More of the Wedding Saga

What good trilogies are out there? Matrix was pretty good, but I thought it lost some of the magic as it went on. Star Wars was essentially two trilogies, and the first set (Episodes 4-6) did pretty well, if you don't pay too much attention in Episode 6 to the Ewoks or the dialogue. Lord of the Rings! Ah, there we go. Well, our ceremonies are kind of like that, but without the, oh, orcs, the baalrog, without Christopher Lee, and without quite so much sword play (of course, there was some, this is me and Jen, you know).

And so, it's time for Peter and Jenny Get Married, Part III: The Final Ceremony!

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Imagine: seats are set up for a ceremony in front of a quaint light house, and nearby a tent is set up on the grass field between the Maritime Museum and the Decoy Museum. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, it's warm but not too warm, it's a beautiful day for a 6 pm wedding ceremony!

Well. It's beautiful until about 5 pm. Hmm. The clouds roll in, and let's just say the angels above were crying tears of joy for the union of me and Jen. Ooh, and they cried a lot. Apparently they were quite joyful.

So we move to the backup space, the Maritime Museum. But in a way, this worked out well for us. You know how, with weddings there's so much energy into making sure everything is "perfect"? Well, we didn't have to worry about that anymore, so I think it made things a bit looser and free form. And fortunately for us, everybody who was there for the wedding was ready to "go with it"! First, the guests that were already there carted in chairs from outside and set them up inside. Meanwhile, I set up the laptop and some speakers and made sure it was working right by playing -- what else? -- Niel Sedaka's "Laughter in the Rain." (My friend Laurie Felton took over as "wedding DJ" for the remainder of the evening.)

Jen arrives. I could tell not because I saw her, but because I saw a whole bunch of women with very large umbrellas (obviously, protecting the dress!) arrive at the front door. So we got into place. People sat. Up center (you theatre folks know what that means) was Reverend Barry Male, Jr. (a Methodist minister, and Jen's brother). The music starts -- Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World by Israel Kamakawiwo Ole'. Groomsmen (my little bro Matthew and friend Tom Felton) escort mothers and bridesmaids in (Jen's friend Paula and sister-in-law Sara), and then comes my best man Phil (aka my big brother) and Jen's maid-of-honor Jamie (aka her cousin). And then the flower girl, Kate, comes down the aisle. Kate had sprinkled most of the petals early on her walk, so in those last dozen feet or so she started "sprinkling" petals one at a time, so that she wouldn't run out too soon. Then Jen came in, escorted by her dad. A vision of beauty (Jen, not her dad, though he is a handsome man in his own right) in a cream white dress with accents of green.

By the way, I wore a nice white button-down shirt with French cuffs, green slacks, and . . . sandals! The groomsmen also wore sandals, as instructed. Ties were not worn by us, and were generally discouraged for the witnesses. A joyous occasion should be a comfortable occasion.

(Is that what the people attending are called? Witnesses? Sounds like a trial. Insert joke here.)

Okay -- Rev. Barry begins the ceremony. Things went fairly traditionally and simply, but with a couple of variations. During the ceremony Jenny and I said a few special things to each other. People laughed, they cried, they liked it better than Cats (really, people laughed and cried. And none of them had decided to go to Cats that day). The other fun little thing was Kate, who was not in the best spot to see the show -- she was "on stage" with us, next to her mom, Sara, so she could only see Jenny's back -- so Kate kept stepping forward an in to see better, and then Sara would pull her back. I thought it was cute.

(The picture up top is of Kate with her finger up one nostril, the day before the ceremony.)

Okay, we finished the fun little ceremony, and (Rev.) Barry presented us to the crowd. Applause, pictures galore, and cheering! Many of these folks are theatre people, after all. We walked down the aisle, followed by the "entourage" -- people didn't hear our exit music at first, not until the applauding and cheering died down. And then they heard The Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog. A perfect song, for us.

Finally, the reception. Still rainy, and under a tent that was too small (the rental place said the tent was big enough for 80 people to sit comfortably, but they were wrong). But everyone had a good time. Maybe it was the good food. Maybe it was the excellent Boordry's Vidal Blanc, or the Coronas. But I think it was the beverage that was served in a fountain: Lynchburg Lemonade. Mmm, yummy. Although my dad seemed to be most fond of the Boordry's. Thanks to Pat for driving.

Coming soon, the final chapter of the Wedding Saga: Manatees!