We even made it into the local newspaper.

Hello there,

I was thinking it would be most appropriate for Sam and Henry to do an impromptue performance at our wedding, on 07/07/07. What do you think?

Cheers,

Ian
ianandviv.com

Hi Ian,

Many thanks for your email and I can see your reasoning! However, they
won’t be available to play at your wedding.

Wishing you a great day.

All the best,
Gunther

That summer Ian decided to show some interest by mentioning that it may not be appropriate for me to move into their house as he might find it awkward. My immediate response was to run away scared as I didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t think I liked him or could like him like that.

The months pass. We continue to spend time with mutual friends and try to ignore anything that had been said that would make things strange. I continue to think that I don’t like him, and try not to think about it. I go away to London for 2 months, I begin to get very confused about what I think about Ian. Then on holiday/mission in Peru I end up sat on a long coach trip debating with myself what I think about Ian. I have gone from being certain that he is not a possibility to being totally unsure but wondering whether to give it a try.

I return from Peru to life here. I find a house. I go see friends. I see Ian and am glad. He can be rude and obnoxious, but so can I, and I like the way we get on. I decide that giving it a try is the way forward. It takes me several days to get the courage to say anything. Any time that we are alone, he ends up being super rude (maybe to keep me distant - he had been trying to convince himself that he doesn’t like me).

I end up texting him late one evening, and declare my potential interest. He nearly dies, and we organise to meet up the next day. Two hot chocolates and a very awkward conversion later we are probably ‘going out’. He skips the afternoon at work and we talk and walk and spend most the day together. I go home happy but feeling a little dazed from the surreal day.

The next week or so, people start to find out, I freak out a little (and nearly dump him) and get very confused about what I think and whether I think this has potential to continue. Time and talking and I get over it and we continue.

I survived new year away with his friends and start to think seriously about a future with him as I was becoming quite smitten. The months tick by and we get closer and start chatting about the potential of marriage, we decide it would probably be a good idea. I survived my finals and achieved the status of doctor.

While on holiday in Mull Ian and I climbed the hill behind the house and walked up along one of the rivers. We stopped for a break on a rock with small waterfalls either side. We sat chatting for a while and then he got down on one knee and asked if I would marry him. I already knew the answer was yes as he had become an indispensable part of my life.

So here we are 6 months later (it is January as I write this, or in fact just edit old posts from my blog into something for the wedding site) lots has happened in between, but it is all going well and we are still together and happy. We still have lots to learn about each other, but that is the journey we have set out on and will continue in marriage.

Viv and I have known of one another since our first year, yet it wasn’t until our sixth year of study until we came together. We both were over those intial years members of the Christian Union and therefore probably saw each other on numerous occasions, though I can’t think of any time we actually spoke to one another. So to say it was love at first sight would be a blatant lie!

Being a computer scientist meant that during my undergraduate years there wasn’t a lot of interaction with females and to be a Christian computer scientist meant that I was basically asking for trouble. So instead I turned to my studies and came through, deciding to continue on with a PhD.

At that time some of my friends suggested I attend a fairly new Church plant, Cardiff Vineyard, and pointed me in the direction in some great people who I felt instantly at home with. I adopted Vineyard as my own and was really happy there. This was where I found Viv.

As Viv and I were placed in different housegroups, it wasn’t until a mutual friendship through Jon and Cathy Matthias until we really started speaking. We began to form a good relationship and Viv volunteered to move in when housemates were to depart my living quarters and we needed a tenant. At the time, I didn’t have a problem with this, as we were only good friends. As time moved on however, I saw that it might become ever more difficult to have Viv living in the same house with me and had to tell her why….

There then follows a period of a very confused 6 months for me, being very angry, upset having effectively been denied my advances and what I would assume were a very confused 6 months for Viv as well. What made it worse was Viv’s joking attitude to me as she knew I was interested! Also I think there was a 6 month period of amusement for all our friends who knew both of us.

I decided that my reading of “signals” was extremely poor. Just as I decided to move on, Viv asks me if I’m still interested and the rest is history.

I proposed to Viv in July 2006 while we were on Holiday in Mull. If you have good eyesight, the photograph reveals I proposed in the most innappropriate t-shirt ever.

Thats all for now, but stay tuned, we shall keep you updated with how things are going.