Warning: Photos are a repeat of what I posted on Facebook. These are for the benefit of my Voxers.
We had a superb time in Truckee, California at our Joe's wedding. It was a 4 day holiday, but it honestly felt like 3 weeks. Our good friends, Ali and Wendy picked us up from the Reno airport and it took about 10 seconds before it felt like we hadn't been apart. The last time we saw everyone was three years ago, before we moved to Victoria. That, surely, is the sign of a good friendship. I was busting out with excitement to see Charlie and Joe and to meet Emily.
I knew we had a B&B to stay in, but I hadn't realized that the owner's had actually turned over the entire place for the wedding. So we had somewhere as home base and cooked all our meals together. Most of the younger people, including the bride and groom, camped at the Lake. I thought that since I spend my entire days on the soil, I would like a bed for my holiday, and there was definitely room in the Inn. Emily asked me, the Canadian, to make chilli for everyone, which I thought was crazy since most of them were American, but there you have it. Anyway, she served it in enormous sourdough bread buns. It was a hit. The only snag at the place was that neither I, nor the Brits, could find a teapot anywhere. Tragedy. There were coffee pots. There were about 40 mugs. There was no teapot. Then I discovered that the Americans thought that a kettle and a teapot were the same thing. What? So we had to have a lesson in how to brew a decent cup of tea. Turns out, that most of the Americans just put a teabag in a cup and stick it in the mircowave. Yikes.
We had two full days before the wedding and there were only 40 people for the wedding so it really felt like a community. Joe and Emily had wanted their wedding to be about bringing family and friends together for the weekend and in that they succeeded. It was one of those weddings that was not all about 'the show' or even all about the bride and groom, it was about friendship. We totally enjoyed meeting the people from different parts of their worlds. And of course, it was great to just hang out with the Agers and grandparents.
The wedding was beautiful. Sweet. Perfect. The setting looked a bit Scottish. The flowers for the men didn't arrive, so Emily asked if I could whip something up, so I gathered Thistles, Asters, Grass and Sedges and some funky chartreuse lichen and tied it all together with some Black Watch ribbon and it was perfect. Joe and Em wanted everyone to enjoy the day of the wedding, so we all met up at the Lake and had a picnic and lazed about until mid afternoon. Then people filtered away to get ready.
Graham, Joe's pal from Oxford, performed the ceremony. They each had their sister stand in for them. And the rest of the family and friends stood around the couple in a semi-circle. They had a lovely moment when they washed each other's feet in the river to symbolize servanthood to each other. And another lovely moment when they each took a balloon and went to the river's edge and spoke privately to each other about what part of their life they did not want to bring into the marriage and then they let the balloons go. Simple and effective ceremony.
The reception was at the B&B and it was a lovley meal eaten outside under the stars. For the tables, I had gathered Pine boughs, more thistle, yarrow and
grasses and laid it out simply on the white tablecloths. It looked great with the hurricane lamps.
The next day was a huge brunch. Ali had written a song for Joe and Emily and he and C worked it up and then we all sang to them. Granddad taught himself the uke and sang a song and Grandma told a hilarious joke. And then people just melted away. We were the last to leave in the afternoon, so we all went into Truckee to poke about the shops and have a coffee out, courtesy of Granddad. It was a great family time and there were many many tears when we left. You would even say, there was sobbing.
Read and post comments |
Send to a friend
]]>