Wedding Day

Florida. In August. The weather can test the stamina of a Canadian. The sun and the heat can be alarmingly intense.

Surprisingly enough, after a few days, the intensity of the Florida heat moderates. You get used to it. You screen. You mix indoor and outdoor activities. Indoors for air conditioned comfort. Outdoors because the sun looks so inviting.

That said, I’m not sure I would go out on the bike for 2 or 3 hours of hard riding in this weather. That might be a bit too much for someone not used to the heat and humidity.

Why did we come down to Florida in August?

To attend a wedding.

This particular wedding was unique in many ways. All weddings are special. Some weddings can be moving. This wedding was especially moving.

It was held outdoors. There was one focal point under a canopy of tree branches. Simplicity and minimalism intersected with creativity and informality. The charge and commission of marriage. The union of a young couple. The start of a journey. A new chapter.

As Lorraine and I approach 36 years of marriage, a wedding like this one brings back a flood of memories. Our journey together has gone by with such surprising speed. So many wonderful times together. This wedding was a reminder of the special joy and privilege of our love and of our commitment to one another.

Here are a few images from the day. The last photo includes a quote from C.S. Lewis, hand painted by the bride on one of many signs that surrounded the wedding place:

Now at last they were beginning Chapter 1 of the great story that no one has ever read, and which goes on forever in which every chapter is better than the one before.