Dave And Carol's Wedding Reception, August 29th 2015

On August 29th, it has been a day over a year since I've met one of my best friends now at work who shares my love for Star Wars, Marvel and all things nerdy, Dave Puett. And on that day, I joined him, and our work mates (and from The Stag Party) at his Wedding Reception over at Cottesmore to celebrate this joyous day with him and his beautiful bride Carol "Cazzie"!

I feel very honored to have been invited to his Reception but also his Stag Do which took place on 25th July in Brighton. The day was excellent and everyone drunk a lot as did I (that's a rare occasion, last time I drunk a lot like this was my 18th, that's um 4 years ago...)
Oh and I bought him a Deadpool Cap and Deadpool Secret Wars Comic as a thank you for inviting me to both days (his Stag and Reception)!



So anyway, I went over to Dave's for the first time and met his bride to be Carol "Cazzie", she's lovely and polite. Like a good wife, she drove her husband and me to Three Bridges as we were meeting Stephen, Marc, Jace and Jake at The Snooty Fox for pre-drinks and a few games of Snooker. She wished us luck and for Dave to go crazy (don't mind if he does!) Don't worry, like the good, caring friend I am, I vowed to watch over him! *wink*

I challenged Jake to a game of Pool (which I won) and Stephen showed and encouraged me to try a "Strawpedo" of my Blue WKD (yeah, yeah, yeah I drink that as my taste buds can't really stand Beer or Lager), I did it in two attempts and my eyes were watering and my throat was burning, but it was funny for me and everyone and even Stephen (ha, almost like the classic TV series) beat Jake too on a game too (too bad, Jake).

We caught a train to BTown and made our way to Yates Bar & Grill (opposite Churchill Square Car Park and met Tom, Connor and a new guy called Sam. As I had myself a Hooch and 2 J20s whilst we all ate a good load of Fajitas, Burgers (Man Food) and shared a group pic. But the silliest and iconic thing to remember that day was that Tom had bought Dave a child's sippy cup for him (joke was that it said on the packaging "promote's oral development" to use as his Drinking Cup for the day (which he did religiously use)! Marc and Tom even mixed up a cocktail which was foul (even when I tried a sip) but "hats off" in respect for Dave for taking his time in finishing that monstrosity.

Up next on our plan was to head to Laser Zone which was just down the road. We had 2 games where it was us lot vs some teenagers and on the second game, Dave and Marc went over to the Red team against us Blues (I came halfway in both games) but it was a big adrenaline rush full of tactical cover fire and shouting positions that made it all great and we must have sweat off a percentage of the alcohol we'd drunk so far.
We were like a proper Team and worked together instead of un-co-ordinated drunks haha.

Afterwards we headed to Oxygen which was a small and according to Tom "recently re-opened" place next door to Lazer Quest. I tried a Long Island Iced Tea (wasn't really my thing but I did like those 2 Blue Lagoons. Stephen has a wicked sense of humor which we all LOL'd for a while as we all did naughty and dark jokes before heading off whilst the sun was beginning to set.

Jake encouraged us to go into this Nightclub called Boutique (now that was a fun place). Inside the toilets were down the stairs and on the ground floor was the bar and an area that looked like a bed (good thing I didn't think to use a UV Light or something) and was filled with bean bag chairs. We all huddled there and lounged about whilst still drinking. I must have had 4 Raspberry Sourz, a Vodka & Coke and joined everyone for a Jaeger shot. Everyone were in a mixed state of tiredness and drunk ha ha a short while after, we headed up stairs to the balcony seating area for the guys to smoke a cigar and get aw
ay from the dark club and loud music. There was another and soon a few more Stag Do's going on too which everyone mingled in whilst Dave was the king of his lads as I got us a great group picture (thanks to one of the other Stags) along with 2 glasses each of water.

We bid everyone farewell and good luck with their upcoming wedding dates and headed back for the Station (before grabbing a Burger King, as you do), I bought Dave his like a good lad.
We also wandered into a Tesco Express for a drink on the train, I tried a Strawberry & Cucumber Pimms (it was alright) and the others got Magners.

After catching the train back to Three Bridges, we got Taxi's to Crawley's Jubilee Oak (good call Stephen on us calling Taxi's instead of getting the expensive ones outside the station, I learned something) and whilst the others popped into the Pub, I popped back to Dave's house for the first time for us to freshen up before heading back out.

When we got back to the others after chatting about The Spider-Verse and other Marvel things, we all shared another drink which was my last Hooch (wow, I've drunk a lot that day). And as the others left for home except for me, Jake, Dave and Stephen, we popped into one of the bar's opposite Octopus for a short while. But we were all exhausted (we had been out for 13 hours) and were depleted of the enthusiasm and effort compared to Stephen so it was time to call it a night at 1am.

Dave let me crash at his (thanks bro) and I slept very little like I do at other people's houses. I did catch a glimpse out the window at 5.30am for the sunrise. But by 10am on Sunday morning, I was up with Cazzie and Dave (he was out of it, mumbling, grumbling and aching but was pleased to have had an excellent time with excellent bros, as was I). He even said "I'm never going to drink like that ever again" ha ha.
Dad came and collected me by noon just as the rain began to shower down on this morning of headaches (good thing it didn't rain yesterday!)
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NOW for the Wedding Reception!
I may not have been invited to the actual day itself, but I was honoured and proud to have joined everyone in the evening for dancing and celebrating this wonderful celebration.
Funny fact is that Facebook reminded me the day before the wedding that it has been a year already since I met at work and became Facebook friends with Dave!


I saw all the wonderful pictures of the day and am so happy for them both. And I got an invitation letter around mid-June from Dave at work which was an invitation to Cottesmore Golf Club on Saturday 29th August.
I learned for the first time that if your going to a Wedding Reception only, it's actually quite alright to not go all "Suited Up" so I went in a Green shirt, Jeans and black shoes.

Too bad their day was in the pouring rain all day but I ran to the car and headed there at 7.30pm, ready to participate in the madness.

I saw Jake and Dave on the second floor in the courtyard and followed them into Marc's room where I met all the guys and met their ladies, Tom and Louise, Stephen and Shannon, Connor and Katherine and Marc and Hope (and Jake too).

After introductions were done, the photographer came in and got a shot of all the men in the bed and I was very flattered and honored after being asked to join them for the sandwich and group pictures ha ha.
6 Men in a bed and then a Photographer joined in... Nothing gay about this at all!

Stephen called me outside briefly to discuss some business and for us to help each other out. He read a lot on here and said that he is a Social Media Consultant and he explained of the capabilities of a website called StumbleUpon. I gladly agreed to follow his Twitter and Facebook page and that after my holiday, we'd look into advertisement on both our blogs to help us get noticed more as well as help promote our work!

We all headed to the main dining area to watch the bride and groom cut the cake before all the dancing and night of drinking and dancing began (I didn't drink as I was Stephen and Shannon's ride home).
They must have bought me 6+ J20s which from what I calculated was over £20 (about £3.80 each) and because they were that generous I gave them a lift back to Charlwood free of charge.

Seeing Dave and Cazzie do their first dance was heart-warming and sweet with a good song John Legend - All Of Me.
Everyone especially Stephen were all hyped up (I said to Shannon that I see Stephen as the definition of Tigger or Sugar Rush thanks to his high enthusiasm and child-like hyper personality). Everyone drank merrily and danced rather camp/ gay for fun with dry-humping and up-close which was hilarious and I ended up participating in as it was in-appropriate but not enough to make someone like me feel uncomfortable at all (plus I knew these people).

 
Jake, Marc and Tom were doing Jaeger shot with everyone and Dave plus I got a shot with my main man.
Even the cake (which looked perfect) tasted delicious compared to the wedding cakes I've tried which are either fancy flavors instead of normal sponge. And before I knew it, the bride and groom were accompanied by me and everyone on the dance-floor for hours.

I found some funny sticks with Facial hair on them and took some silly selfies!


We all got hot every so often from all the dancing and as I joined em outside, Stephen said some really remember-able things about how I was such a fun person and that he really cannot see the Aspergers in me (even Shannon didn't notice either). He also added that I am more than happy to join him and her for a night out sometime and to crash at theirs anytime (wow, such politeness and kindness)  and I gladly took them on that offer (after my holiday of course). Too bad, I couldn't accept Shannon's offer to join em and the others for her birthday night out as I would be in Greece (oh well, means we need to celebrate again when I have returned).

Few by few, people began to leave and soon by 10.30pm, it was the happy couple, me, Jake and Stephen and Shannon left after everyone else had gone home. The DJ played some major hits (not the house material but more classics) and I ended up in a hand swinging dance like a Pendulum with Shannon during Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama (I was worried this was breaching a boundary) but she didn't seem bothered and Stephen wasn't after I noticed. I was really pleased and happy to share a dance with this new lady friend and glad that a friend knew I wasn't trying anything!

By 12.30, it was time to hit the hay. Unfortunately I had remembered that I had left my coat inside the passed out Marc and sleeping peacefully Hope's room. Stephen "woke them up" and they gave it to me (ha *giggidy*) and I apologised at work a few days later and it was a joke anyway.
We all thanked Dave and Cazzie for a wonderful day and congratulated them on their special day plus thumbs up to Jake for doing excellent on his best man speech (wish I had seen that) ha. I wish them a smashing honeymoon next year when they can afford it but they were gonna take a few days off work anyway to celebrate being husband and wife which is good to hear!

It took a short while to get Stephen into my car after Jake and him were done being best mates and saying goodbye as well as catching up with the dude who was Jake's ride home, they took forever to HURRY UP ha ha.
I safely gave them a lift home and thanked them for a good night and said I'd see em again after Greece.

So it has been a superb time on both days where I joined fantastic people for celebration and now have treasured memories forever. We all used a special WedPics app on our phones to upload the pictures onto their and it's where I got one or two of mine from, I recommend it to anyone with a Wedding on the way or know of someone else.
Anyway I look forward to more nights out with these people and am just so happy for Dave and Cazzie!
Congratulations you two!