If you think Will and Kate's was the wedding of the century, forget it. You just didn't hear about Lily and Charlie's wedding because they are not the type who care about publicity. That's right, theirs was the wedding that was unlike any ceremony to come before or after it.
Charlie is my cousin on my dad's side, and a few months ago, he called a hiatus on his round-the-world bicycle tour due to an injury. Lily was the lovely Australian gal he met during his jaunt around Europe, and the one he found he couldn't be without. Lily, happily, felt the same way.
In due time, Charlie and Lily's friends and family were summoned to Madison, Wisconsin, to celebrate the union. What made it so different, you ask? To start, we met at a park where dozens of bicycles were assembled. Lily and Charlie made their entrance to the wedding party by rowboat, and then about a hundred of us biked 5 miles from the park to a campground. Our bicycles were bedecked with flowers, hauled trailers, and Lily and Charlie often biked hand-in-hand. It was fun to see the double takes of cyclists and pedestrians going the other direction, shouting their congratulations, and offering their hands for high-fives.
The wedding took place at a campground, and it was pretty thoroughly green - there were no paper plates to be found. The spread was complete with ceramic plates, mason jar drinking vessels, and an improvised dishwashing station. We all camped for two days and attended three separate rituals, the most important of which was the Union of Hearts ceremony. Guests were asked to bring water and fire tokens, which they tossed onto the fire with goodwill wishes for the new couple. The water, taken from various lakes and dams and rivers around the world, was boiled into a tea, which Charlie and Lily drank. Brave souls, if you ask me.
The guests were a free spirited bunch - one of the attendees didn't even know Charlie or Lily. His name was Leander, and he was a German scholar, who lived in Brussels but was working on a local currencies project in Madison. One of the friends Charlie had made in Brussels had received the invitation, but was unable to come, so he passed it along to Leander. As I told Leander and Anthony, another guest, I have never been to a wedding like this before, and I will probably never see another one quite like it again.
Eat your hearts out, Will and Kate.
Charlie is my cousin on my dad's side, and a few months ago, he called a hiatus on his round-the-world bicycle tour due to an injury. Lily was the lovely Australian gal he met during his jaunt around Europe, and the one he found he couldn't be without. Lily, happily, felt the same way.
In due time, Charlie and Lily's friends and family were summoned to Madison, Wisconsin, to celebrate the union. What made it so different, you ask? To start, we met at a park where dozens of bicycles were assembled. Lily and Charlie made their entrance to the wedding party by rowboat, and then about a hundred of us biked 5 miles from the park to a campground. Our bicycles were bedecked with flowers, hauled trailers, and Lily and Charlie often biked hand-in-hand. It was fun to see the double takes of cyclists and pedestrians going the other direction, shouting their congratulations, and offering their hands for high-fives.
The wedding took place at a campground, and it was pretty thoroughly green - there were no paper plates to be found. The spread was complete with ceramic plates, mason jar drinking vessels, and an improvised dishwashing station. We all camped for two days and attended three separate rituals, the most important of which was the Union of Hearts ceremony. Guests were asked to bring water and fire tokens, which they tossed onto the fire with goodwill wishes for the new couple. The water, taken from various lakes and dams and rivers around the world, was boiled into a tea, which Charlie and Lily drank. Brave souls, if you ask me.
The guests were a free spirited bunch - one of the attendees didn't even know Charlie or Lily. His name was Leander, and he was a German scholar, who lived in Brussels but was working on a local currencies project in Madison. One of the friends Charlie had made in Brussels had received the invitation, but was unable to come, so he passed it along to Leander. As I told Leander and Anthony, another guest, I have never been to a wedding like this before, and I will probably never see another one quite like it again.
Eat your hearts out, Will and Kate.
I wish this was facebook just so that I could like this entire post...
ReplyDeleteneat!! it's good to read your words, andrenne. keep at it :)
ReplyDeletebeautiful!
ReplyDelete