Love at 1,860 meters - an Alpine Wedding

Dave and I had the lovely opportunity to visit Chamonix in the French Alps, a valley town at the foot of Mont Blanc and oft featured as a stage in le Tour de France. The occasion? James Grice, Dave's friend through undergraduate and graduate years in Oxford, was marrying Jen Thum, another New Yorker who found her match while studying in England.

Firstly, YOU CANNOT BEAT THE VIEW. I have a thing for mountains, and there were plenty of very big ones in every direction. Secondly, we had perfect weather. I'm not a skier, so I think I prefer the mountains in glorious sunny summer. Thirdly, I have a thing for French lunches... crepes with cheese and ham, a simple salad without cucumber, and a refreshing glass of crisp white wine.

Why the Alps? University College shares ancient ownership of the "Chalet des Anglais" with a few other Oxford colleges, and every year a group of undergraduates go on a "reading party." The students read lofty things in the absence of electricity and with rustic toilet facilities, go on gorgeous hikes, and take turns cooking dinner and doling out healthy doses of french wine. James and Jen had special memories of the two reading parties they went on together, and gained approval to be the first couple to be married at the remote chalet.

You get there by first taking a cable car up one side of a mountain and then walking a bit down the other side... although many wedding guests changed clothes for the occasion, I braved the trek with my trusty fascinator perched on top of my head (much to the confusion of hard core mountain bikers that we passed on the way, wearing full protective head gear). Dave was the best man for the wedding, with all the associated duties, thus it was me and our good friend Minesh for most of that trek... he also opted to stay classy and suited for the trip :)

Dave, Minesh and I spent Friday puttering around Chamonix and helping decorate the (second) chalet in Chamonix where the families were staying and the dinner was held. At one point we had six or so people with doctorates trying to hang bunting, with twice as many onlookers and commentators, but Dave and James came to the rescue and took charge with their magical engineering powers. The place looked charming, and Mont Blanc in the background did NOT hurt. In the evening, after a fantastic barbecue at the hotel/restaurant where most of us were staying, the bride and groom created a pub quiz with questions about them and the other guests. Teams were cleverly designed to each have a family member, a friend from home, a friend from college, a Canadian, a rower, and a few other token characters to answer the tricky questions, and it very successfully broke the ice.

Saturday, we all took vans to the cable car, trickled up/down to the chalet, and after a lovely personal wedding ceremony we had champagne and canapes before gradually returning down the mountain.

The evening started with cocktails and cheese boards, then a lovely outdoor dinner with all guests cozied into picnic tables and under lights hanging from the tent. Dave delivered an excellent best man speech to conclude the event (and I am not just being nice... it was lovely). I have no pictures from the rest of the evening, but suffice to say the very loud and drunken rowers from Oxford headed up one impressive dance party :)

The group was approximately half from Oxford and half from Brooklyn, which was particularly confusing for my subconscious (and accent), but absolutely lovely in the end. I could have easily ended up feeling like a "plus one," but not in this crowd. It was unusual for a wedding: we spent lots of time talking to the bride and groom, and their parents, and actually just about everyone. It was a very relaxed wedding, despite the challenging logistics of shifting an entire wedding party up and down a mountainside. Some guests at the chalet wore t-shirts, some wore three piece suits. The flower arrangements were made up of wildflowers picked on the walk there and placed into empty wine bottles from the chalet kitchen. Everything was easy and enjoyable, a perfect reflection of the happy couple.


Finally, on Sunday, after a leisurely breakfast back under the tent, guests slowly began the return to normal life. Minesh drove us back to Geneva Airport and away we flew.

Can I go back soon, please?

For the full photo album, visit my google album !

Weekend in Aberdeen for our last wedding this summer

At the very end of August, in a summer full of holy matrimony, Dave and I trekked up to Aberdeen on the north-west coast of Scotland for my fifth and final wedding of the year (I think). We met each other on Friday evening at Birmingham airport, which will be my new local hub when I move to Nottingham this winter, and coasted through the little airport with carry-on luggage only (I have never done this. It is LIBERATING.)

The groom, Rhydian, is an an exceptional Welsh trumpeter (you can read into that as you will, and you are probably getting an accurate picture of him) that we know through the Oxford/London music scene. Although I don't know her very well yet, his new wife Louise (from the Aberdeen area) is lovely, and the wedding was a vibrant affair. Being Rhydian, the wedding ceremony was graced with four additional fantastic trumpeters in the organ loft... the result was outstanding. In addition to a damn fine trumpet voluntary as the processional, they also played for the hymns, and at last, this is how I've always wanted church hymns to be: crystal clear brass in perfect juicy harmonies, and playing properly LOUD, so that everyone can sing along at a full belt and enjoy themselves. Needless to say, we were seated with a crowd of other musicians in the church, and we definitely gave it some oomph.

The wedding was an excellent excuse to reconnect with old friends and their significant others

Our table was comprised of good friends and we had good fun: there was a bet on how long the groom's speech would be (the opening lengthy bid of 20 minutes was the closest, well done Rachel!) and Nick declared we had to drink every time any speech mentioned the word "trumpet." My fascinator made the rounds, being donned by the various blokes (who enjoyed it more than expected, perhaps). There was ceilidh dancing to leave us dizzy and winded. There were kilts and bagpipes. And towards the end of the evening, there was even a guest appearance by the groom joining in with the band on trumpet.

The next morning Dave and I explored Aberdeen. Known as the granite city, it is very very very gray. The buildings are gray. The sky is gray. One would expect the people to fight back with colorful doors and clothes, but no. Gray gray gray. Still, it has its charm. We found a nook inside a bookshop for coffee and a scone to start the day, then walked to the shore to meet up with Tomi and Jess for lunch. At last, we found some color: the sun came out on the sparkling water, and the boys contributed with overly bright shirts.

The boys are providing much needed color

And after this brief adventure, we headed back to the airport and back to "the south." I think I like Scotland, and this trip made me more aware of how it is truly almost a separate entity from the rest of Britain. The money, although the same currency, looks different. The dialects can be fierce. And at the moment there is the pending referendum to determine whether Scotland should sever all ties and become fully independent. I hope that doesn't happen; it's a nebulous feeling, but I like the balancing between celtic/gaelic and englishness. Regardless of the vote, I do hope to get back up to Scotland for more exploring in the future.

For more pictures of the weekend, including shots of men seriously enjoying wearing my fascinator, please peruse the full album:

Photo album from Rhydian and Louise's wedding

Celebrating with family

This summer brought another family wedding, this time of my cousin Aaron and his wonderful wife Jen. The extended Gallogly clan converged on a lodge in the Pennsylvania hills to celebrate, and being all together "in the middle of nowhere" was brilliant fun. There was even a total power outage during a thunderstorm after the reception, and we all huddled together by the glow of iPhones with bottles of wine in our rooms like afterhours at summer camp.

Introducing (the very happy) Mr. and Mrs Gallogly

Andy and I flew into Pittsburgh from Baltimore (see previous post on my birthday shenanigans) and were scooped up by our parents and driven to the Foggy Mountain lodge. Following the wedding rehearsal (Andy was a groomsman and mom and I were readers in the mass) and a delicious rehearsal dinner, many of the family congregated in the lodge common room to sing happy birthday for me and have cake (aw shucks).  Thank you very much, Aaron and Jen, for providing a wonderful excuse to see everyone.

The next morning, with the sun peeking through, we all got dressed up and headed to the church. I have never seen my cousin so happy, and I am thrilled that Jen is now an official part of the family. I think the best bit of being asked to do one of the readings was that I got the opportunity during the mass to see the faces of the bride and groom... thank you again to the newlyweds for the opportunity!

My parents, looking rather good, no?

After the wedding, we headed back to the lodge for the reception where I was introduced to an unusual western Pennsylvania tradition: the cookie table. For months, nearly half a year, Jen's family has been baking. Maybe two batches over a weekend, one during the week; her mom, her grandmother... it all added up slowly but surely. Freezers stockpiled cookies, of all shapes, sizes, and flavors, and then all defrosted and revealed for the reception. Every guest had a box to take away as many as they could carry... probably three dozen or more per person. Absolutely delicious tradition. (And of course I left my box in the hotel when we left... whoops)

It was a great party, complete with a photo booth, balloon animals and hats, and school dance music that had everyone enjoying themselves. I've put up many more shots from the wedding in this album, I hope you enjoy!



Come Sunday morning, we got back on the road towards Long Island, with Bill and Tracy following our family out in their car. We brought them into the city one day ( and certainly made them walk... er... a lot ), but New York was at it's sunny summer best and I hope they had a good (albeit slightly exhausting) time. The next day Andy and I hopped on a ferry to the Fire Island Pines. We both hadn't been there in nearly two decades, and we had forgotten about the stunning beaches that you can see from the end of our street. Besides the jaunt to the beach, we rode bikes and even painted the garage. We drank wine at vineyards out east. Mom and I went kayaking one morning. We ate fruits and veg straight from the garden, and we ate them outside in the sun (and with a few bugs, unfortunately).  And there was plenty of shopping, both necessary and unnecessary. It was, in short, Summer at its finest, and sitting in chilly rainy Wales I am missing it dearly.

How summertime meals should be

Gazing back at Long Island from across the Great South Bay

Dad enjoying wine out east

Many more shots of the city, the beach, and home in general can be found in this album.

Birthday in Baltimore

I think I've been subtly brainwashed. Growing up, our kitchen had pictures of my parents eating crabs. With friends, with family, and with great enthusiasm. So now, as an adult, I associate celebrations with eating crabs. And thus, a slightly random idea was hatched for my 30th birthday.

I think I can say that I know how to eat a crab now, without someone putting it into cake form for me. I love food that comes with a weapon and protective clothing.

Where does one eat crabs, if possible? Why, in Maryland of course! I knew I would be flying solo to the US for a family wedding, to occur the day after my birthday. I also was running under the assumption my parents would be off camping in the wilderness during that period. So I arranged (in the vaguest sense of the word) to head down to Baltimore for a few days and see some of my most darling of friends to make the most of this slightly awkward scheduling.

Ashley (on the left, below) was my closest confidant in Cardiff before she relocated to John Hopkins, and Tracy Jill (looking fierce on the right, below) was my closest confidant at the NIH until I traipsed off to the UK and she left DC for Baltimore. My life is ever so slightly less for not having them physically nearby, and this visit was a much needed reconnection.

To our surprise and drunken delight, Baltimore was hosting "BronyCon" ... a large annual meeting for Bronys. What are Bronys, you ask? Well, I have learned that they are men who are obsessed, proudly, with My Little Pony. I'm sure they are lovely people, but en masse it was a very very surreal addition to our little pub crawl

I stayed with Ashley, and upon arrival we promptly drank a bottle of wine (followed by another) and caught up on the necessary gossip. The second day we visited her lab at Hopkins; her colleagues also moved there from Cardiff, so I had a nice mini reunion along with a tour of 'the sights.' (Highlight: I had just finished watching season 3 of the wire right before this trip, and we got to walk through the market where McNulty has his kids trail Stringer Bell.)

As an aside, I did feel Baltimore was somewhat strange, as a city. I can't tell what was a real impression and what was a pre-conception based on watching the Wire and hearing about Bodymore, Murderland, but it was genuinely interesting and occasionally unnerving how the city stopped and started. But for my birthday celebrations we stuck to the highly gentrified Fell's Point area on the harbor, so my parents didn't have to be worried.

You may have noticed that Andy featured in the first photo. "But Molly," you may be asking, "doesn't Andy live in Japan?" Well yes, yes he does. But he is also an absolutely amazing brother who flew into JFK and went straight to get an Amtrak train down to Baltimore to join in the evening fun. He was jetlagged, he was travel-weary, and yet he faced down crab picking and Bronycon pubs for ME. Well, the intercontinental travel was mostly to go to our cousin's wedding, but the extra bits were all mine.

So we ate crabs and went to a bunch of pubs. I drank too much and we stayed out too late, and Andy had to help me stumble delicately to BWI the next morning to get our flight to Pittsburgh. And we saw a goat wearing a diaper in the airport (no joke, but sadly no picture).  It was a damn fine way to usher in the next day/month/year/decade/whatever.

Feeling a bit blurry; I'm not as young as I once was...

Special thanks to Ashley (and George), Tracy Jill (and Matt), Nick (and Gemma), and of course Andy for giving me this present :)

And as usual, more photos can be found HERE.

An Oxford wedding

July brought us another celebration: our friends Dan and Rosie got married on a sunny summer day in the glorious New College chapel. We know the couple through music, which may help explain the absolutely fantastic trombone archway for Rosie's entrance...

The ceremony had beautiful music, with excellent organ and choir, and our bench of orchestra friends sang the hymns enthusiastically (and occasionally with harmony). We then trickled outdoors to greet Mr. and Mrs. McGowan in the grassy courtyard of the New College cloisters. Unfortunately, Dave and I did not manage much time with the bride and groom, but it was a wonderful reunion of Oxford music friends. A few of us occupied the afternoon with pizza and pints in a new gastropub before making our way to dance at the evening reception and ceilidh.

Please note my shiny new fascinator... Dave suggested I take the plunge and buy one, so we purchased this gem on the walk to the church. I was fascinated with it, to say the least.

Many congratulations to the happy couple; all our photos can be viewed in this album, enjoy!

Two weddings and a Poplet

This summer is full of weddings... everyone told me this would happen at some point, so now I'm officially in "that stage" where one by one my friends and family get hitched. It's a lot of time and money and travel, but also absolutely lovely to share in all the bubbling happiness.

First up this year was the wedding of Dave's brother. Peter and Mari have been together since the equivalent of high school, have spent many years of university apart while Peter was in Oxford and Mari in Cardiff (sound familiar?), and everyone was thrilled to see them make it official. The wedding was held in a register office and then guests walked to a nearby italian restaurant. It was smaller than other weddings I've been to, and everything was personal and laid back.

Not sure what Peter was saying here, but I love this photo.

Dave and I did have some jobs to do during the day... in addition to Dave being one of the witnesses, we were both drafted in for a slightly unusual musical ensemble. For the recessional, Dave, me, the bride's sister, and a friend of the couple played an arrangement of the Queen of Sheba written for four oboes. Odd? Certainly. But it was fun and made everyone smile (even the four of us). It's not too often that four oboes can get that reaction :)

Oboe quartet. And no, I never look attractive while playing the oboe.

More photos from the day can be seen here.


We also were invited to a wedding of two musical friends of ours that have played for years and years in the Oxford Millennium Orchestra (OMO, the one Dave conducts and that tours in Europe every summer). Natalie and Alex had a lucky burst of sunlight as they were married in a charming English village church near where they grew up, a little drive outside of Oxford.

During the space between the ceremony and evening reception, four of us drove our hired car to a nearby village where we had a few pints and an excellent meal at a gastropub. We rejoined the wedding party as the ceilidh band was starting up. If you don't know what a ceilidh (pronounced cay-lee) is, think of it as celtic/gaelic square dancing or line dancing. A caller takes you through the steps, like 'strip the willow' and the slightly dangerous spinning 'basket,' and the general feeling is of giddy dizziness. The effect was, I admit, amplified by the free-flowing wine :)

After a quick night's sleep, Dave and I headed out again, taking our trusty hire car to visit our friends now a few hours drive away. Laura and Tim Popkin were hitched sometime last year, and quickly started getting down to business by buying a house and having a baby. We were overdue to see both house and baby, and we found the most perfect day to visit.

James (still known as Poplet, which is what we called him long before he had a proper name) was adorable and quite patient with the two interlopers. Dave and I didn't mess things up too badly. Laura and Tim were delightful hosts, providing a BBQ feast in the blazing sunshine. It gets harder and harder to keep in contact with friends as they do the marriage/house/baby thing, but it is definitely worth it.

For more pictures from Nat&Alex's wedding and our visit to the Popkins, the full album can be seen here.

The Great American Family Trip of Autumn 2013

This September, Dave and I trekked across the Atlantic for the best of reasons... my uncle Bill got married! After two flight transfers we were scooped up by my cousins Emily and Lizzie at Indianapolis airport and deposited into a Holiday Inn full of my extended family.

Bill and Tracy Gallogly got hitched on the most spectacularly sunny of days, and looking through the photos you will see just how happy we all were. The bride looked gorgeous (bride and groom looked TAN), and everyone was smiling. This visit I especially liked reconnecting with my cousins; I think some of us naturally drifted apart over the last decade or so, as people moved away, got new jobs, got married, and got busy lives, but something in that process has stopped or even turned around. We're all still very different, but I loved the easy-going family thing that we seem to have aged into. The other excellent bit was how easy it was to drop Dave into the middle of the family chaos. I think he knows more names of distant relatives than I do, and I didn't have to worry at all when I wandered off and left him to fend for himself. So yes, bravo Dave, and bravo rest of family, you all work out nicely.

USA trip September 2013

After the wedding weekend, Andy headed back towards Japan while Dave and I joined my parents for the long drive home to New York. There we ate a LOT (it turns out I actually do like dry rub BBQ ribs), drank a fair bit (wine tasting out east at Channing Daughters winery), and enjoyed the sandy beaches and pumpkin farmstands of Long Island in the fall. One glorious day Dave and I invaded Brooklyn to gossip with the lovely Kate Stocker and putter across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset. It was perhaps my best visit home yet (having Andy would have been icing on the cake). I was sad to leave after only a week, but while in transit at Dublin Airport we managed to catch Bill and Tracy on their way back from their Ireland honeymoon. Not even a week of driving on the wrong side of the road could dim their newlywed happiness :)

Very proud of Dr. Dave

This weekend, Dave finally (officially) became Dr. David Patrick O'Neill, after a degree ceremony in the Sheldonian Theatre. The ceremony is mostly in Latin, and involves a costume change as you officially transfer to your new degree. The D.Phil. gown is bright red with big blue sleeves, and I think Dave (ahem, Dr. Dave) looks quite dashing in it. Just as in my own ceremony last year, the caretaker of the Sheldonian likes Dave and saved us the best seats in the house (also meaning we got slip in ahead of the sweating queue of people waiting outside). England is experiencing an epic sunny heatwave, and the audience was admittedly wilting by the end. Still, the bright sun was glorious for outdoor photography and the garden drinks reception at University College after the ceremony. Dave's parents came down for the weekend, and the four of us had a proper Oxonian visit complete with a (nearly) private dinner at Keble College and visit to the pub. I think Dave is quite pleased to acquire his new title, and Dr. O'Neill and Dr. Bright wish to thank everyone who helped get both of us to this point!

Dr. David O'Neill