Pagan Wedding

Yesterday Jonathan and I went to a Pagan style wedding or good old fashion Hand fasting. Friends and former coven mates of Jonathan's, Alice Woods and Rich Matthews were wed. The event was held at the Hudson Gardens (http://www.hudsongardens.org/). In true Pagan fashion the seating was set in a circle with candles for the 4 quarters and a beautiful altar in the center of the circle. The ceremony/ritual itself was very moving. The guests were a mixed bag of Pagan friends as well as mundane friends and family. The expressions on the faces of guests who were not Pagan was quite interesting.

Rich and Alice and their attendants were led into the inner circle by a lady bagpiper. I do believe it was the first time I've ever seen a woman blow the bagpipes not to say there aren't women out there who do, it's just usually something I see a man or a group of men doing. There is something hauntingly beautiful about the sound of a bagpipe and I suppose being of Irish decent that could be the reason I'm drawn to them. The piper circled around the outside of the group of chairs where guest sat/stood and led the procession into the inner circle.

Behind the piper were their High Priest and Priestess, Robin Vinehall and Mary who were wearing purple robes and the head pieces that denoted their ranking as Priest and Priestess.




Rich and Alice followed. Rich was clad in a gold robe to represent the God and Alice in a silver robe to represent the Goddess. Alice was just beaming.

They were followed by their attendants, clad in maroon robe who would be calling the quarters.



The thing I found most interesting and most annoying about the majority of guest was the overall casualness with which they treated this most special occasion. There were many guest in jeans, some in T-shirts, one couple wore their "formal" crocs and saw nothing wrong with it and then there was the fellow in his new bib overalls, work shirt and baseball cap.






I'm sure he bought them just for the wedding. I found it to be very disrespectful of those who were so causal. Okay so maybe it's my southern upbringing but in the South, church, weddings, and funerals were times to bring out your very best finery. In fact for weddings we would go to great lengths to find the perfect dress to were. We didn't want to out shine the bride on her special day, but we damn sure didn't want to dishonor her, the groom and their families by showing up in clothes we would have worn in every day life. It was just shameful. There were a few who did bother to dress for the occasion and those were mostly the mundanes, although some of them were also in jeans as well.



Mary and Robin cleansed and cast the circle as the guest watched and those who had no idea wondered what the heck was happening.




The couple were beaming as they exchanged their vows, vows they had written themselves. It reminded me of Jonathan's and my hand fasting 4 years ago. While we weren't legally married, we were equally as committed as these two. I couldn't believe I wasn't reduced to tears with the emotion of it all.

The unfortunate thing was we weren't able to stay for the reception. Jonathan had scheduled a job at 1:oo pm that afternoon and we had to leave at 12 noon. At that point lunch had not even been served. No wedding cake for us and it looked yummy. I'm not a fan of wedding cakes but this one was different to say the least. A castle of all things, who would have thought.

All in all it was a nice way to spend a Saturday morning in the fall and it was nice catching up with old friends.