Current mood:	lazy
Current music:	"Aim High Shoot Low" by Yes

Wedding Recap
Herein lies the story of the GARF wedding of tempest_gypsy and tomomallie. I believe it is actually my first wedding of 2006. All the way to May and only one wedding so far? Things must be slowing down!

Saturday was probably the busiest day I've ever had at the Renaissance Festival. I did even more running around than I did on Big Bit Day, though I'm not sure why it worked out that way. All I had to do was get droid18's drum backstage, rehearse with yamguitar, wrangle the gift, and attend the wedding, which would be over by the time I played my first set at noon. Easy, right? I suppose it all might have gone according to plan if I hadn't been running late. I really hate being late because it throws off my schedule. There are all these things that have to happen before I can start my day, like putting my lunch in the fridge, putting on sunscreen, getting all my costume pieces on (it's a bitch to try to drive in the belt with all my crap hanging off of it), getting my guitar and accoutrements out, tuning said guitar, and stashing the case and my tip box backstage. It might not sound like a lot, but the fridge and my sunscreen are up at Break Area 1, the guitar case and tip box need to go to the pub, and cast call is at Halfwit Harbor (roughly between the two). In an ideal world, I get to the festival five to ten minutes early, which is just enough time to put my lunch in the fridge, put on sunscreen, use the privvy, and head to cast call. That way, all I have to do after cast call is tune up and stash my stuff, and I'm ready for music rehearsal, which lasts almost right up until it's time to open the show. If I'm late to cast call, I end up late to music rehearsal, barely making it to front gate in time, and feeling disorganized. Saturday I was late, and, with the drum and the gift, I had more to wrangle than I could carry at one time, so I felt very rushed. However, I was very excited about the wedding. As we played after the front gate scenario, I could see everyone coming in, all dressed up in their finest garb for the occasion, and it made me happy. Danielle had this amazing blue dress on, and I didn't even recognize her until much later in the day, when I finally realized why I felt like I knew her face.

Once we got done playing, I finished getting my stuff around (not having been able to do it before cast call), filled up my water mug, and started a vigil for droid18, who was supposed to be my date for the wedding. It was getting pretty close to time to start, and I still hadn't seen him, so I took the profferred arm of Bob Peterson and headed over to the wedding garden. I have seen a lot of wedding receptions in the piazza, but I had never actually been to the wedding garden at GARF, and it's actually quite nice! There was a white tent set up with the cake and tables underneath it, and there were some flowers and things decorating the... stage? I don't know what to call the place where the wedding actually took place, but it certainly seemed like a stage, with rows of benches facing it. The only bad thing about it is the location; it's right next to the Marrakesh stage, and there was a show or a bit or something going on right in the middle of the ceremony, making it very hard to hear. I was also pretty far away, though, standing under the tent instead of sitting on a bench. I'm always jittery when I'm in performer mode, and I was just afraid I'd have to run off or something. I don't know why I thought that, though; the ceremony only lasted about ten minutes.

Since droid18 was nowhere to be found and Chaz had a vignette at 11:00, ladychevalier and I ended up as each other's wedding dates, which we found very funny since we'd already made a similar arrangement for scarletravynn and michalesproject's wedding later this month. We chatted with friends and listened to Three Quarter Ale's lovely playing while we waited for the ceremony to begin. We didn't have to wait long. Soon "Star of the County Down" began, and the bridesmaids walked in. They looked great! They had all made their own outfits, and they were all different, except that they each incorporated the same color green. lasarigue looked absolutely beautiful; it was the prettiest I've ever seen her look. (I mean, not that she's not always pretty; she just looked especially good in that outfit, with her hair put up and a flowered garland on.) raisha_novar, whom I was pleased to meet for the first time, wore a full-length green gown with gold accents, and tempest_gypsy's sister came in looking enough like Tempest that I figured out who she was but not enough that I would have done a double take had I seen her outside of faire. In fact, when she came to the pub in street clothes on Sunday, I didn't recognize her at first from the day before, but something about her facial expressions reminded me of tempest_gypsy, which reminded me that this was her sister.

Once the wedding party was in place (the guys looked great too, by the way, but I have to admit that I did not pay nearly as much attention to them because I am all about the girlie pretty things), tempest_gypsy walked in. I had gotten a sneak preview of the dress, but I cried anyway. She looked beautiful. Her red hair was done up in braids, and her silk dress floated with her across the grass to the stage.

As I mentioned, I couldn't hear most of the ceremony, but I liked the parts I caught. It seemed to me that the gist of most of it was that they couldn't promise never to cause each other pain or anger but that they promised never to do it on purpose. It was a beautiful day despite the forecasts of thunder showers, sunny and hot, but still cool enough at 11:00 to be pleasant. The breeze kicked up into a wind, which caused Tempest's veil to go flying around her face, which I think probably drove her crazy but which looked really cool; it was very Eowyn standing in front of Edoras.

After the ceremony, the wedding party went outside the wedding garden to have their pictures taken, and the guests began to meander over to the tables. I think I'm remembering correctly that Three Quarter Ale started playing again, but all of this could have happened prior to the ceremony. I discussed with ladychevalier that I can't understand why no couple has yet chosen me as the GARF musician to play at their wedding (I mean, really, who wouldn't want a protest singer yelling "Kill the King!" at their wedding?), and we danced to "Intertwined." Can I just tell you how much I'm looking forward to the TQA CD finally coming out so that I can get that song out of my head and onto my iPod where it belongs?

I had to leave and get back to work, but there was more wedding stuff throughout the day. I had written a song for the couple that was their real wedding gift, but yamguitar and I had never had a chance to rehearse it. I had played it for him once; that was about it. Unfortunately, they were tied up at the wedding, and I had a set at noon. I looked for them after my set was over and didn't see them, so I went backstage to wolf down my lunch, as is my habit, and waited for yamguitar at Break 1, not knowing that he was waiting for me backstage at the pub. So the song wasn't as perfect as I'd have liked it to be, but I think everyone got the idea.

tempest_gypsy rode by in the parade at 2:15 or so and tossed her bouquet to the single wenches waiting on the steps of the pub. That was my only moment of sadness all day, realizing I was married now and didn't get to jump for the bouquet anymore.

We played the song at my 4:00 set, which turned into the "sangeet" for tomomallie and tempest_gypsy, an idea I'd picked up from Alan and Min's wedding last year. We did "A Courting Song," and I played the song I'd written for Alan and Min with droid18 on the dholak so that ladychevalier would finally have something to dance to at a Joni Minstrel set. Then we asked the couple to make requests, and Lindsay Smith songs became the order of the day; we played "(I Will Bring You) Apples Red" and "The Cat & the Canary." It was fun (and probably not quite the thing to do at a Renaissance Festival, so shhhhh).

The final wedding-related activity was the garter toss, which occurred at Pub Sing. I wished DeWard good luck, but it was the guy who dresses up as a Jedi who caught it. (I actually learned his real name at La Fiesta last night but have forgotten it already.) Possibly my favorite line of the whole day was DeWard's, as he dejectedly said, "Stupid Jedi powers!"

I hope tomomallie and tempest_gypsy's wedding day was everything they wished for and more. It was so much fun to see them all dressed up, surrounded by family and friends, beaming at each other. I was thrilled to be a part of it. May they share a lifetime of bliss.