My brother, and best man Rob was kind enough to leave his wedding speech with us, so while i sit on our sunny terrace in Cannes, thought i would type it up to the blog to see if it is still as funny and emotional as it was on the 16th - cant believe that its nearly three weeks ago already...
Hello ladies and gentlemen, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Rob, I'm James's brother....... slightly older brother, the one with all the hair.
Before I undertake the customary duty of giving James an uncomfortable few minutes, it is part of the official duty of the best man to thank James on behalf of the bridesmaids, for his kind words and for inviting them to play a part in this really special day. I have to say they all look wonderful and have done an excellent job. Indeed, they are only eclipsed by Lucy herself, who, I'm sure you'll all agree looks absolutely stunning.
It has been a wonderful day so far, and i would like to pay tribute to James and Lucy for the time and hard work they have put into arranging their own wedding. I believe I'm correct in saying that this part of the day, at the reception, has been the most challenging to organise, with both James and Lucy making several trips here for tasting sessions to ensure the best wine was served with our food today.
Now, about James.
I feel that to give you the best insight into him, I should take you back to the night of his birth. The 18th November 1976 witnessed a truly memorable occasion - as all our family gathered in the delivery ward , the doctor presented the new arrival and informed us that the latest member of the Knox clan had in fact been born with the biggest head in the history of Sunderland hospital. A circumference, he went on, tof such proportions that it was unlikely to be matched, let alone beaten in his lifetime, and it could well be a UK, if not world record.
It was of course then that we realized that my mother had not just been shedding tears of joy due to the arrival of her second son. I believe that James's record still stands to this day.
By the time James took his first faltering steps as a toddler, just before his 5th birthday, our family were reassured that he would have none of the potential balance issues that you would imagine a massive head would give you. That was because through a strict diet of cakes and roast dinners, he managed to keep the rest of his body fully in proportion to it.
As an older brother, I have to admit that it took a little getting used to not having the nest all to myself anymore. I'm sure it was also difficult for James having to follow in the footsteps of such high achieveing and well liked older brother! I'm afraid though I took the only course of action available to me, I followed a path that many older brothers before and since have. I teased the life out of James.
I now feel though that the time is right to formally apologise to you James for the teasing you endured, and hope that you can forgive me.
I apologise for the time I forced that tray of ice cubes down your underpants and made you cry. It wasn't part of a science project i had to do, and I wasn't going to get expelled if I didn't do it, and you weren't going to be responsible for ruining my career before it had started. I'm sorry.
I would also like to apologise for the time when at a large family gathering one of our Aunties wondered out loud as to why you had so many girlfriends. It was remiss of me to point out that it was " because you gan on like a bloody great blouse" and I would like to apologise profusely for that comment. You are of course a handsome devil, with sparkling repartee. They were of course the true reasons. I'm sorry.
As James got older, he developed a keen sense for what was right and wrong. The best example of this I can provide is one evening when we were all at home together during the time of my mother's illness. James had had the hub caps stolen from his car earlier in the day and was showing the signs of indignant incredulity that he has honed to perfection over the subsequent years. But how to right the wrong?
Fuelled by the creative powers only a dozen or so bottled of Stella can provide, he rationalized that the only way to put his world back into equilibrium was to go down to the local Marriott hotel car park, find the same model of car, take them, and return those hub caps to what he believed was their rightful place - his car. For this mission he enlisted help. Our Auntie Sue, who can probably best be described as the token adult in the party, along with my partner Kerry and a couple of James's friends got kitted up with balaclavas and screwdrivers for their big adventure.
I'm pleased to say that they returned with the correct hub-caps and James's world was put right again. Well it was until a few days later when posters from the Marriott Hotel's car park CCTV appeared locally asking if anyone recognized the 4 individuals in balaclavas pinching hub-caps from their car park. I'm sure it was around that time that James realized he had to pop back down to Norwich University for a few weeks to catch up on work...
As James reached his late teens, we had both, of course matured and we became good friends as well as brother - well until this speech perhaps - and the bond between us has grown stronger, despite the geographical distance between us. I would in fact go so far as to say that there is nothing I wouldnt do for James, and likewise I believe that there is nothing he wouldnt do for me. In fact we spend most of our time doing nothing for each other.
On a more serious note, I now have an awful lot of respect for my kid brother. I think that chrystallized just after our mother died. We'd lost our father at a young age, and then the passing of our mam was a hammer blow to us both as you can probably imagine.
James was 19 at the time, and away from home at Norwich University studying for his degree. It would have been easy and perhaps understandable for him to fall off the rails at that time and waste the talent and opportunity that he had. That he didn't is to his credit. I know that it can't have been easy getting through that time in his life, and I understand that there were many dark days during that period where James relied on his close friends and family members to help pull him through. But get through it he did, he passed his degree and I was very proud to be in attendance with our Uncle David for the award ceremony to see him presented with his degree.
It has been a real pleasure to see James's career progress since then as he has established himself in the world of PR - an industry where apparently going on like a bloody great blouse is a pre-requisite. I must advise you though James, that my research for this speech has uncovered a nickname that your former work colleagues call you behind your back. Apparently you are known as God - this is because they rarely see you doing any work, but if they do, its a bloody miracle.
I mentioned the loss of our mother and father earlier in our speech, and James has quite rightly proposed a toast to our parents and Lucy's father. These were people that had a great influence on our lives and who we would dearly love to be with us today. I would like to acknowledge them too, but also make mention of others who can't be with us today. Grandparents that are not well enough to travel; Grandparents who are no longer with us. Great Aunties and Uncles that are no longer with us. We were very lucky in our family, we had a large family on both sides that were very close and gave us both unconditional love and support and also some fantastic fun times and memories as we were growing up. For that, and I know that I speak for James as well, we are truly thankful.
I would like to close my speech by talking for a moment about James and Lucy. I could tell from the first moment that I met Lucy that she was well suited to my brother.
James had brought Lucy up to the North East to meet us all at our Great Aunt's 90th birthday party celebration. Having got through what must have been a nerve wracking day meeting a whole host of our distant relations, we invited James and Lucy back to our house to relax and have a couple of beers to wind down. Lucy managed to wind down in spectacular fashion, and whilst James was trying to fish her out of one of our bushes en route to their taxi that was waiting to take them home - a mammoth journey of some 10 yards - I distinctly remember turning to Kerry and saying, " I think our James has found his soul mate."
Seriously though, it is obvious to anyone who spends even a small amount of time in their company that James and Lucy are extremely well matched and very much in love. Its great to see, and it just remains for me to say that I wish you both much happiness, a long life together and a lot of laughs along the way.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please be upstanding to toast James & Lucy - the bride and groom.
Yup, still brings a wide smile to my face, and a tear to my eye. Thanks Rob for adding so much to such a tremendous day
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