Mountain Wedding

The summer started off with a wimper.  All was calm, relaxed and looked like the weather was going to be the three H's for the duration.
Rain made it wonderful to see the grass green up nicely.  Hydrangas popped out on time as well as the beautiful trailing mini roses along our fence.

The weekend of July 11-12 was exciting.  I was asked to officiate a wedding for the daughter of an old high school buddy of mine.  The couple are based in New York City but wanted a different kind of place, something so unique that their guests and family would all love.  They love the mountains and found a quarry in Saugerties, New York for the event.

The quarry, called Opus 40, was bought by a man named Harvey Fite in 1938.  He was a sculptor who taught at Bard.  The quarry was his life's work.  He fashioned sculptures with rudimentary tools.  A 9 ton pillar, called "Flame" is the first thing you see when you enter the space. Other sculptures are in various places around the property, many fashioned after Mayan ruins in Honduras, where he had worked.
The wedding ceremony was set down into the quarry, with a background of raw bluestone.  Rustic benches were set for the guests.  The footing to walk down the rocks was unsteady, so flat shoes were a must.  The couple had requested their guests to all wear white, which turned out to be a beautiful sea of white amid the black rocks.
As our couple has been in the music business, sound was well thought out and beautiful.  The bride and her parents walked down into the quarry to her waiting groom to the song by Elbow "Beautiful Day".  After the ceremony, which had the crowd in tears, a bagpiper piped them up and out of the space.

The next day, I drove home to Long Island via Hyde Park and had a long visit with an aunt that I haven't had a relationship with for many years.  She was my mother's sister, her only surviving sibling.  We had a great talk and she asked me when I was coming back up to visit! 

I am reflecting on how, when you take a risk, like going out of town to do a wedding for some special people, or gathering all your courage to give an estranged-relative a hug, that you are given the grace/strength to rise to any occasion.  The rewards?  I sang all the way home on the NY Thruway!