And Absent for a few days again, but with a really good reason this time...

Today, it's not a post about games or pens, or any of the things that I normally write about, this Wednesday just gone, I had a day that will forever be one of my happiest memories.

There are few times in a mans life where he cries, fewer still when those tears are of happiness and leap unbidden to his eyes.  But on Wednesday of this week just gone, I cried unashamedly, because I was there when my son embraced all his tomorrows and got married...

The day started quietly, the wedding was at two, so we left at twelve with plenty of time, went around to my brothers place to collect the rest of the family and get the convoy going to Leeds Town Hall, and all was going well, with more than an hour to go before the ceremony, we started on the fifteen minute journey into Leeds town centre, and that's when the first problem occurred...

There is no parking in Leeds, not one tiny bit of it, and as we circled around and around, the time started getting close, so we turned into one of the shopping centres and made a rapid run down to the town hall with minutes to spare...

And the Wedding CD's still in their box at home...

Cheerfully we're a resourceful bunch, so five minutes later, Megan by the speaker with a phone connected up to the speakers and we're back in business...

And as the quiet words of Ellie Gouldings Love me like you do filled the room, I glanced at my son, standing proud, not an ounce of hesitation in him, and I felt the tears coming, like a tide of happiness held back by the inadequate floodgates that are my eyelids.  Doesn't do for a man to get all soppy, so I gritted my teeth and tried to keep quiet, made the mistake of glancing back at Jude, tears brimming in her eyes, then at Mum, then Megan, all the same...

And I was gone...

Didn't make a noise, but I'm pretty sure I was crimson with the effort of holding back the sobs before the end of the ceremony...

One of the few photos I got when my eyes weren't blurry...

No hesitation from either of them, and in minutes, they were man and wife, and in that moment, something changed, not for them, for me, because in that moment, someone else picked up the shield I'd been carrying for the 25 years, 11 days, 7 hours and 20 minutes previous.  While I'll always, always be there for them both, I could let go in that moment, because it was clear to me that she would give everything for him, and he everything for her, and a peace I've never known came to me because apart they're both strong, but together they can face anything.

So we went outside to get a few photos

Special thanks to my brother Michael in the top right corner for the traditional Vulcan Wedding Blessing

And then back to the Clayton Hotel for the reception...

It was family only at the ceremony, so for many at the reception came the realisation that occasionally, just occasionally...I do wear suits...

Course, I'm always in the shade in comparison with my radiant wife :)

Played a video of the ceremony to all those present, with a few highlights of the day...

Abbie, Mark, Andy, Me, Jude, given the number of Leos in that lineup, the collective noun for Dodds should be a Pride... and none of us could have been prouder then...

All speeches well received, we got to the serious business of good food and better music...

The evening was excellent, I have videos of people dancing that I'm not allowed to share, a perfect antipodean reaction to being filmed dancing, more photos than I could easily upload of riotously happy people, and at the end of it, all smiles everywhere.

A man could not ask for more than I got that day, they're now off on honeymoon to Crete, no doubt more photos when they return in a week or so.