Hello everybody…

Looking around, we’ve very intentionally planned a day where we get to spend the afternoon with our best mates. And because of this, this room is really genuinely full of our absolute nearest and dearests, whether you’re family, friends from school or uni or people from work that are now more friends than colleagues. By some miracle, having turned this around in just a few months, 98% of people were able to make it and are sat here with us, including some of you switching shifts or even rearranging holiday timescales to make it to our day. We’re so grateful for this and so just a massive thank you from me and Aaron.  

So, I’ll start with Aaron’s side of the gang.  

• The Griffiths’s! Aaron’s mum and dad – Dawn and Neil, nan, Avis, Aaron’s sister and partner, Hannah and Jordy and, of course, Bud the dog who had other plans today. From the holidays we’ve had in Mallorca and Turkey to the trips out for curries and roasts, we’ve had a huge amount of fun. But the memories that stick with me the most are when we’re hanging out in the Griffiths living room after an evening out, with Bud running around, not believing his luck that we’re all back home again – playing whatever game we’re all into at the time, Aaron making us espresso martinis and Neil playing – or at least trying to play – Wii Golf. Thank you for welcoming me aboard the Griffiths gang – and thank you for lending me your surname for the rest of my life!

And then Aaron’s two groomsman:

• Jacob or or JB who’s out in Australia and online over there… Jacob is one third of JAK – Jacob, Aaron and Kat and someone who we couldn’t do today without, even if you are on the other side of the world. We love you to pieces, enjoy the last bit of your time in Oz and get home. We’ve got some Uno and a series of Squid Games to catch up on.  
• And Lewis or Kirk. Aaron and Kirk have been friends since they were at school and you can tell because they have their own little language that people who have been friends for so long often do. They call each other ‘player’ and have some kind of competition going on where they sneeze in each other’s faces… I thankfully haven’t seen them do this since before Covid though. Despite being everyone and their dog’s groomsman, Kirk has put the same amount of energy into being Aaron’s as the rest – organising a brilliant surprise stag and single-handedly managing Aaron to make sure the suits were sorted and we were happy so just a huge thank you, Kirk, or, as Aaron calls you, Irk.

And then, finally, on Aaron’s side:

• Hannah. HG to me and simply ‘g’ to Aaron and he ‘g’ to you – Aaron’s Best Woman. I asked Aaron to sum up his favourite stories of ‘g’ and they’re all little snippets from holidays from over the years: his memory of Hannah falling asleep mid-way through biting into a burger in Disneyland or in Turkey, when they were body boarding, a big wave came along leading to Hannah doing some somersaults and… her bikini bottoms falling down. And that last one was just last year wasn’t it, HG? Hannah, thank you for being there for Aaron whenever he has a thousand questions about whatever latest clothing item he’s looking to buy from Vinted or when he’s panicking about buying me a Christmas present, or even a ring… G, you are the only Best Woman Aaron was ever going to have; thank you for welcoming me into the Griffiths gang from day one, I’ve loved doing our final bit of growing up together and thank you for being the best little sister to Aaron.  

And, now, my side…

• The Terry’s first! Tina, Chris, Jordan and Thais. I was speaking to Aaron about the best Terry memories from over the years and we agreed that they’ve, without a doubt, been made at our games nights playing Ticket To Ride, Throw Throw Burrito or Skull King. But my favourite part of these nights is that you guys have always, always, got onboard with me when it comes to ganging up on Aaron and doing our best to work as a team to make sure he doesn’t win. Even though he likely ends up winning anyway and, if he doesn’t, then Thais does. Even so, here’s to sabotaging Aaron’s games night success forever.

And then over to my bridesmaid and bridesman gang; I’m extremely lucky to have the army of besties I do around me and I hope you don’t mind me being a little indulgent and using this time to give them each a little moment today – to introduce them all to you. Starting with:

• Rachel, Rach or RT: I met Rach in reception and once we’d worked out how to be both best mates and the greatest rivals when it came to the weekly spelling test, the rest was history; we had a childhood of playing Singstar, scooting around on our Heelys and watching Hillary Duff movies together. Thank you for being just a phone call away now you live in Norfolk, even if you’re not longer around the corner from me like the old days. But, more importantly, thank you for always being ready to belt out Kelly Clarkson’s Because of You with me at a moment’s notice.  
• And then, Courtney, Court or CBL: Court and I met soon after where we quickly became not just besties but also co-authors, penning classics like The Giraffe in the Scarf and The Parrot and the Carrot alongside balancing our infant school career. Back when Courtney got married, a moment we often reminisce about is when she was feeling a little overwhelmed at her hen do and someone caught how I decided to rectify this on camera which is now one of our favourite photos: A classy snap of us, just down the road from Café Mambo in Ibiza: Me quite literally pouring jagger down her throat. So, if anyone sees us discreetly tucked away in a corner with Courtney holding a tequila bottle later today – no you didn’t.  
• Sarah or S: Sarah and I met in secondary school but our friendship properly blossomed in English and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it was the only lesson where my report card would read: A bit chatty! But it’s hard not to be with S and one of my favourite things about hanging out with her is learning about whatever new real-life drama or tragedy she’s learnt every single detail about via TikTok. If you’ve not met Sarah before and you want to test this out today, I highly recommend asking her why Stephen Mullhern was suspended from the Magic Circle.
• Tarryn or Taz: Taz and I met in sixth form and was mine and Aaron’s first ever third wheel – joining us in drinking copious amounts of Sambuca shots on our Pompey nights out in Tiger Tiger when we were 18. Taz, whether you and I have jetted off to New York, are hanging out in Five Guys in Whiteley or now playing card games with Aaron and your lovely wife, Cat, on a Friday evening, I always leave feeling like we could’ve spent loads more time together. And that’s because you are, without fail, always at least an hour late. Sorry – Aaron asked me to put that one in.
• Cal, Cal the Pal or Calboy: Callum and I met in the first couple of weeks at uni, both quickly realising the degree we’d chosen wasn’t what we hoped for but at least we’d found someone we could moan about that with for three years. Cal is the kind of best mate where we can go from having a serious conversation about our shared passion for writing to lounging about on the sofa and becoming the worst versions of ourselves as we judge the contestants on Married At First Sight Australia. Given our Married at First Sight experience, me and Aaron will come to you later today for some advice that I’m sure will rival the love experts’.

Rach, Court, Sarah, Taz and Cal – thank you for coming together and organising a better hen do for me than I could have ever planned for myself. I’ll be reliving that night in my mind for a long time to come. 

And the final part of my bride gang is, of course:

• My Best Man, Jordan, Jord or simply, bro: I feel extremely lucky to be someone whose best mate is their big brother. From our 29 years together of being siblings, we can belly laugh whether we’re sat in a car attempting to master an Australian accent, spending a birthday at Lee On Solent’s arcade or making one of our notoriously disgusting hot chocolates. From spending hours playing Star Wars Battlefront 2 or binge watching the Avengers films when we were kids, to now going on city breaks together, going to great foodie restaurants or one time over the last few years even running 20 miles together on Christmas Eve, thank you for being my Best Man and the best bro – my biggest supporter and the loudest laugh when I pull off a punchline.  

And then last but not least… Aaron!

I thought I’d tell you a fairly recent story about Aaron which I feel best represents how we most love to spend our time together whilst also summing up absolutely everything I admire about him.

Back in January, when people were taking on challenges like Dry January, me and Aaron were on the hunt for a Guinness because, you might remember, there was a bit of a shortage.

So, one Saturday afternoon, we ended up at one of our locals, the White Horse.

After a bit of darts and a celebration that we’d finally found some Guinness, locals were chalking their names up on the board for pool – winner stays on.  

I asked Aaron if he was gonna put his name up. He looked immediately nervous and the answer was ‘no’.

So, when he turned around for a sip of his pint, I chalked up his name.

Aaron started off a little clumsily but he took on local after local, letting each know that he “just got lucky”.  

But, as the Guinnesses kept flowing, as did his confidence.

Slowly but surely the punters got to know the less humble version of Aaron.  

And the less humble version of me, to be honest.

One game, I took every other one of Aaron’s shots and I managed to even pull off potting the winning shot. This was actually the definition of “lucky” but more Guinnesses had been flowing and so we were obviously going to milk it. A small crowd of locals that had either been beaten by Aaron or were probably about to be were hanging about and so, to celebrate our win, we did a little run up towards each other, finishing it off with a chest pump.

Safe to say, we’ve not been back to White Horse since.

Anyway, all of this to say that between 2:30PM and 10PM on a random Saturday afternoon in January, Aaron drunk 11 pints of Guinness.

Although drunker, louder and more confident than the Aaron that wouldn’t put his name up on the board, as we were getting our coats on, he didn’t seem like he’d drunk 11 Guinnesses.

That was until we exited the pub and the cold January air hit him.

On our walk home, Aaron was running down the street, climbing lampposts and trying to get me to sit in a trolley so he could push me home.

But the absolute highlight of the walk home for me was this:

As we were crossing the road – a road with zero cars on given it was a Saturday evening in early January, Aaron stood in the middle with his arms extended like a lollipop man.  

As he did so, he declared proudly with a massive grin on his face to the non-existent crowd:

“Stop everybody! Stop… there’s a special princess crossing the road!”

Although silly and tipsy and it’s safe to say that Aaron was not his best self the day after, this story sums up everything I love about Aaron and about hanging out with my best mate.

Aaron is both extremely humble but quietly confident, quietly competitive and well… as a few of you guys know that meet up with him to play pool and darts each week… can be quite good at stuff.

That night in January, he was all of these things. Not everyone gets to see these sides of Aaron and the massive amounts of playfulness he brings to my every day but I feel like I saw it even from the first night we properly met in March 2014 to go on a grubby night with our college lot. From the first Sourz shot you bought me in Spoons, to when we linked arms and you dared me to walk to the Gosport ferry without stepping on the cracks, or when you laughed at me because – Kirk, Courtney, you might remember – I couldn’t get into Astoria because I was singing Let It Go from Frozen to the bouncer.  

Aaron, you’re my favourite person to be ridiculous with, to get too drunk with and to stumble home with. I hope we have many more nights like this January one ahead of us but, more than this… I hope I always get to be your special princess crossing the road.