Double Wedding
Saturday, May 19, 2007
After Peter’s and Julia’s dress rehearsal, OLeif had accompanied the wedding party to the Pretzel’s house for dinner and then to a round of Demolition Ball, despite the fact that OLeif though Peter was about beat. Maybe hyped up on caffeine a bit to keep him going. Although they seemed to be easy going about the ceremony. When arranging positions of groomsmen and bridesmaids at the alter, they were told to randomly place themselves in no rows or lines if possible.
Collette could imagine what Polly and Julia were feeling that morning. She remembered that feeling three years before on the morning of her own wedding. The day passed in a heartbeat for her, even though the ceremony hadn’t taken place until the early evening. Julia’s day would fly by especially fast as she would be married at two o’clock in the afternoon.
Before the festivities, however, Carrie-Bri and Elizabeth were off to Thor’s graduation. They brought him a watch as a gift. And then there was time for pictures afterward.
“Now you two girls hold my diploma and I will be giving you hugs,” Thor told them, orchestrating the picture.
He was to leave early the next morning. Croatia lured him home after a brief stay in D.C. with his brother.
And Bing’s original composition aired on the radio that morning, which included himself being interviewed by the radio announcer. So they all gathered around the radio at the house before the wedding: Dad, Mom, OLeif, Collette, Joe, Curly (who had spent the night), Rose, Francis, and Puck. Collette found herself very impressed with the composition, in the originality in rhythm and styling.
Then Diana and Tor dropped by for awhile with the video clip of Diana’s television interview on Fox cable.
“My heart was pounding out of my chest, I was so nervous,” Diana recalled. “Well, because they put me in this little room all by myself with this video camera in front of me. And they gave me this ear piece. And, like, all I could do was listen for my cue. I was so nervous! And then, like, the ladies at the tv station told me that I should wear pearls. So I did and then it was interfering with the microphone. So, I was trying to take off my necklace. And it, like, got stuck on my shirt. And the guy had just left. So I was, like, ‘Help!’ And I thought I was about to go on the air at any second…”
Thank goodness the pearls were remedied and she successfully finished the interview with no incident.
It seemed to be a very memorable time for the English family.
Meanwhile, Linnea returned from her dress rehearsal for her church kids’ choir program the following evening. And Carrie made it back in time from the graduation to dress for the next event.
Peter’s wedding was pretty much as Collette had predicted it would proceed.
The black fohawk on Peter was done at Julia’s request – his very feminine red-headed bride with masculine quality. It glistened in the glow of many candles as he read a prayer written for him by his mother two months before her passing. She was also remembered in the bouquet of red roses which Mr. Pretzel carried in his arm down the aisle.
Bridesmaids and groomsmen entered from the sides of the sanctuary – the bridesmaids, dressed in aqua-like gowns, descended from opposite staircases carrying large bunches of white orchids where they met their escorts at the floor, all of whom carried large white candles encased in tall glass sconces. The whole exhibition provided a somewhat fairy-like elvish-forest quality to the ceremony.
Several of the stunts pulled during the next half-hour, Collette did not fully understand – the Kool-Aid served during their first communion, Peter’s long hesitation during the pledge, Julia sticking out her tongue at him several times, the chocolate milk mixing, Peter pulling out an air-soft gun at the end and shooting all of his groomsmen… But none of it was surprising, including Peter’s black ring and the wedding cake: tiers of green hills covered in plastic army men with a little blue cake and marzipan clouds on top, including a cake-topper of Batman carrying a mermaid. Very Pretzel-ish.
Polly’s wedding, however, was on the classy end of wedding ceremonies, performed with a backdrop of lake and fountains, crystal sky, bower of brightly colored flowers, bridesmaids in lavender, bilingual (Spanish and English), string quartet, communion (which was also shared with the guests). And then the reception – including a band, white tent over dinner, candle-adorned assigned-seating tables, dancing under the stars (although they did not stay long enough to witness it). It was beautiful. And Polly was beautiful – tall, blond curls, perfect white smile – a Black through and through. Her new Guatemalan husband could not be more proud of his bride, and did his best not to burst into tears of happiness during his vows, poor fellow. Collette rarely heard a groom choke up during his own wedding, but it happened that night.