summer of love

the wedding i attended on saturday was a total trip. it was for an old high school friend who i'd remained friends with in LA, but had sort of lost touch with the last couple years. she's someone i admire (maybe the hardest working girl my age that i know... just finished law school and passed the bar on her first try, all while working a crazy hectic life-encompassing day job... kudos to her!). anyway, i wasn't really planning on going to the wedding since it was just too soon since i'd last been in cali, but tickets were cheap and it was a good excuse to come back and sort through my stuff in storage that i want with me in my new place. AND my mom wanted to go to the wedding really bad. you see, the friend that got married works for jackson browneand my mother has had a huge crush/infatuation with the man since the 70s. i wasn't sure if he was going to be at the wedding or not, but she was convinced he would be and couldn't miss it. plus, she knew the girl and her family, so it seemed ok to bring her as my guest.

well, the wedding was a mix of traditional, hippie bohemian, native american, and jewish. needless to say, it was interesting. they walked "down the aisle" to a folksy guitar player and this seriously hippie looking dude was presiding over them. jackson was the best man, so of course my mom was already happy. a native american woman did this ritual with a sage smudge stick calling to the eagles and the heavens with a feather. she walked around them saying such and such while the sage burned. then they said their vows to each other which were literally about 2 sentences ("you're my best friend and i love you"). very very short, but sweet. he gave her a ring, they kissed and that was it.

the crowd was probably the most interesting part of the whole event. kind of like the eclectic ceremony, it was a mix of business associates, old hippies, old musicians, some harley davidson biker dudes, and random friends and family. once we sat down and started talking to people, we found out that the old hippie who married them was none other than wavy gravy... the famous guy from the movie woodstock (and the inspiration for the ben and jerry's flavor). other celeb sightings were graham nash and david crosby. pretty cool.

anyway, the ceremony was followed by a champagne toast given by jackson. then food and drinks. they must have spent a small fortune on the food. a full mexican spread in the front yard, complete with a mexican woman making her own tortillas! so good!!! the back yard was italian themed faire, complete with a man making homemade pizzas in a brick oven. fancy meats and cheeses and olives took over the long table. so so so good!!! then the cake. yeah, they fed each other. not a fan of that tradition, but i suppose it's expected. not only was there the fancy cake, they also had a lazy susan on a big table full of about 10 different kinds of amazing truffles. i tried about 5. ugh! i felt sick, but couldn't help it. free truffles man.

after some more mingling, jackson and my friend's dad along with some other musicians started singing and playing music in the front room of the house. my mom was thrilled or course. it was a very intimate setting and pretty neat, even though i'm not a huge fan of old dudes playing folksy guitar music. the happy couple took off after a couple songs, but the guys kept playing and we had to stay of course. all in all, it was a lovely affair. i even ran into a girl i vaguely remembered from childhood who just happens to be new to NY as well. who knew?

weddings can be so iffy. in my experience they can either be really memorable and fun or total duds. i always think it depends mostly on the guests and the couple getting hitched of course. if they are fun people, they usually have fun friends and fun things planned. if not, well, you do the math. typical traditional is not my idea of fun either. put a little creativity into it and you've got yourself a good time. only 3 more weddings this summer to go.
really looking forward to bainbridge island in august! ;)