Surprisingly Less Vocal

Devoted partner and I spent the weekend in and around Durham, North Carolina for our friend, Ariane's wedding. Obviously, of our adventures, there will be posts, but I wanted to concentrate today on the wedding aspect of the weekend.

Ariane is a performer from a family deeply into performing and with many deeply performy friends. Notably a passel of Gilbert & Sullivan singers. It is my personal prejudice that Gilbert & Sullivan singers take every possible opportunity to sing Gilbert & Sullivan and so I had some apprehension about the weekend. Also there were to be many many people who danced well at this wedding, distinguishing it from most weddings where no one can dance. Here I would be in the minority of no ones. (Also, I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but dancers are a fit bunch, which can hurt a bit in the self-esteem department for the slightly more rounded among us.)

And there was some singing. I'll admit, I was part of it, having been asked by the bride to be part of the chorale that took the role often given to the chamber musicians. But surprisingly little singing. There was dancing which, thank goodness, I was no part of at all. Instead we were treated to an incredible dance piece that, to my untrained eye, could only be described as human kinetic sculpture. And yes, there was a little bit of Gilbert & Sullivan. But a very little bit. And everything seemed to fit.

There are weddings that are ostentatiously unconventional where you wonder why the bride and groom felt they had to try so hard to be different and then there are weddings that are unconventional because the bride and groom felt a certain way about how they wanted a wedding to be. Yes, this was an unconventional wedding complete with no officiant and Krispy Kreme donuts in place of a cake, and every little quirky thing worked and made the whole seem natural and un-stilted. Of course these components were necessary, you would say, this is who the bride and groom are!

When we went out to get barbecue last night, then, we were excited to run into the other stragglers from the weekend. I like a wedding that gives guests a lot of time to get to know one another and through rehearsals and rehearsal dinners and weddings and after-weddings and brunches, we spent a nice bit of time with a new set of people. I don't know what brides and grooms hope their guests get out of the nuptial party, or if they think about that at all, but this wedding can be added to our fortunate list of weddings that were a pleasure to attend.