2. The bride & groom said cool stuff to each other about being best friends, which they are, and which to my mind ought to be the first requirement for marriage; friendship, not lust. The groom held the bride's hands and after repeating cool stuff, said ‘I do’ & put the ring on the bride's finger. Then the bride held the groom’s hands and said the exact same things, ring, etc.;
3. The vows were said under a gorgeous, huge, garden arbor that Phil (groom) made and brought up for the occasion. The workmanship was incredible. I didn’t have my camera with me at that point or you’d HAVE to see a photo. It included the engraved crests of both families. Honestly – it was remarkable;
5. The priest had the audience promise to help the couple remember their vows etc. and the Audience said ‘We Do’! That was like soooo very wonderful, t’wasn’t a dry eye on the pier;
6. The bride & groom were so happy they were smiling, laughing, crying through the ceremony. Only ever saw such a happy couple getting hitched one other time; several kids and many happy moons ago when my cousin Dovin & his wife Jackie married (it was so cool, they held lit candles as they said their vows to each other). Both couples were the sort of matches you just know were preordained somewhere in heaven, the universe or both;
7. The ‘you may kiss the bride’ statement kiss was the freakn’ sexiest, Frenchy, ‘wholly crap does Phil know his mama is watching this?’ wedding kiss I’ve ever seen. Two thumbs - God only knows what else was - up;
8. The bride & groom’s
9. Two words: free bar;
10. Reception, up the short slope from the lake, in a
11. Three more words: barbeque reception dinner;
12. Just after dinner a sentimental music (think Izzy playing ‘Over the Rainbow on ukulele – pictures of bride, then groom growing up, then pictures of their lives together thus far. It must have sent at least half the hall boo-hooing with the sentiment of it all. You have never seen so much running mascara in one spot unless you viewed the losers of the last Little Miss Tart-lett kiddie pageant;
13. Wedding party getting down and dirty for some dancing in the cabin hall, mostly those under thirty who could still bend in more than one direction without risking injury;
14. Us old(ish) folk building a campfire, having loads o’ fun spitting mouthfuls of brandy into the flames to see the flames billow (how rich was that? Brandy fer spittin’ AND fer drinking!); and
15. Making paper balls out of the paper that topped off the fancy white linen from the tables and we tossed the balls into the fire for points. Mine kept bouncing off the logs; you’d be surprised how much skill it took.
I mean, what more could you want? A formal wedding that wound up into a bitchn’ party campfire scene AND nothing anywhere but happy people. I wonder what the rental shop will think when they get back the groom’s party’s smoke scented tuxedos? Like I said, best wedding Eh-vah!
I figured out Phil's parents and I've been friends about forty years now - count 'em, FORTY! It's stranger still when you realize that Joann and I are not a day over thirty.
I'm sitting here waiting for Jo & Gene to come down from Nevada City where they've been for the wedding & such the last few days. They'll stay with me tonight and tomorrow we're headed down to Fish Camp (yes, fish camp!) from which we'll tour Yosemite for a couple of days. You'll be hearing about that later in the week.
