At Pendennis castle, a wedding party finished their breakfast then photographic sessions in time for the bride to be whisked away by the whirling winds of passion and tears of happiness mixed with the rain. Beautiful. A groom tackling a kilt would have added a cherry to my experiential cake.
Quaker weddings. Highly recommended.
The couple marry each other. No third party symbolic proxy as a represenative of a god. No-one gives the bride away. The couple make a public commitment to each other in a way that suits their own personal relationship with their god. Everyone shares meditative silence, interspersed with thoughts, poems and music as the spirit provides, followed by tea and cake. Then all the guests sign a wedding certificate for the couple to keep.
There is a fabulous peacefulness, equality and equanimity about the occassion.
The couple used a classic VW camper van to take them from the ceremony to the field that hosted the reception. The same camper van provided the bride and groom with a place to spend their wedding night.
In the reception field, a marquee tent hosted a blue grass band, bands with brass sections, inflatable chairs, and oodles of wedding guests. The field also hosted the guests tents, fireworks, fire and pathways of candles carved through the grass. During the fireworks I snuck off to keep warm by a fire where I was leant a much needed pair of long, black, thermal leg warmers. All around excellentness.
For all your wedding-guest transportation from church to reception veunue needs. A red London bus wedding special. As you can imagine, this was the highlight of the wedding for me.
The reception venue in a cricket pavilion, while a match was in progress, was also so wonderfully English that soppiness abounded.
<soppiness warning>
Just a few of the too numerous to enumerate highlights:
I promise to allow myself to be silly around you and to enjoy you being silly around me as well.
Tables were decorated in childrens TV themes, with models and soft toys, and each guest as a character, I was Soo. As you can see, even Bagpuss joined the fun.
<soppiness temporarily suspended>
first Man In Panama Hat (MIPH): that is the most striking womans hat at this wedding, I didn’t recognise you earlier, is it new?
Wendy: I have a tan. The hat’s about 20yrs old, from Cornwall, it’s my favourite hat, though I rarely have a special-enough occassion to wear it (subdues jumping impulse based on the excitement of being in the company of 2 other people wearing hats).
first MIPH: it did SAY Cornwall to me (giggles).
second MIPH: it is the ONLY woman’s hat at this wedding (giggles).
Headgearless guest: Isn’t it good of the Bride and Groom to arrange a wedding so that we can all wear our favourite clothes (smiles).
On this fabulously sunny and very cheerful day the female wedding guests were not ruining their immaculate coiffures by squishing them under hats. Instead a rash of fascinators were jiggling with the movement of their wearers.
