there went the bride

We're home after a lovely three days in San Diego.  The weather was uniformly gorgeous, the hotel comfortable an, in contrast to our usual hotel stays, quite luxe, with a huge flat screen TV hung on the wall of the living room and another, smaller one in the bedroom, a dishwasher in the kitchen, a newspaper delivered at the door on Sunday morning.  Of course, it was the San Diego Union/Tribune masquerading as a newspaper, but it had a couple of good travel articles!  We caught a cab to the airport for an 11:30 flight home and, by the time we made it into the garage, Alex and Emily had already settled in for a 2-night stay.

And now to the wedding.  We strolled down 6th Avenue to the cathedral for the 4 o'clock nuptuals.  There was a fine turnout of enthusiastic family and friends to witness the marriage and wish Heather and Ben well.  She was accompanied down the aisle by her beautiful red-headed 6 year old daughter, Audrey.  This was the cause of many "ohhs" and smiles.  They were married by the Episcopal priest who had been dean of St. Paul's  before he became Dean of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.  Something has happened to the marriage liturgy while I've not been paying attention.  No more "Dearly Beloved, we are gathered together here and in the sight of God to join together this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony . . ." etc.  No more "I now pronounce you Husband and Wife" or in fact any mention of the word "marriage" anywhere.  So although they may think they are married, I have my doubts.  Way to casual and conversational for my taste.  What I want is ritual, BIG ritual with a lot of the Book of Common Prayer in sonorous evidence.  It's all gotten too modern.  Lord, I sound like my mother!

On to the reception which was held at the Bahia Hotel on Mission Bay.  Here are the bride and groom, Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Benjamin Warren.  She looked utterly radiant; lovely dress, spectacular flowers.  They both looked happy and relaxed.

We have here one happy groom.  A sort of cat who swallowed the canary look, don't you think?

Then it was on to the venue for dinner and dancing, the Bahia Steamboat.  Guests were welcomed aboard by this delightful Dixieland band playing all sorts of loud, bouncy music.

The two youngest guests were Audrey and Ben Johnson, the groom's nephew who is 9 years old and lives in New York.  He was gorgeously outfitted in a pinstriped suit, bow tie, and these splendid shoes.

But forget Ben's shoes.  Concentrate instead on Audrey's pedicure.

 The two of them found a nice spot out of the way of the circulating guests where they opened up a laptop and proceeded to watch movies and chatter together.

The cocktail hour was followed by a sit-down dinner (where did that expression come from?  Have you ever heard of a stand-up dinner?).  This is the stained glass ceiling on the upper deck of the boat.  The late afternoon light coming through cast all sorts of colorful splashes over the tables set for dinner.

 The boat was due to begin a cruise on the San Diego bay at 8 PM and Mr. C was not up to that much socializing, so we bid our adieus to the groom's mother and to the B & G, and cabbed back to the hotel.  I would have stayed and danced the night away, but we DID have to get up early to catch a flight so it's probably just as well we folded early.

It was a lovely celebration for a man (I think of him as a boy!) I first met when he was 2 years old.  My very best wishes to them both.