Rain, don’t go away
I always envisioned that if I lived in London, I might have a selection of awesome rain coats and fancy umbrellas. Both practical and fun, the variety of jackets could keep me dry in any type of weather, mist to downpour. In reality, I have my one stalwart raincoat with attached hood that works just fine, never seems to need replacement, and doesn’t always require me to carry an umbrella, leaving my hands free for too large a handbag.
Blue skies expected
Some years ago, a variety of umbrellas played great importance on one of the most important days of my daughter’s life, her wedding day. In her usual way, my daughter had meticulously planned out her destination wedding to be held in a gorgeous well-known garden. A unique site for the reception was chosen and not too far away. Members of our family had traveled to the city, stayed in the fancy hotel near the garden and filled the nearby hotels, and we all anticipated this beautiful event.
The night prior to the wedding, a rehearsal was held in the garden. The weather was mild, the smell of the flowers was intoxicating, the members of the family and wedding party were happily getting their cues on where and when to walk. As these things do, it took a while to get everyone to pay attention to the directions. We took pictures and the happy couple didn’t look too nervous going through the same motions they would be expected to repeat for real the next day.
Unexpected showers
The next morning dawned with full-on wet weather. My daughter was rightly upset at the clouds and rain. We took a walk away from the hotel and talked about the importance of the day, her ability to tap into her back-up plan for the wedding venue and shared the unfairness of not getting to marry in the gorgeous garden. There were tears of disappointment and I was very proud of how she handled having to make the last minute calls to tell others of the changes and set up the second choice site.
Sun showers
It probably wasn’t the way she envisioned it but her changes felt more like her. The groom’s face when he first saw her in her dress happened before the wedding and was untraditional and special. The bride and groom rushed off with the photographer to take some pictures. Umbrellas were handed out for the rest of us to venture outside to take family pictures on the grounds of the hotel. The majestic columns of the stone structures were the backdrop and the family stood together under beautiful outside porticos in the usual staged shots. Lush, saturated colors of the wet landscaping provided a vivid backdrop. The lack of sun actually created backgrounds that would not have been seen in the garden.
When we arrived at the new site, the hastily provided instructions for the wedding weren’t quite like the more formal footsteps we would have taken in the garden. The family and friends changed course seamlessly for the bride and groom and the legal wedding still took place. There were more tears but they were of joy. The reception was just steps away and everyone was glad just to spend the special day together with a bride that knew how to pivot and still enjoy herself while thinking of her guests.
Let it rain
Later on, the best part were the pictures that the photographer took of the couple before the event, still on the grounds of the luxury hotel. They hadn’t even gone through the ceremony yet, but the pictures confirmed that they were really married. And the umbrellas? Somehow, the bride and groom had bought up every giant umbrella available and provided them as cover. They were classic, dark umbrellas. I don’t know how the photographer did it, but the best picture ended up being a shot of the couple walking together down a rainy winding path under one of these giant umbrellas and they were walking away. No faces to see, no secret looks exchanged for us to know about, no posed angles. Just a couple starting their married lives. I think that’s when I knew they would get through everything in life together.
Do you have a special umbrella? What keeps you from feeling the bad weather? What would happen if you got a little wet now and then? You probably gloriously played in puddles when you were younger. Why did we stop doing that sort of thing?
