The Wedding of James Paul Schlackman and Elizabeth Anne Cole

Elizabeth Anne Cole and James Paul Schlackman were married at St Mary's Church, Over, Cambridgeshire, England, at 2pm on the 17^th April 2004.

After a Christmas engagement and a subsequent 4½ months' planning, we were married in Over, the village where I lived until I was 18. Read on for the story of the day Elizabeth made an honest man of me, and the day Elizabeth Anne Cole became Elizabeth Cole Schlackman...

St Mary's Church in Over dates back to 1254, making part of the church almost 750 years old on our wedding day. We were able to be married there even though my family had moved to the next parish, as the parish church there was closed for roof repairs.

My best man Dan Scott and I arrive at the church in plenty of time, and are met by the ushers, James Firth (left) and Matthew Kitson (right), two old friends of mine. We then spent the next 45 minutes wondering where everybody else was, and when the video camera was going to arrive.

(Left to right:) James firth, jay Schlackman, Dan Scott, and Matthew Kitson

A gorgeous Elizabeth arrived at the church as Dan and I frantically set up the video camera inside the church; it had only arrived 10 minutes before the wedding was to begin!

Order of Service

[PDF]

Processional - Bridal March by Wagner
Welcome
Hymn - “Lord of the Dance”
The Declarations
Reading - The Book of Ruth 1:1-17
Address
The Marriage
Hymn - “Ode to Joy”
Prayers and Blessing
Hymn - “Immortal, Invisible”
Registration of the Marriage
Recessional - Handel's Water Music

45 minutes, and a lot of poor singing later, we were married!

When watching the video later, we noticed that not only were we both very nervous (especially me), but that Matthew Kitson, who was operating the camera, displayed an excellent knowledge of the hymns by singing all of them without a hymn book.

Dan Scott and Susan Cole in the procession.

Elizabeth's sister and maid of honour Susan looked even smaller than usual next to Dan's 6′ 4″ frame.

Our car for the day was a chauffeured vintage 1948 3.5 litre Jaguar Saloon. We got more beeps and waves on the way to the reception than we will probably have in the rest of our lifetimes.

Jay Schlackman and Dan Scott giving their speeches

After everybody had stuffed themselves silly, Dan and I proceeded with our speeches after an introduction by Elizabeth's dad.

Halfway through the reception my youngest cousin Francis managed to lose his Spiderman toy on the roof, and so my step-father Steve was tasked to rescue it. Being from Newcastle, we knew he'd have no trouble scaling drainpipes, and were not disappointed.

Everybody's gaze drops just at the wrong time.

Jen's cleavage attracted much attention at the reception.

Elizabeth throws her bouquet, and everybody misses, despite the best efforts of Kate, who was in fact the only person who put any more effort in than waiting for it to fall in their hands.

On the second attempt it was eventually caught by Susan, which was met with a resounding “Oh, no!” from Susan and Elizabeth's dad.

The end of the day arrived, and we drove off into the sunset in my car, after a titanic struggle to fit all of Elizabeth's dress into it. The excitement was obviously too much for the car as it terminally broke down 3 weeks later and narrowly avoided being scrapped.