Last week Mike and I had the most fabulous wedding ever. Truly, I think that's so. Listen to this beginning (I'll write about the rest of the wedding in a later post) and see if you don't agree.
Our guests and all the wedding party except for me (the bride); my brother, Lee; and my grandnephew Isaac; assembled at River Crest Ranch on the Upper Applegate River. If the sun wasn't exactly shining that day, at least it wasn't exactly washed out by rain, either. Mike's family had generously provided a large tent, anyway, so no one had to worry about weather. My son, Ela, was playing music on his Stamenphone and Mealphor as people gathered. At the appointed time, he gave a grand blow on the conch, and Mike led the wedding party, followed by all the guests, across the broad expanse of green grass and down a bank to the trail above the river.
Lee, Isaac, and I were waiting in a canoe upriver on the other shore. When we heard the conch again, Lee cried, "That's it!" and we pushed off and headed down the river.
The river was flowing fast. It had been so fast these past several weeks that Mike and I had worried about my going down it in a canoe, so the weekend before the wedding, we asked a friend who is a river guide to look at it for us.
"There's no problem going down this in a canoe," he said, looking at the river, so the three of us took a practice run. Our successful landing assured Mike and me that the bride's entrance by canoe could be done.
Before the rehearsal the day before the wedding, Lee, a practiced river runner; Isaac, a canoeing novice and enthusiastic bowman; and I made another practice run. We launched easily from the calm pool at the edge of the river, Lee facing the canoe upstream before turning it into the current. Down we went. The tricky bit came at the end of the run, when we had to swing into an eddy to keep from being swept into the rapids. The eddy would take us to the take-out place below the trail where all the wedding guests would be watching. Unfortunately, Lee started the turn into the eddy slightly too late and had to fight the current to keep us from being swept into the rapids. He managed to land us successfully, to everyone's relief.
A few hours later, when we came down the river for the rehearsal itself, Lee underestimated the turn, and we banged into the large rock at river's edge, bow head-on, BAM! Lee backed us into the current, then turned onto the beach.
The day of the wedding, Lee, Isaac, and I sat in the canoe at the launch site, waiting, I in my long white wedding gown, holding a gorgeous bouquet of colorful flowers, my bangs and the front edges of my hair dyed purple. (The wedding theme was lavender.) Lee was in a purple hat with a white feather, and he and Isaac both wore purple shirts. When Lee cried "That's it!" at the sound of the conch, Isaac cast off, and Lee turned us into the current. As the wedding guests caught sight of us coming down the river in our red canoe, they gave a great cheer.
I waved my bouquet high over my head. The cheers increased. I was told later that I was beaming and that Isaac looked terrified as Lee made what turned out to be a very accurate turn into the eddy. His timing was perfect, and, to the cheers of the crowd, we landed gracefully on the beach.
Mike, looking splendid in his tails and purple vest, was waiting there to receive me, his bride. He reached out his hand to help me from the canoe and gave me a big kiss before taking my arm and leading me through the crowd up the hill to the green lawn, followed by the wedding party.
We waited at the edge of the green while the wedding guests took their seats.
Then our flower-strewing attendants—Mike's four grandchildren, my granddaughter, and her cousin—spread rose petals in our path as we made our way across the green to the wedding platform to stand under the grapevine wedding arch Mike had made, its four legs anchored in a part of hiking boots and a pair of ski boots. Now flower-bedecked, it framed Mike and me as our attendants—my two sisters, Lee, and Isaac on one side; Mike's two daughters, brother, and nephew on the other; all in various purple garb—fanned on either side of us. The flower-strewing attendants threw the rest of their rest petals on us, and our officiant stepped to the microphone to begin the ceremony.
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