’s a true romantic. And she said yes.

Enda’s speech was straight from the heart with loads of laughs and lots of thought given to those who deserved special mention. And he told his bride that he loved her in front of his mates and family which made us all feel good. It was contagious. His best man, Marc, is a tall, handsome, athletic bloke married to Louise who as it happens is also gorgeous and smart and successful, just like her hubby. Marc is a quietly spoken, thoughtful sort of bloke who’s rediscovering his athletic prowess in Sydney in between tackling buses and rearranging his face on Sydney’s roads (with a little help from yours truly). He was nervous and seriously concerned that his speech wouldn’t do the event justice. And following Enda who is a natural on his feet, was always going to be a challenge.  That said he was brilliant. He spoke quietly. We all learned forward to hear what he was saying. He took the mickey out of Enda, marvelled at how he was able to catch a woman as beautiful and smart as Angela, and commented on his good looks and achievements, of which there are many.  It was a brilliant, heartfelt speech to a great mate and his mate’s new bride. Well done mate. You’re a surprise package and helped make the night what it was.  

I learned later that James was struggling with the flu and Mary Hegarty was not that well though you'd never know with these guys. They just kept going.

We finally got to bed at about 4.00am having left the reception at around 3.30am with the party still raging.  A day to remember. And day 3 of the wedding party was still ahead of us . . .