I can only use one word to describe the ceremony: beautiful. (That’s because I can’t fill in all the details, like what kind of lace was on Debbie’s dress or what sort of shoes the bridesmaids wore. Too bad.)
The sun was lowering over some picturesque hills as we arrived at the winery. We parked in a dusty crushed-stone parking lot, and I was a little worried that this was a bad sign. We quickly ended up on a covered walkway that wound past the (functioning) waterwheel; the walkway carried us through some nicely landscaped bushes to what I can only describe as a peninsula– and it was gorgeous. Wedding guests were seated on a patch of emerald-green grass (clearly, ChemLawn had been there recently), with a sort of moat in front of them, maybe 2.5′ deep. On the other side of the moat was a poured-concrete platform, where the wedding party stood; the moat joined with a scenic pond, complete with some geese and swans.
The ceremony was quite moving. Everything went smoothly (yay!), and their pastor did an outstanding job while still maintaining a sense of humor. We were favored with a scripture reading from Chris’ sister and a song from a cousin of the bride, followed by a brief outdoor reception with hors d’oeuvres and wine (this being, after all, a winery). We got to visit with the Larsen family and with various and sundry other guests, then it was time to head in for dinner and the big reception.
Dinner was excellent, quickly served and well-presented. After dinner, we moved on to the obligatory toasting, during which Mr. Larsen and Erik both delivered wonderful toasts. The maid of honor also spoke. Mrs. Larsen had asked me at the rehersal dinner if I’d say a few words, and I was going to, but when the time came I just didn’t feel right– the maid’s toast was loud and rambling, and I didn’t know quite how to get across what I wanted to tell everyone in such a noisy and disorganized venue.
I wanted to tell Debbie and Chris that marriage is a good thing in God’s eyes.
I wanted to tell them that the ceremony was only the start of what could be an eternal companionship, and that they’d made a great start by solemnizing their committment to one another.
I was going to tell them how hard you have to work to keep your marriage on a good, solid footing, but a) I didn’t want to scare them, b) they’d already heard it from Mr. Larsen and c) we’d already talked about it at the house in Arnold.
I wanted to tell Debbie how happy I was that Chris had found her, even though I’d never met her and didn’t know her. She will be a good balance for his natural tendency to work too hard and invest too much of himself in his work.
But I couldn’t, so I’ll have to tell them now.
Now, about the reception: there was much dancing, and many, many bottles of wine were consumed. Eminem was played. There was a great deal of semi- to completely-drunken revelry. This is to be expected at a winery, of course, but some of the folks were a bit out of hand. Fortunately, according to Erik the police stayed away and any vomiting was done discreetly– both good signs.
Sunday morning we got up early and headed over to the winery for brunch, visited with the various Larsens, then drove back to Sacramento. Our flight out wasn’t until Monday at noon, so we decided to stay over in Old Sacramento. Of course, we decided that after I’d driven past the mall exit and ended us up at the airport; we turned around and drove back downtown, where we found a nice hotel was a whopping $10 more than the nasty place I’d stayed near Arden Mall. Our room had a river view, which was nifty– I’d forgotten that Sacramento had a river.
Old Sacramento was fun; it’s fairly well preserved, and there’s a lot of cool junque. I made Arlene buy some raffle tickets for an ugly quilt, and she went wild at the candy store (though next time I’ll just buy my taffy from the manufacturer.) We had an excellent dinner at the riverfront Rio City Cafe, then went back to the hotel to watch The Bourne Identity. The next day, we had an uneventful flight home, and that’s it until the next trip!
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