Archived Messages
21/08/09
Hello everyone!
First of all i want to say sorry for not writing anything sooner. I hope you can understand things have been hectic! wedding, album, new band, other new band, other new band!!! Its all a bit mad but Mel and I are clawing our way back to normality slowly!
We'd like to say a huge thank you to you all for donating the £75 to foal farm and we plan to visit soon. Who knows I may even go back to my roots and do a bit of horse riding (if they have grown up horses that is!) so i thought I'd better write before I break both my arms! Jess thanks for making the card, it’s still up in the kitchen and it's lovely!
As for the wedding itself where do I begin! Do I start by mentioning BMO's resident dj playing the WRONG song for the first dance or do I just let it go..... well the whistling solo in the middle was a bit tricky but thankfully Mel’s pro dancing skills pulled us through! as for the bit at the end where the song just cut out and left us standing in silence well I think even ray quinn would have struggled to pull it off!! really though it was funny and i'm no perfectionist so it didn't matter at all.... really it didn't ruin the best day of my life in the slightest!!!!! seriously huge thanks to glenn for sorting out the music and doing the pa for the band it was great!
We got married at Blean church and it was amazing! Melissa looked stunning and it could have just been the 2 of us in the church. I loved every second and it felt like it was over in seconds! Dave (blues bandits) said to me he told his wife there was no way i'd wear my cowboy boots (he was wrong) in fact I even had them re-healed for the occasion!
I have to say I was more nervous waiting for Melissa to arrive than I was before walking on stage at Wembley! but she did arrive and thankfully she also said "I do" when prompted by our very thorough vicareen!!! (vicareen of blean!) in fact to be exact she said "I will" as I do was just made up for the movies!!
Tears fell as I sang Amazing Grace in the church (my first performance as a married man! I don't hang about!) and then I was out sung by my own grandma who I think should be the next member of the family to grace the XFactor stage!!
Back at the reception (charing) where Melissa’s dad and I had spent the past week putting up the marquees (Kent Marquees I might add!) drinking very strong cold black tea and talking about how they don't make hoovers like they used to among other things although it was mainly hoovers we talked about! (in that week we put up about 5000 square foot of hardcore tentage all on a solid wooden/carpeted floor with a full starlight lining, black and white dance floor and the best chandeliers km had left!!) Then in came the girls to decorate and boy did they decorate! (and talk some more about hoovers!) it looked fantastic as you will see from the pictures and after 5 months of non stop planning all the blood sweat and tears were worth it when we walked in after the ceremony to our wedding reception; people smiling, drinking, dancing. We had a great time with family and friends you don't see from one decade to the next (speaking of which even my dad was there and it was lovely to see him too)
The speeches were great and Mel's dad really made me feel like part of the family (even promising me a key to the shed!) ... it was all very emotional and moving for all of us... my speech was hilarious of course! and my sister (the best man!) overcame her nerves and did great!
then we went to Mexico !!......
WOW
We booked it 2 days before the wedding after worrying about swine flu but then thought what the heck! It was a great choice with our own beach our own bar/waiter and we discovered we share a mutual passion for tequila! We hope we didn’t upset our fellow holiday makers as us English do like to swim in the pool fully clothed at 3am then put all the lilo's in the palm trees before going back to the room… it's tradition! One of the bars had swinging beds in it and after two weeks we found we could swing on the bed standing up with a cocktail in each hand while sing "someday I'll be Saturday night" by bonjovi!!!
all in all i had the best wedding I could have dreamed of followed by two weeks in heaven with an angel....
now we're back and its time to keep working if this album is ever gonna get finished! The gospel choir is recorded on freedom and sounds perfect … they may even be playing at the guilbenkian theatre with us in Dec... all that is left is my vocals which I'm planning to do in Dublin... then we're away and the sky is the limit... then the next album will be the focus (perhaps even with my new stepson, Will, on drums as he's having lessons with me at the moment from J who i'm sure you'll be seeing much more of soon! )
finally I'd like to comment on another really boring, inaccurate story in the Daily Mail today (I'll never be doing another interview about the x factor again!). I talk to someone for nearly an hour about how excited I am that Mel and I are doing the new album ourselves, how well it is going, and our other plans for the future and all they write is the same old rubbish it makes me laugh… still I feel a new song coming on!!!
The future is set to be very special. The past is the past and needs to be left alone.. All there is left to say is "I think I'm gonna make a home now!"
I hope you are all well and enjoying the last summer days/nights and I promise it won't be long before we move forward with this new album!
See you all soon
Ben X