Hello all! I’m going to have a difficult time following Yang Li’s very interesting discussion about cultural clashes. If you have any more questions about that, then don’t hesitate to write in and ask. I am 30 this year, and I’m now at that age where I attend three or four weddings every year, as my friends slowly pair off 成双成对. Truth be told, I’ve been to so many weddings over the last three years that I’ve become a bit of a connoisseur 专家! But I have just got back from a rather unusual, grand and special occasion. My good friends Louise and Brendan got married in Tewkesbury Abbey 大教堂 – a very large church in quite a small town.  A full choir helped the congregation （教堂的)会众 sing along during the service 仪式. This very beautiful and austere 庄严的 setting was one thing that set Brendan and Louise’s wedding apart. Most people in the UK get married in small churches or town halls, not cathedrals or abbeys. But Louise’s father happens to be a priest who works at the abbey, so it was a natural choice. And this was another very unusual thing about their wedding. Charles, Louise’s father, conducted the service himself. I said to my wife, ‘I thought it was illegal in the UK to marry your daughter!’ [在英语里，to marry 可以是和谁结婚，另一个意思是主持婚礼，这就是威廉讲的笑话，爸爸可以主持女儿的婚礼，不过和女儿结婚就犯法了。] After the service we were bused 乘公车 to the reception 宴会 in a village hall near Louise’s parents’ house. Louise and her bridesmaids had really made the hall look lovely – it was decorated with hops 啤酒花, which are a sort of unofficial emblem 象征 of Louise’s home county, Kent. As always, speeches followed the feasting. Everyone looks forward to the speeches at weddings as people take turns to honour the new couple by embarrassing them with anecdotes 轶事,趣闻 from their past. First, the bride’s father speaks about his little girl and welcomes the groom into his family. Then the bridegroom speaks, thanking everyone who has helped with the wedding preparations, praising his wife, and finally toasting 祝福 the bridesmaids. Finally, the best man stands to make the most eagerly-anticipated 热切的期待 speech of all. It is his job to mock 嘲弄 the bridegroom and inject a little flippancy 轻率的言行 into the proceedings – but it is also important that he doesn’t go too far 过界了 and upset the congregation. Ian, the best man, walked this line 走一条巧径，（喻）把握分寸 very well, with a seemingly endless supply of one-liners 俏皮话. Here is one to give you an idea of his speech: "The service today was so moving that even the cake was in tiers 多层". [This joke is a pun 双关语 on the words tiers / tears]. After the speeches there was dancing. Louise and Brendan had found an excellent céilidh band; a céilidh (pronounced caylee) is a traditional Irish / Scottish folk dance. Following this traditional dance, we wrapped the day up with some cheesy 通俗的 disco music. I’m sorry I don’t have any photos from yesterday. Instead, here’s one from my own wedding last year. My wife is obsessed 痴迷 with Jane Austen, and so our clothes were modeled on clothes from that era. My mother made the bridal gown 礼服.  Please write in and tell me about your wedding, if you are married. Did you have a best man or bridesmaids? How many people came to the wedding? Did you go on honeymoon? If you are not married, please write in and tell me all about your dream wedding. And of course if you have any questions about weddings in the UK, I’ll do my best to answer them! William
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