God wasn't there, but the Irish were

As promised, the possibly surprising blog.

I got married.

One of the reasons I came over to the UK was Sharla, who was, then, studying for a PhD in Cork. Actually the research was in microbiol, not Cork, but I gave up trying to write that sentence in a grammatically correct form. We'd known each other for some time in NZ, and when her PhD went south she moved in with me here. So following much planning - actually there was, there's like a 3 month notice period, and one hurried night of beer and internet (for bookings) we ended up in Cork a week ago with wedding party (the A-team, and Craig - or Wes) in tow.

Cork is kinda pretty, and kinda depressing. Sharla took me to Kinsale, an old fishing village, which was lovely - if designed for tourists. Found a nice pub tho'. And the food in Cork is superb, as was the coffee. Even a crappy bagel place had good coffee.
Met Jana at the Franciscan Well Brewery (yeah crap website), which has superb beer. The stout in particular was excellent, to the point the next morning was 'subdued'.
Next evening the A-Team had arrived so the four of us went for dinner (tapas), and drinking. Including finding the Munster rugby clubs pub, which was fun. Continual choruses of Sweet Caroline, or rather continued 'Sweet Caroline, da da dah, good times never seemed so good...mumble...pause...[repeat]', with rugby players dozing quietly on the tables. Remember, this was Thursday night.

Friday dawned, Craig arrived (no, you don't want to know what time he got up -respect dude), Sharla meandered off to get hair/make-up done. The rest of us went on a tiki-tour of Cork, this involved coffee (extensively), and preventing Alex from dragging us to the pub. Highlight was finding a shop that sold paint, and fishing gear.
Quick change, then we got married. As you've probably guessed, it was very relaxed - I can't be arsed doing stressed any more, except while supporting Wellington rugby.
Service excluded god, for obvious reasons, and was captured for posterity by Craig (see below for some pix). The chick running it was also the one we'd gone to see on Thursday morning to organise stuff, where I was mostly well behaved...
Picked up the marriage certificates and headed to the pub, then lunch. Then pub. And dinner. And pub.
I like the pubs in Cork.
So yes, I'm now married. This is a good thing, I'm happy.

Some pictures.

 The wedding party, from left: Alex, Sharla, me, Andrew (you'll note both Andrew and I are clean shaven). The vows picture is the top one of the blog - see a red haired Irish chick - take me down to the cliche city...actually she was lovely, so I apologise for that :)
Rings, you'll also note I managed to escape wearing any form of tie/bowtie/cravat whatever. Result.
And signing by Sharla.

So yes, there ya go.

Love, B and S.