The Wedding, Part 2

      With such a beginning as the bride's arrival by canoe (see last week's post) and the beautiful procession of the wedding party, in various purples,

the children tossing rose petals in our path and then pelting us with them when we stood under the arch,

the wedding was propelled into a swirl of beauty and meaningfulness that fulfilled my goal to give people an experience that would make it worth their while to travel whatever distance they had come to be there. 

        "I don't know which part I liked best," people said later. (No one mentioned the big tent, provided by Mike's family, as the best part, but when it started raining, I was sure it was.) In truth, each part was wonderful. Below are descriptions of some parts, to give you the flavor of the whole.

The ceremony: Noel Chatroux told stories about Mike and me and how we met, then read John Donne's poem, "The Good Morrow," which begins, "I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I / Did till we loved," a very appropriate line. (Noel read the poem beautifully, and it's one I love, but no one  else mentioned it as a favorite.) Although Mike had particularly asked for some mention of the importance of community to marriage, Noel didn't talk about that. Instead he embodied it by asking the audience to join him in the proclamation of marriage by repeating after him, line by line,

                        "It is our honor,

                        here at the holy center of the universe,

                        in this crucible of love and truth,

                        with the blessing of our ancestors,

                        of the rivers, mountains, and forests,

                        and the support of all living beings,

                        to pronounce Mike and Diana husband and wife."

Our guests loved this part.

The vows: Mike and I had written our own vows. Each of us said, in various forms of beautiful words, metaphors, and sincerity, "I promise to listen to you, to love you, to be with you always." Some people said the vows were the best part of the ceremony. Certainly it was one of my favorite parts. I cherish those words.

The spiral: Another frequently mentioned favorite was the spiral led by my daughter-in-law, Leah.  After Mike and I had been pronounced, by the entire community, husband and wife, we walked to the center of the field, then turned to face the audience again. Leah told everyone to join hands – "Don 't let go!" – and make a big circle around us. Then she broke into the circle by taking the hand of the youngest child and leading her and, linked by hands, the whole circle of friends in a spiral closer and closer to Mike and me in the center. When she reached us, she reversed direction, still holding hands with the child behind her, and started back. In this way the entire line of people spiraled towards Mike and me, wishing us congratulations as they passed us.

Wedding music: I didn't hear Ela's music for the hour before the ceremony, of course, since I was up the river, waiting for my cue to set forth in the canoe, but people told me later how much they enjoyed hearing Ela play his Stamenphone and Metalphor and witnessing those sculpture-instruments. He played the tinkling little Rumitone during the procession, then the Stamenphone again for the spiral, accompanied by our friend Rick Faist on drums. Ela's music was another frequently mentioned favorite part.

The dinner: The lasagna pot-luck worked like all potlucks: some people got great food; others had different luck. But there was plenty of food and plenty of wine, and when I looked around at the tables of guests, I saw that the seating arrangements Mike and I had meticulously worked out were good. Everyone was having a good time.

The cake: Allegra, Mike's daughter, had made our cake: layers of chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting and orange cake with cream cheese frosting, the entire thing mounded like a mountain, covered with chocolate icing, through which wound a trail leading to two tiny hiker figures on top. Mike and I fed each other cake, as bride and groom would traditionally do, symbolic of our newly formed lives of sharing. The cakes were delicious.

My purple hair: The purple highlights in my hair were a hit of the evening. The children particularly liked this part.
The Flamingo: Our emcee, who was Mike's niece, Laura, announced that Mike had a hidden artistic side, that he had made the stained-glass sculpture of a flamingo people had seen by the cake, and that we would draw names from a hat to determine who would take the flamingo home. I, too, had an artistic side, she said, so there was a poem to go with the flamingo. Somewhat to my embarrassment, I drew Ela's name from the hat, but everyone cheered, and Ela was delighted. I read the poem aloud, which people enjoyed.
The Béoncé skit: As a surprise for Mike, I did a skit with my sisters about "if you like a thing, you should put a ring on it," from "All the Single Ladies," by Béoncé, ending with a Béoncé flash of rings with some of the girls at the wedding, then my thanking Mike "for this ring, this day, this rest-of-my-life happiness" and asking him if he would dance me to the end of love.

 The dancing: Leonard Cohen's "Dance Me to the End of Love" was the "first dance" Mike and I had picked out. Alice DiMicele sang it beautifully. I loved having this band play at my wedding! Their style of music was perfect for listening and for dancing, and Alice had chosen a repertoire of songs appropriate for a wedding. Mike and I had practiced a little extra twirl for our "first dance," which we pulled off perfectly. Other couples joined us, and from then on, the dance floor was always full.

The send-off: Included at each place setting at the tables was a small bag of lavender buds. As Mike and I passed through the crowd to the parking lot and our get-away car, our guests tossed lavender buds over us. The air was suddenly scented with lavender. Mike and I got in the car and were driven to the White House B&B in Medford, where we would spend the night, full of happiness, full of love, and full to the brim with the joy of such an occasion with so many friends and family.

Lying in the rose petals after the procession