On Friday I once again woke up at OMG!Early! So I got to spend some more time with baby Bela and his mum and dad.
In Italy you have to be married in a civil ceremony before you get married any other way. Anna and Jeremy had asked that only the family come to that part, so the 10 of us who were family piled into cars to go to the Civic Building in Carmignano. We were a bit early, so we took some pictures. Anna was wearing a very pretty red dress and Jeremy suit pants but no jacket. The rest of us were neat, but hardly dressed up.
Anna’s wedding planner met us there, as she was also acting as translator, although Anna did live in Italy for about 7 years and still speaks fairly fluent Italian. The registrar (or whatever they call her there!) arrived and we all gathered for the ceremony.
The location of the ceremony was a bit odd, as it was in the entrance hall of the building, so people kept wandering through, including a police officer with his gun and several men in those reflective vests! It was a bit like witnessing a wedding in a bus station.
After about 20 minutes of various legal stuff, Anna and Jeremy were officially Husband and Wife!
We then got stuck waiting for about 20 minutes as two trucks had pulled into the little car park in front of the civil building, blocking us in, and no one could find the drivers! We finally left to head back to the Villa to have lunch and start getting ready for the rest of the wedding, which was to start at 4:30.
We once again piled food on the picnic tables on the veranda and dug in. Then headed up to shower and change for the wedding.
Problem. No running water in the villa! None! Not a drop! Uh oh…
Carol, one of Anna’s bridesmaids, is Italian, so she went to try to find out what the situation was with the water. It turned out that there were road works below the Villa and that the Villa didn’t have a big enough water tank, so the tank had been drained with the Villa being full of guests. Maybe we’d have water by 4. With the wedding set to start at 4:30.
Carol and Simon went to the kitchen and acquired a case of bottled water, so we could all at least sponge off and so that the bridesmaids could get their hair washed. Our bottle was full of fizzy water, which was slightly strange to wash with, and Simon said was *very* strange to shave with!
As I was getting dressed, Anna knocked on our door and asked me to run over to her parent’s room to get some of her make up. I threw on my dress and dashed over there. As I was coming back, guests were beginning to arrive, with my make up half done and no jewelery on, I sort of waved as I dashed back upstairs!
Just as I put on the finishing touches, Woosh! Water. At 4:05. Simon stripped off the bits of his suit he had already put on and dashed to take a shower.
We finished getting dressed and headed down to say hello to everyone. About 50 people made the trip to Tuscany for Anna and Jeremy, which I thought was very nice.
At 4:30ish, Anna’s bridesmaids appeared, followed by Anna and Tom, her father. She was gorgeous in an ivory coloured strapless fishtail dress with lots of tulle, her hair pinned up with curls escaping.
The ceremony was pretty much a repeat of the one that morning, with the addition of two readings by Jeremy’s sisters, Dakota and Jessica, and this poem read by Simon and me:
BELIEVE ME, IF ALL THOSE ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS
Author: Thomas Moore
Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,
Which I gaze on so fondly to-day
Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms,
Like fairy-gifts fading away,
Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art,
Let thy loveliness fade as it will,
And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart
Would entwine itself verdantly still.
It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,
And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,
That the fervor and faith of a soul can be known,
To which time will but make thee more dear;
No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close,
As the sun-flower turns on her god, when he sets,
The same look which she turned when he rose.
I found out later that it is actually a very old song, Scottish maybe, which a friend of Tom and Grace’s sang to me at the reception! I read the first stanza and Simon the second. Anna and Jeremy’s theme was sunflowers, so it was very appropriate!
After that Anna and Jeremy were married and we headed to party!
We started the party out by the pool with champagne and nibbles. Then we all headed over to the tables set up on the veranda and the speeches began. Tom, as always, made a wonderful speach, then Jeremy, then Chris then Helen. And then we began eating: –
First course – antipasto by the pool
Second course – risotto with courgette
Third course – pasta with boar (you read that right, boar. Wild boar, in fact. Jeremy claimed he had hunted it down the day before)
Fourth course – Sea bass
Fifth course – Lemon sherbet mixed with champagne
Sixth course – beef with mozzarella
All served with red and white wine, which they produce and bottle at their own winery on site.
During dinner, as a thank you for doing the reading, Anna and Jeremy presented us with this. In black. It is waaaaaaaaaay cool! We shot a bit of video and I’ll try to get it up on YouTube in the next few days!
We then moved back to the pool for more champagne, wedding cake and dancing. Jeremy and Anna kicked us off with their dance to ‘Wonderful World.’ They took lessons and everything! Here is You Tube version of it, but you have to kinda turn your head!
After that, Anna danced with Tom and Jeremy with his mom. And the bridesmaids and groomsmen danced. Then we all rocked out!
The dancing ended about midnight, since it was outside there were noise ordinances to consider!
After that, we wished them well again and fell into bed!
Tomorrow – 13th September 2008 A day to recover!!!
Sounds hectic – but lovely 🙂