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We got an early start, holding the rehearsal at 11:30 the morning of June 28th in the garden of Castle Avalon. Following that, we all went to nearby New Braunfels for lunch at Krause's Cafe. Running only a wee bit late (ha), we got back to the Castle, dressed, and started taking pictures shortly after 3 (don't worry, the rest of the pictures will be up eventually.)
The ceremony itself actually started on time. The 70 or so guests were seated to the sounds of Melinda's Celtic Lullaby tape, played from the balcony. The ushers, Christopher Sullivan (Mel's older brother) and Christopher Dark (an old friend of ours) did an excellent job, and looked sharp in matching tabards sporting my personal Arms (as registered in the Society for Creative Anachronism.) Many family and friends attended wearing period garb, while the majority opted for a more modern dress. The garden, which looked fantastic that day, was further decorated with banners hanging from the balcony and my SCA sword and shield in the front corner. The guests mingled ("Is the groom more popular?" "Naw, that's just the side with all the shade" ) until 6:25, when Our Wedding Day from the Lord of the Dance Soundtrack started playing softly. Grandparents and mothers of the bride and groom were seated by the ushers in proper order, followed by the entrance (from inside the castle) of the pastor, Phillip Walton, the groom, the best man Matthew Huddleston, and groomsmen Dean Keith (my brother) and Timothy Sullivan (Mel's little brother). The groomsmen and I wore snazzy blue jerkins designed by Jenny Harlan, while Phillip was a bit more conservative in a black suit.
At this point, O'Sullivan's March, performed via CD by the Chieftains began to play. The Matron of Honor, Christy Hammond, entered, followed by bridesmaids Kerri Heidenheimer (Mel's cousin) and Lindsay Day (Mel's band friend). All wore blue bodices with black skirts. At an appropriate change in the music, Melinda and her father Paul Sullivan appeared at the rear entrance to the garden. All eyes turned to them as they progressed down the winding stone walkway. Paul was dressed like the groomsmen, except that his jerkin was a rich purple. The wedding dress was a white/cream color, and was elegantly simple, decorated only with a drape at the neckline and a few small glass beads. It was even more impressive to those who knew that the bride herself had made it.
The pastor's words were short and meaningful, and so were the vows. We both smiled as Melinda got the long-practiced word "ordinance" out, and each repeated all the phrases without trouble. We exchanged wedding bands, each of gold and inlayed with a braid of tri-colored gold. Following that we lit the unity candle, although it blew out shortly afterwards. In the hot sun we were both quite sweaty, but we didn't let on how icky that made our first married kiss feel. Once the new couple was announced, and we all proceeded out the back door, the guests filed upstairs to the Grand Ballroom. We took a few more pictures outside, and then made a grand entrance into the reception.
We did the wedding cake traditions first, and I'll have you know we were both very nice about it. (I never did get more than a taste of the cake, though.) For the toast, we used homemade Mustang Grape Wine, which was actually quite good. We opened many of the presents brought to the wedding, and eventually got around to throwing the bouquet and garter. It was at that time that everyone got to see Mel's blue socks and white tennis shoes under her wedding gown. We "left" the castle accompanied with vigorous bubble blowing, then returned to our room in the castle.
Coming Soon - The Honeymoon.
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