Unsure of the arrangements for getting to the church, other than the fact that there was a coach laid on for all guests staying at the Baltic Beach, we got up early. It transpired the coach would be there at 11.45am. It would take us to the church, not the Roman Catholic cathedral as we had expected but Riga's small C of E Church of St Saviour. Apparently the English catholic church had failed to convince the Latvian catholic church of the bona fides of Robert's catholicism. The C of E had stepped in at the last minute as it was wholly indifferent as to the religious beliefs of all those taking part.
11.45am came and went. We duly gathered in a state of confusion, and wondering at the Latvian contingent who seemed to be all laden with flowers. Was this some Latvian wedding tradition that we had failed to uncover in our researches? No, simply that the florist to whom Alina's mother (herself a florist and who had done the flowers for older daughter Olga's wedding) had delegated responsibility for decorating the church had pulled out at the last minute. So the relatives were all doing their bit to make the church look the part. Jennifer Susan's mother and the full contingent of her aunts (L-R Anne, Jen, Valerie, Rosemary) sat in the sun until the coach eventually turned up to take us at 12.45pm.
The service was concise to the point of abruptness but the bride looked lovely. All the more remarkable since her make-up and hair were done by a last minute replacement after the original pulled out.
We then made our way to the quayside where a boat was waiting to take us down the Daugava. Owing to power boat racing on the river we had to board a little downstream from the church and could not travel up-river to take the tributary to Jurmala where the evening reception was to be held in the Baltic Beach hotel, but by now we were blase about such minor details.
On board we were introduced to Latvian Black Balsom, a spirit so vile that even the locals dilute it to disguise the taste and the 45% proof.
The reception was a mix of Latvian and English traditions. Robert carried Alina into the reception and stamped on a plate to determine, from the number and size of pieces into which it broke, the number and gender of their children (29 boys and 4 girls was the somewhat optimistic predction).
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