Wow! It’s been almost two months since I last wrote a blog post. Between then and now I have made another trip to Devon to record my second appearance with Dick and Dom, I’ve got married, had a short holiday in the Lake District, recorded a new DVD for children’s magicians, spent a week entertaining our niece Lola and showing her the sights of Derbyshire, flown to Tennessee to attend the Kidabra convention and MC the Gala show, then had a few days in a secluded log cabin in the smoky mountains!

I’ll try to give a full review of Kidabra 2012 in my next post, but I feel it would be a little remiss of me not to talk a little bit about my wedding to the lovely Tamar Chappell, AKA Barmy Bella, children’s entertainer.

Tamar and I met (quite fittingly) at the Kidology Magic Convention in Wolverhampton last September (2011). We’d chatted online before in a professional capacity, but this was the first time I ever saw her face to face. Things happened very quickly from that moment on. By October, we had confessed our feelings for one another. By November, we had moved in together and by February this year we were engaged. I’m not one to rush into these things, but when you finally meet the right person, you just know.

Our wedding was not a big extravagant affair – it is second time round for both of us and we felt we’d rather spend money on travelling and enjoying our lives together than blow it all on one day. Several good friends from the magic world were in attendance. along with loved ones from both our families.

Our wedding – photo by Clive ‘Emazdad’ Helmsley

The ceremony itself was at Chrsterfield Registry office  – it got a nice laugh when the registrar pronounced us husband and wife with the words ‘You may now update your facebook statuses’ and we both promptly got out our iPhones.

Our reception was in the Olde House hotel  – after the speeches we played a little video compiled of clips from people who couldn’t make it to the wedding. Here’s the video – there are a few in-jokes, but even those who weren’t in the know found most of it funny:

After a great day of celebration, it was off to the lakes for a short honeymoon at the Old Vicarage at Ambleside. It was incredibly relaxing and we managed to pick the only 4 days of sunshine that July had to offer. Couldn’t have been better!

That just about wraps it up for this post. In short, I am now married to the woman of my dreams and life is very exciting at the moment.

My next post will be a review of Kidabra 2012 – it was definitely one of the best magic conventions I’ve ever attended!

See you soon!