Melinda & Kevin's wedding (San Diego, pt. 1)

So onto some travel stories... :)

Today, I'm going to talk about the important part of our vacation: Melinda and Kevin's wedding. First and foremost, that's why we went to San Diego, of course. All of the other stuff will wait until tomorrow's entry.

Erich and I have a ton of photos from the weekend. Other than ones that are blurry, I'm just uploading them all. I really can't eliminate any from this. So feel free to browse the wedding photos here (pops in new window). If you can't load them for some reason, leave me a message in the comments with your email, and I'll send you a direct invite to them.

On Friday afternoon, Melinda and Kevin held an "unrehearsal dinner" with family and close friends at a local Italian restaurant that apparently has been the host for many Melinda family events. Both Erich and I were barely functioning due to our horrendouns flights the night before, but with some serious Starbucks therapy, we managed to get ourselves up and dressed. Thankfully the restaurant was literally only about five minutes from our hotel. I met both of their mothers and friends and family of both the bride and groom. And I finally met Mary and her husband, Joe. By sheer table selection, we didn't have much of a chance to talk that day, but promised to catch up at the wedding. We had a lively conversation with everyone at our table, including (now looking back... I'm a bit embarrassed because it wasn't the place) topics on my upcoming wedding. Thankfully everyone had some very reassuring comments to give me to stand my ground on planning.

After stuffing ourselves full of entirely too much great food (oh god, those cannolis), we rolled ourselves outside, saying goodbye to everyone until tomorrow. Erich and I went back to the hotel to rest up and had a very romantic evening to ourselves (again... more on that tomorrow).

The next day, we puttered around for the morning before heading up into the mountains to the small town of Julian for the wedding. We admired the countryside on the hour-long ride up. This trip was Erich's first time west of the Missisippi River, so he was fascinated with how different everything was. (so was I, because it was quite different than the much more familiar terrain of Northern California to my eyes).

Despite some silent worry on my part, we arrived to the B&B with about fifteen minutes to spare before the ceremony. Melinda and Kevin, based on their spiritual and cultural background, had decided up on a Wiccan handfasting for their wedding ritual. The High Priestess was just casting the ritual circle as we arrived. Once she'd completed the circle and opened a spiritual door to allow us to enter, we joined Mary and Joe in the right seating area. We remarked on the beautiful scenery and the picture-perfect weather of the day.

And then the music started... and the ceremony began.

In a word, their wedding was beautiful.

I've been to many weddings in my life. Oddly, however, this was my first handfasting, despite my now thirteen years of following a Pagan path (however lax the past few years have been...). It also was the first wedding I can recall being completely relaxed at. It never felt like a function. It was completely relaxed. And with only about 60 people or so, it was incredibly intimate. During the ceremony there was laughter... and tears... but overall, complete joy from all involved-- including me, who normally is shy about expressing a lot of outward emotion.

As the High Priestess wrapped the wedding cord for the third time around their wrists, binding them together, I just beamed. Kevin and Melinda are married! Yay!

At some point in the afternoon, amid all of the conversation, I realized how strange but wonderful it is that I was celebrating the union of two friends on the other side of the country. Strange because this was actually only the second time I'd spent time with them in person, yet wonderful because despite not spending physical time with them-- I probably have discussed things deeper with them over the past five years than most of the friends I see on a regular basis here at home. Odder yet was meeting Mary and Joe for the first time, yet feeling that it was only the most recent in many times together. I suppose that's one of the joys of taking internet encounters to a more personable level-- after a time, there really isn't a difference between blogging friends and other friends who simply live far away. :)

Does that make sense?

By the end of the afternoon, we were celebrating the glory of the patio heaters. After all, we were more than 4,000 feet above sea level, and by that time we were entirely in the shade. Most of us were huddled in front of them in some form, chatting and laughing.

We ended the afternoon as the sun set over the mountains, giving a beautiful, colorful farewell to the newlywed couple. We said our goodbyes to everyone and made our way back down the mountain to our hotel...

It was a perfect day.