Big lad love

I went to a friend’s wedding a few years ago and I was honoured to be asked to be an usher. As the other usher was the bride’s brother I was then included as part of the wedding party and wore the ‘outfit’ – you know the morning suit and hat etc.

It was a lovely wedding and a lovely day for everyone.

However, it was a bit confusing for the wedding photographer.

After the service he wanted to get lots of photos in front of the church, so in his slightly camp South Yorkshire accent he organised everyone:

“Right then, let’s have the bride here – doesn’t she look lovely everyone? And the groom can stand next to her.
Ok, let’s have the bridesmaids around them… oooh gorgeous.
Now then, the parents and the brothers and sisters… ah beautiful”

And then he looked round to make sure he’d got everyone and he saw me. I was wearing the outfit, I was clearly part of the wedding party, but he had no idea who I was. A slight panic crossed his mind. I probably needed to be in the photo, but how did he ask me to join the group.

“And you… erm… big lad love, you go and stand at the back.”

By a certain group of friends I’m still occasionally known as big lad love.

I mention all of this because last week I went to get some swim coaching. I want to use the winter to work on my technique so that I can reap the rewards as I start to swim outdoors again next summer. I went to a great guy down in Canary Wharf and we had an hour of assessment and filming and drills in the endless pool. But at one stage, early on in the session, while watching a video of me swim from a head-on position he said to me, “you’re a big lad, but that’s a small hole in the water.”

It immediately reminded me of a camp wedding photographer in Doncaster.

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