Wedding Fare

Well!

What a wonderful wedding weekend we had! I'd love to share all the photos I took and all the fun we had, but there's just no way. Maybe a few vignettes?

My Beloved's brother, sister and sister-in-law came from the East coast to share in the fun, so we had the joy of family visitors heaped on all the others. His nephew and new wife also drove down from Sebastopol to complete the family fun.

Watching Katie's Dad (My Beloved) and Mom bring her down a grassy slope to the spot next to the lake in Temescal Park in Oakland where the groom was waiting. Katie's dress was a dream of palest, palest fog gray silk chiffon with chiffon roses and tickly little feathers along the bodice, and her "veil" was a little puff of net over one eye, more like a fascinator than a true veil. Even I got tearful - she is lovely.

After a touching ceremony highlighted with honest and heartfelt vows that the bride and groom wrote themselves, we all adjourned to picnic blankets on the grass for a sumptuous meal. The hors d'oeuvres came packed in picnic baskets complete with cheese boards, one for each blanket of four or five guests. We "snacked" our way through burrata and heirloom tomatoes, five different local cheeses and three different kinds of salumi, with a taste of pickled baby vegetables and marinated mushrooms, plus mixed nuts, epi bread from Acme and a little jug of red wine. Imagine our surprise when we realized that this was not the entire meal! A buffet line of grilled lamb and chicken, plus several delicious salads awaited. We did our manful best but I have to admit that we couldn't do justice to the main course.

All around us were families having fun - a Persian group with headscarves and lively children escaping to play in the shallows of the lake; an Hispanic family whacking away at a piñata and laughing; an African American family playing ball on the grass; some joggers running by, craning their necks to take in all the fun; a few folks fishing in a desultory fashion next to the "No Fishing" sign; and our wedding party sitting and lying on blankets. Everyone was having a beautiful day outdoors. Katie and her new husband, by choosing all the festive sites - welcome dinner, bridal brunch, wedding and after-wedding party with dancing at their house - to be held in Oakland, had hoped to counteract some of the bad news one hears and reads about the city where they live. As I looked around at all the diverse groups enjoying the park together, I knew they had hit their mark - and then some!

When the sun set and we adjourned to Katie and André's house for dancing and cake where My Beloved and I, plus a whole bunch of willing workers, had earlier tidied and planted and spiffed, it was transformed with fairy lights and a sound system into the perfect place for a party.

We danced, we tasted two kinds of cake, we toasted the bride and groom. We are awash in pictures and memories: the bride and her sister doing a silly jitterbug together; a line of guests (including me!) bopping to a '60s tune; shifting groups of family and friends talking animatedly under the twinkling lights and over happy music.

One of things I have always admired about this family is their sense of occasion. They have a gift for making things special and uniquely theirs. The wedding was no exception - everyone commented about it.

I'll sleep for a week and so, I suspect, will the bride and groom. But we will have happy dreams.