The wedding at the zoo

was different. 
My nephew and his now wife planned and wrote the ceremony themselves. He was baptised Greek Orthodox and she was baptised Roman Catholic. That presented a problem from the start. Aside from that they don't attend church except on rare occasions. Why have a church ceremony?
Someone they know and like is a marriage celebrant and she did an excellent job. The Senior Cat could hear everything she said - something of an achievement as he gets increasingly hard of hearing.
And yes, they would have the wedding at the zoo. They are both very fond of animals. (I almost expected to see their cat there!) It's a popular venue. The only real difficulty is that you need good weather - and they had perfect weather. It was a magnificent, almost summer like, day. 
And the ceremony was different. My nephew sang his bride down the "aisle" - a path on the lawn with rose leaves either side. Of course he didn't make it to the end without breaking down! But  he has had singing lessons and really can sing so everyone forgave him the tiny lapse towards the end.
His bride looked magnificent - and I don't use the word lightly. She is a beautiful girl - from the inside out. Her parents led her down the aisle. Vows - vows they had written themselves - were exchanged. Rings were exchanged. There was the tiny formal legal bit and two minutes of speech by the celebrant and then that part was over. There were family photographs. Guests mingled.
I looked around at the guests. My nephew and his bride, mindful of costs, had tried to keep the guest list to manageable proportions but there were the Scots, the Greeks, the Filipinos, the Indians, the Chinese, the Africans - all family and friends. It is was a wonderful reflection of the values Middle Cat and her husband  have tried to instill in their boys and that the Senior Cat instilled in us. The food reflected this as well - and it was good.
The Senior Cat gave his speech later - all two minutes of it. He might be 95 but you could hear every word - and he can still make people laugh.  The other speeches were short too. 
My two nephews revived their "duo" - the one they have had to cease being since one of them moved interstate to work - and performed another love song for the bride. The bride and groom performed a traditional Filipino dance - although the  bride tells me it is so long since she lived at "home" that she had almost forgotten how to do it and the two of them had to spend some precious time during the week rehearsing. And then, at about the point where the Senior Cat was looking very tired, there was a Scots dance for our side of the clan. As everyone else was getting ready to teach those guests who didn't know how to do the traditional Greek dance I took the Senior Cat home. He'd thoroughly enjoyed it but I wondered if he was going to make it through the front door. (Thankyou to the taxi driver who got him as close as possible and waited until the Senior Cat was inside!)
It's over. I am a very "flat" feeling cat today. The Senior Cat has just prowled out - but I suspect he will have another long catnap this afternoon.