Engagement!

As you may recall, Kellie and myself are engaged.  Aw bless, so sweet.  Everything is going swimmingly, and I can only assume it's a good thing that I've not been knifed yet.

Clearly I am doing something correctly ;)

Of course, we had an Engagement Party, and we had an absolute blast with it.  Yes, we were on a bit of a budget, but decided we'd make it what we wanted it to be, and enjoy ourselves regardless.  First off, we had to find a hall, sort out a DJ, arrange food and drink, guest list, work out who ate what and who didn't like whatever, transport...

Things started looking a bit frown-worthy after we made a few calls, and realised that most places wanted either a couple of limbs, or our first borns in payment.  Considering we only wanted it for one night - and not actually live there for a month - we got a bit worried.  Especially as this was just for the hall, not including anything else!

Thankfully, after a few more calls, we came across the Anchor Inn, Benfleet, who hired their function suite over to us for a third of what everyone else was asking for.  AND the price they asked included a DJ!  We had a nosy in the suite, and it was lovely - and had a bar at one end so we didn't have to worry about drinks either!  Even better.

Then, guest list.  We started going through, marking people as "They can't come, they'll be working, they can' do this day, he can't do that day..." and a similar story with the food "he doesn't like that, she doesn't eat that" when we realised, hang on, this is OUR night.  At that point, things became a LOT easier when we realised we didn't have to pander to individuals, and instead decided, "THIS is the night we'll have it, and THIS is the food items that will be there"

There were a few people that couldn't make it - work commitments, previous engagements, stuck at a wedding, lost "somewhere near London" and so on, but the majority of people we invited did make it.

And what a night we had.  Granted, my OCD-Virgo-Control-Freak kicked in about half an hour before we told people to arrive... What if NO ONE COMES!  What if EVERYONE HAS A SHIT NIGHT! And so on.  Then, on the dot of the time we told people to arrive... NO ONE CAME!

After about two minutes of hyperventilating and Kellie telling me to stop being a knobhead, people DID start arriving - oddly, the first persons there were Stuart, Michelle and the kids - the people that had traveled furthest to be there!  Huzzah for the Essex Spirit!

It wasn't long from that point that everyone started arriving, so I was able to breath more easily.

We socialised with everyone, drank, ate, and had a great time.  And yes folks, I even got my sexy thang down on the dance floor.  However, it was the 0dd Brother In Laws mum that dragged me out there - I had to dance with her before she dragged Kellie over, and there we were, "dancing" in front of a million people, all watching us, cheering and jeering.  And then, as if by magic, out came the cameras.

Now hopefully everyone that is reading here is on Facebook, which hopefully means you have seen the pictures.  If not, just shout, and I will post some on here.

We had an absolutely brilliant night, all the better for my Kellie being there with me and keeping me nicely chilled out and relaxed.  Though it'd have been a strange night had she not been there...

A big thank you to everyone that came, to everyone that almost came, and even to everyone that couldn't make it.  We had a really great night, so thank you all.

But wait!

Kellies best friend, Kerry, plus her other half James (of Fighting the Flab fame, who updates LESS than me!), along with Kerrys brother Kevin and his wife Kelly - well that little posse couldn't make the Engagement Party... They had "Previous Commitments" with their company work do as they all work together for Kerry & Kevins dad no less.  So, the night of our Engagement Party, they couldn't be there.

The bastards.

However, they DID take us out the weekend before our party!  We weren't told where or anything else, just that we were going for a meal together.  Excellent stuff.  So, I showered (Go me!) and shaved (woot!) and even put on a shirt, and we were collected and driven to a very swanky Indian Restaurant, and spoiled rotten all evening.  Loads of food, loads of laughs, some pressies and balloons to boot!

The amusing part of the night?  We had a table for six booked, and there were indeed six of us; Kellie+Me, James+Kerry, Kevin+Kelly.  However, what they failed to take into account is that Kevin, James and Myself aren't what you would called "Average Size"  The girls are all tiny little things, and even if they merged into one, there'd still not be a whole lot of anything.

We're shown to our table, the girls go around the back of it, the boys sitting opposite their missuses, and we were kinda... Squished.  Kinda... Tight.  We experimented, and picked up our cutlery.  Let's just say, had we eaten in that position, we'd have either stabbed one another by accident, spilled our food on the person beside us, or simply starved to death. 

This was pointed out to the management, and within thirty seconds, they had a new - BIGGER - table sorted for us, and we were able to sit and breath out AND eat at the same time.

So to Kerry, James, Kelly and Kevin, thank you - we had a great night out and you didn't have to spoil us!