Ruth's spring travels part 1: Jo and Daniel's wedding
Here's the first in a series of vignettes from my last 6 weeks of travels: a choir tour, two holidays, and a wedding at the end. For faster info on the tour, see singers.byu.edu
26 May 2012 was spent at the wedding of Joanna Rusby and
David Scamman. Joanna and I were colleagues from the Musicology MSt at Oxford
and I was honored to be invited to her wedding and pleased even more to have
been able to attend. It was a distinct pleasure to play the organ on the
occasion. (The music, for those who must know, was a baroque mixture: a piece
of the Watermusic as processional, which I had to learn in the day before the
service, the second movement of the second trio sonata as the registry music,
and an abridged (by me) version of the Piece d’orgue, BWV 572, as recessional.
the hymns were standard and some of my favorites: Love Divine, All Loves
Excelling, The King of Love My Shepherd Is, Be Thou My Vision.)
As with most weddings, the lead-up to the big day was, well,
big, and at least from my perch as a guest at Charlotte’s (Joanna’s sister’s)
house, along with Hilary the florist and Katherine the maid of honor, well-orchestrated
and smooth from beginning to end. We had the normal rehearsal and dinner on
Friday evening, went to bed early that evening, and were up (relatively) early
Saturday morning to start the real wedding-making. Hilary and Joe (Charlotte’s
husband) left early to decorate the reception venue, leaving Katherine,
Charlotte and me to take the train from Ascot to Richmond carrying our dresses
(luckily of the wrinkle-free variety that fit nicely into backpacks) and the rest
of the wedding flowers, which amounted to six bouquets, about 20 boutonnières,
button-holes (which I now know are small boutonnières), and corsages, and a
hair-piece. (Picture forthcoming). Needless to say, we attracted some attention
on the train, but everything made it safely to the church.
The ceremony and reception were really nothing short of
delightful and included a list of my favorite things: great families, great
music, sincere vows, beautiful weather, yummy food, heartfelt and pithy
speeches, new friends, and a ceilidh dance to top it all off. By my accounting
everyone ages 4 and up danced at least once, including Joanna’s great-aunt and
the little sons of the best man.
Thanks, Jo and Daniel, for such a wonderful day, and congratulations
on beginning your new lives together!
