The daughter's performance was a resounding success: I'd only ever heard her singing rather timidly in small rooms, and was impressed myself at how the sound of her voice filled the church without amplification. One of those present even asked if she was getting voice production lessons!

I did the last line as an intro, she sang it in Irish, I played the whole tune as an instrumental break and then she sang the English translation kindly provided by Jolynda.

Of course the wretch left it till the last minute to "rehearse" with me - i.e. find a tin whistle compatible with her voice range. So I ended up contributing with a Hohner alto G which I hardly ever use, and on which it's as good as impossible not to squeak the lower notes. If we'd had more time to prepare I could have done it on a soprano D, but I was afraid she might start off in the wrong key.

However, nobody seemed to mind, and I even caught some of the reflected glory, the bride herself liked the added touch of the whistle (which was unannounced).

I didn't mention that the wedding was that of my nephew, who is half-English and half-French, to a French girl, and that the wedding took place on Belle-Ile-en-Mer, an island off the coast of Brittany which was repeatedly fought over between England and France. So Anglo-French relations were part of the jokey theme of the wedding, which was done bilingually for the benefit of the English side of the family.

The reception took place in a Vauban former fortress, and as a bonus, in a slightly unorthodox syncretic admixture of British army regimental tradition, I was asked to "pipe in" the English-style wedding cake. So I got to play one of my favourite tunes, Séamus Ennis's "Gold Ring" on the musical plumbing, which was another enormous success.

All in all a successful outing, and thanks for the collective contributions of Mudcatters.