A Wedding: Scottish Style

I was fortunate enough to be able to go to my first Scottish wedding this past Friday. It was of Pip and Alec that I took photos of on Saturday. Mark was bummed he had a NT conference on campus to attend so he was unable to join me for the festivities. And I had some girl friends unable to go as well, so this post is as much for them as the rest of you :) We've all been wondering how a Scottish wedding compared to an American one. And while I do realize that even amongst American weddings there is diversity, and assume the same is true of Scottish ones, I thought I'd still share what I observed as different in this particular Scottish wedding compared to the multiple American ones I've attended.

For starters, it poured all day the day before. Like for over 24 hours it just kept coming down hard and steady. Things were flooding, roads were closing, train lines stopped. I kept waiting for Noah and his ark to go floating by. I think everyone participating in the wedding must have been praying overtime, because around 20-30 minutes before the wedding the sun came out!! It was so great to see again and that way the bride didn't have to get drenched going into the wedding.

In Scotland many more weddings are conducted on Friday's. Often on summer Friday afternoon's on campus there are weddings taking place at the chapel. I'm unsure why this is such a popular time to get married, but it is. All I can figure is that everyone gets plenty of days off work so it isn't such a big deal for all of your guests to take a day off to participate in your wedding activities.

There was, of course, the traditional piper (bag piper, that is) outside the church playing signaling to all wedding was about to start. Sorry, no photo. Couldn't bring myself to be a tourist this time.

  

Another thing you would notice quickly at most weddings here are the hats. Many women, especially the, er, more mature generations, would be wearing hats. At this wedding there weren't too many worn, but some of the weddings I've seen on campus have had nearly all ladies in hats. 

They did have the bride side and groom side, but the ushers didn't properly escort anyone to their seats. Just more of a "go find your own seat" approach. I noticed that even when the bride's mother went down the aisle no one really escorted her. There was an usher with her, but he just walked behind her. 

The dad still escorts the bride into the ceremony, and the groom with groomsmen were waiting at the end of the aisle. However, the bridesmaids and then the minister followed the bride in! (You can just see the bride's sister and maid-of-honor in the back of this photo.) Isn't Pip beautiful?! Her dress was amazing and I'm not sure if I've ever liked a wedding dress quite as much as I liked hers. Might have even liked it more than my own (which I loved). But I digress. There were no ringbearers or flower girls. Not sure if this is standard or just this particular wedding.

Another thing that caught my attention was how there were two groomsman (his brothers) and 3 bridesmaids, but the other two bridesmaids didn't actually stand up during the ceremony (just her sister). (Note large purple hat on bottom right.) Also, decorations much more simple. One large arrangement at front of church and then small arrangements hanging from the columns on either side of the stage (though not sure they are pictured in any of these photos.)

As for the ceremony. It was definitely a worship service, which was great. Lots of singing which I have seen at some US weddings. The thing I found most interesting was how quickly into the hour or so wedding they were pronounced man and wife and got to kiss. There was the giving away of the bride, a song, Scripture reading, and then the exchange of the vows and rings (which the minister [his dad] had and gave to them), the kiss and lots of people taking pictures. Then we kept singing. Then there was a charge or sermonette from the other minister [our church minister, he's pictured above]. During this charge the couple, as well as their attendents, sat down. I liked that idea as usually everyone gets tired of standing and this keeps anyone from wanting to faint. I wish we had done this! It is probably easier to listen and concentrate on what is actually being said. Then again, that might be why everyone gets videos to watch later :)

After more singing the couple, their attendents, and the ministers went to the back room to sign the marriage register while everyone else stayed put and listened to two songs sung by a duet. It felt kind of weird not to have the couple there for so long. Finally they came back, think we sang one last song and had a prayer, and then they got to go down the aisle. Slightly anti-climactic (in my opinion) but joyous nonetheless as you will see below.

Below is my personal favorite photo of the day for it's artistic quality. It paid to be on the back row and have the glass window looking into the vestibule at my disposal. Despite the sunny look, it was drizzling again at this point. In the words of another guest, the day was very "changeable." I love that Scottish description of the run/sun/run/sun/rain/sun pattern on many days here. It embodies the "you can never be quite sure what will be happening in the next moment weather-wise" reality.

I think they were scheduled to do photos outside, but because of the drizzle kept them inside. Seemed very typical. Bride/groom ones, family ones, wedding party ones. Do you see that dress? Lovely. And while we are on clothing, yes it is very traditional and typical of the gentlemen to be in kilts (wearing the tarten plaid/colors of one side of their family) with those socks/shoes and a tux-like suitcoat. Oh, and wearing the traditional sporran which is possibly the Scottish version of a "murse." Awesome. I also noted that the men's lapels were unopened thistles, which is the Scottish flower/national emblem.

And wedding party ones.

Just to give you a better idea of the kilts. Mark was disappointed Alec wasn't wearing a dagger in his sock like you sometime see. This also is a good place to mention other men (other than the groom) at weddings will be in kilts (again sporting their personal family tarten, though at times maybe they just have whatever pattern they like most). Definitely the wedding party men, male musicians and many other male guests who are Scottish.

I was sad that I never got a chance to say congrats to the couple afterwards, but the tea/coffee/sandwiches/cakes (which means, sweet baked goods, not THE cake) reception through the "hall" was jam packed. Plus I think they were still taking photos and maybe even braved a few outside at some point.

The partying would have continued later in the evening with many of the guests attending a ceilidh. Maybe even a dinner? To read more about another friend's wedding experience (though more just the reception experience since she says that usually only family and close friends attend the actual wedding ceremony. I think that because this was a Christian wedding maybe it was different?) go here.

So think that is it. All in all, it really wasn't too different than what I've experienced at American weddings. I'm thankful Pip and Alec invited the entire church to attend their ceremony so that I could celebrate with them, but also gain another cultural experience.

You Know You've Adapted to Aberdeen if....Part Two

So today is our 2 year anniversary of arriving in Aberdeen. In some ways it feels every bit of the two years. In other ways, it feels much shorter. In honor of said occasion, I thought it only appropriate to bring to you the sequal to last year's one year anniversary post. So here they are in no particular order:

You know you've adapted to Aberdeen if.......

1. You actually go out of the house without a coat more often! (I must be finally becoming more Scottish and used to the cooler air. That or it has indeed been warmer this year.)

2. The US date structure of mm/dd/yy looks odd to you and you've come to prefer the dd/mm/yy UK version. (It's honestly challenging to think of the date in US style any more. It took a while for this one to come, but now that it is here, it is pretty engrained in me. Except for our birthdays, I still think both sound better in the US version.)

3. More Scottish phrases/words/sentence structures have worked their way unknowingly into your vocabulary. (I was shocked nearly 2 weeks ago when I was talking to some American friends and I phrased something in a very Scottish way unintentionally. After I said it I looked at them and said "Wow, that was really Scottish. I would never have said it like that in the US.)

4. Related to the above: You can't even always remember how it would be said in the US because you are so used to hearing it said another way. (This scares me as I think about going back to the US!)

5. You've come to greatly appreciate the fresh air and actually look forward to opening your windows to let that air circulate.

6. Roundabouts are your friend.

7. It doesn't scare you nearly as much to play chicken with another car in the middle of the road that is only one and a half lanes wide.

8. "Wee" has replaced "little" in your vocabulary.

9. The seagulls finally annoy you nearly as much as they annoy the locals. (See last year's post at the bottom. Though, there is one exception -- when they are soaring in the wind.)

10. You can understand an increasing amount of doric conversation. You can even sometimes speak a little.

11. You forget at times that you live overseas because things are so familiar and comfortable to you. (It's nice that this has happened in some areas of life. Too bad it's not in all areas.)

This is more of a "You Know You've Lived in Aberdeen Too Long if..."

You get pretty excited when you go to someone's house and they have a real TV with real channels and you get to watch it (i.e. you aren't watching a "film" or show on your laptop).

How you know you've got more adapting to do:

1. You do not at all care for the lack of using "cups" in recipes.

2. The sides and backs of food packaging with various values and percentages still means nothing to you because it is all in grams and litres, and uses different words, like "energy" and "kilojoules." (What the stink are kilojoules?!)

3. The weather still amazes you. (How in the world can it change so quickly! In the blink of an eye?!)

***For further cultural musings and probably more entertainment, visit our friend's blog whose one year anniversary of arriving was yesterday.

Photographer for a Day!

Yesterday I got a taste of what it might be like to be a photographer for a day. I kinda liked it :) Every year our university holds an Open Day, like a preview day other institutions hold. Not sure how many visitors actually came, but we were expecting somewhere near 5,000 and we might have exceeded that. So this is a huge event. When my co-woker who is in charge of the Open Day asked us all what we'd like to do to help, I threw out there "be the photographer," not really knowing if the marketing team I work with would go for it. But, they did! So after some of my usual secretarial duties were completed I pounded the pavement with my camera and bag. For two hours I stalked visitors and my colleagues (yah, they probably won't be big fans of that!) with my camera. I'm not sure that I got any super-fantastic shots worthy of being reproduced anywhere, but even if we don't use any of them, it was a wonderful experience and I'd like to think I learned a lot. Here's a shot I took yesterday just for me :) I found the bobbies also pounding the pavement with our huge promotional banner (that's beyond just banner, let's say billboard) in the background.

Since I had the camera in tow and it was a phenomenal fall day (yes, it is already beginning to feel/look like fall -- boo!), I thought I'd cross another thing off of my "to-do-before-leaving-Aberdeen" list. And that was take photos of the gi-normous hydrangea bushes. Here are two of my favorites I pass while walking to work.

Do you see how full these things are?!

And, then I saw these lovely orange flowers that I've been noticing everywhere lately. They seem like some type of lily but I'm unsure what they actually are. I loved this old rusted fence.

And why let the photography stop when I was home? Here is the progress on the building across the street. What a mess! At least it is quieter. I think they are putting in gas lines.

My experience as a photographer continued with lots of editing of photos. I was of course looking at the Open Day ones, as well as finishing (finally) Ian and Lauren's and Alec and Pip's that I just took on Saturday. It was a full, fun day of photography. Now back to the normal routine :)

Balmedie Beach

One place I've wanted to go for awhile now is Belmedie Beach -- a beach just north of Aberdeen a few miles. It is part of an area that Donald Trump wants to develop. From what I can tell, the Aberdeenshire Council has agreed to let him develop part of the land. Here is a link for people in the area who are determined on Tripping Up Trump. After having seen this lovely beach, I can see why the locals are outraged a man with money thinks he can come in and take over their precious public beach.

Despite what the first link above indicates, the beach is not as well sign posted as it claims! It was about a year ago that I first attempted to find it while practicing my driving for our then upcoming practical driving exam. But after not finding it I gave up. There are a few signs to the beach from the highway, but then all of a sudden they disappear and you have to make lucky guesses which way to turn based on where the sea is.But, should you be lucky enough to happen upon it (like we did last night), you will find a beautiful Scottish treasure. The beach area is quite extensive and full of massive sand dunes.

Peaks of the dunes

You can sort of appreciate how large these dunes are when you see the steepness of the dunes. We were brave and decided to go down. Then I was sad to suddenly realize we'd also have to go back up! Thankfully both were easier than I first thought they might be.

At the bottom of the dunes there was a large expanse of water kind of like a river, but its water looked stagnant like a small lake. We couldn't tell what it was or why it was there. It might be partially from the high tides waters or where the rain run-off from the dunes goes.

The closer we got to the sea, the smaller the above "river" got. It was definitely flowing and the water made a neat pattern in the sand kind of like tire tracks.

There were five horse riders (though here you can only see 3) out for an evening stroll as well. I thought it made for a nice photo with the fog settling in the background.

After we reached a certain point we thought we better head back. It was a cold walk back with the wind gusting in our faces. But what would a coast in Scotland be without the strong, cold wind? Even in August!

All That Racket

For over a year now, the building across the street has been undergoing renovations. When Mark first talked to someone about it way back when he said it would take a long time to make the property into flats (it was once an old medical practice). He wasn't kidding. The weirdest thing is that I think at least 3 (maybe 4 now) various people seemed to have been in charge over there from time to time. And yes, it is hard not to spy on them and notice everything since it is the only thing I can see out of my kitchen window so while I'm bored out of my mind washing dishes or preparing food, I watch :)

First there was one man who did most everything on his own. We affectionately called him "Warrior Man" because well, he did it all and he drove a Nissan Warrior truck. Then came the 3 older gentlemen who did some hard manual labor and made me think one of them would go into cardiac arrest, especially because they smoked a lot too. Then no one did anything for months. I thought maybe it was because it was winter - cold and dark with no electricity. But even when spring came no one showed up. Until one day new people started working on it with a vengeance. It underwent quick transformation for a period of time. Like one day I looked and said "is that a new window?" That was the same day it got a new entrance. The next day I looked again, another new window (see two boarded windows on either side of the real window). You might also notice the hole in the roof covered with blue plastic. That's been there a good month. This week someone finally worked on it again. I wondered if the downpour we had the other day prompted that action. It's not done yet, though.

So after all this progress, then there was nothing. Until this new guy (let's call him Bob) shows up and started causing tons of racket for the past week. He loves him some jackhammer. Me, not so much. All I know is Saturday morning at about 8:30am that thing started and ruined my nice quiet Saturday morning plans. Yesterday I could finally tell what he was doing.


He dug way down and then laid some tube or pipe down, so it must be for water or electric. I was so excited that he was almost done....until today he started on the main entrance door. I need to have a talk with Bob because his racket and my dislike for loud, continuous noises (especially for hours on end) are not mixing well. Makes me wonder if he's deaf.

Here's the truck Bob puts all kinda of junk in to cart away.

Mish Mash

I've sure been a blogger slacker lately. Not for lack of things to write about because I have had several posts floating around in my head for the past couple of weeks. More just lack of motivation combined with busyness to actually write those posts. Leave it to some photos to get me back in the blogosphere. 

But before those photos, a few updates. Work has gotten busier as it is again Clearing time. Last week I worked 6 days and nearly my double usual hours, which isn't bad considering I was just around full-time hours and many of my co-workers were doing way more hours than that. This week isn't so bad, but next week will be manic so I'm resting up now in preparation. 

I've also been busy communicating with some new American/Canadian students that will be arriving to start studying a similar program as Mark. My friends and I have put together some welcome packets for them again this year. It will be exciting to welcome them in to our community.

Mark's been plugging away as usual, with a slight extra determination to try to finish this marathon up within the year (not 2009 year, I mean school year). Your continued prayers as he presses on are appreciated.  He's also gearing up for college football to start again with a close eye to what the season might bring for his Bulldogs.

The weather has been warmer and sunnier again. I am thankful this summer has seemed warmer on the whole, with definitely warmer weeks/days than last summer. It has felt slightly more like summer this time around. Maybe it is a combination of being more adapted and the weather more cooperative.

Without further ado, here are today's fun photos. I had to pick our car up today (after a week of repairs - bleh. We were thankful for a loaner car from the garage). Where we take it is in the country outside of the city about 10 miles. I always take my camera along when I go out that way - just in case. Turns out today that was a good idea. Last week when I dropped the car off I saw some hairy coos near the car place. Today I saw them again on my way there and noted where I could park to get out and take some shots. Despite the cows having moved from being close to the fence (where I saw them on the way there). And despite the fact that I had to walk on the edge of large ditch next to a barbed-wire fence (that I had to keep reminding myself I could not grab if I started to fall), I think I still got some cute shots. I was rather enamored with the adorable baby coos!

He kept picking this clod of dirt/weeds (hopefully not poo!) up and tossing it like it was a toy. Very cute!
This little baby was sleeping, then his mom went over and started licking him. Again very cute. Then the little guy thought maybe he'd get up. He posed like this for a little bit. Mommy kept her eye on me :)
At first I thought he couldn't even walk yet.

Apparently the mom was getting a little tired of being photographed.

But, then little buddy got up and posed quite nicely. If you look closely you'll see he's even saying "cheese."

Check One Complete

Hard to believe that Mark and I are thinking we may be down to a our final 12 months here! It's not for certain yet and in reality there may be more like 16 months. In any case, we're starting a "things-to-do-before-leaving-Aberdeen/UK" list. Top of the list (well, MY list) was seeing the roses in full bloom at the massive rose gardens in Hazelhead Park. I actually really wanted to take my parents to see this when they were here, but we were always doing too many other things. I guess they'll have to enjoy it via photos.

Here are some photos showing the overall picture of how big these two gardens are. To see some of the more artistic/fun ones, go here.