I’m writing this on the back of a hotel reservation printout as I ride the fast train to Rome from Florence. There were no more seats left on the train, but somehow Trenitalia is more than happy to give you the option of standing for a long train ride. I’ll take it:
Don’t be fooled. This train seating arrangement is well worth the weekend’s activities.
I’ve just spent three days celebrating the marriage of a wonderful friend, together with a collection of people from fourteen nationalities. This wedding was really the anchor in my decision to come up to Europe in the first place, and I can’t think of a better excuse to leave the African continent.
I know that most of you don’t know the bride and groom, but I still wanted to post a blog entry devoted to the weekend. It’s my small way of saying thank you to Valeria and Johan for creating such a beautiful event.
Festivities started at town hall in San Quirico D’Orcia. We all crowded in and witnessed a simple ceremony conducted in Italian (and then translated into English). I enjoyed hearing the “rules” of marriage, as laid out by the Justice of the Peace: “the bride and groom agree to respect one another, and work together based on mutually compatible goals”. How refreshing.
Making it to the town hall involved some downpour rain, but by the time the ceremony had concluded, so had the rain (at least momentarily). Here is Valeria and Johan as they make their first big appearance to the tourists outside world.
Even though it was still spitting raindrops, the bride and groom were thoughtful enough to hire their own gelato stand who served guests just outside the town hall. Rainy weather really can’t keep people away from free gelato.
And just as if the wedding god knew that we couldn’t eat ice cream in the rain, soon the sun came out and warmed our feet- even the dude in the Senegalese elf shoes.
Just so you know, hazelnut gelato is sublime.
The couples cute Fiat getaway car. I don’t know how Johan fit into this, but he did.
Next we all moved to the site of the party. It was held at Sant’Anna in Camprena, a former monastery. I do believe this place is now my favorite former monastery.
Before the reception began, we all headed into the old chapel for a concert. I also call this part of the evening a food pause.
Everything about this wedding was beautiful. You can tell that the bride and groom really put a lot of thought into every aspect.
And then the food deluge commences. If you have a wedding in Tuscany, I imagine that it is mandatory to hire a guy slicing the most delicious pieces of prosciutto on earth. With this in mind, I think I need to get married in Tuscany…
And this is just before dinner! We were served prosecco and ate good food, before the grand feast of wine and more food that soon followed.
The bride and groom are by definition very busy people on their wedding day, but beautiful Valeria did more than her share of making the rounds and celebrating with about 200 of her friends. She was absolutely radiant.
Me, Jennie and her brother- the Pakistani-Moroccan-American exchange student. Or something like that. He wore traditional Senegalese dress that definitely kept people guessing about his origins. Especially when he kept diving into the prosciutto and prosecco…
The meal itself was served in the halls of the monastery, so I don’t have any good shots of the amazing food we ate (due to dim yet pleasant lighting). Besides, I am sure that I would only piss you off in showing you course after amazing course of beef carpaccio, spinach and walnut salad, radish risotto, beef tenderloin, and everything else that was placed in front of me.
I did try to take photographs, but as you can see it’s pretty dark. This truffle ravioli was so good, I had to eat all of it. Unfortunately this was only about halfway through the dinner, so I got very full very fast. I had to get up and keep walking around to prepare for the next course.
I do believe our table had representation from seven nationalities, which always makes for great conversation.
Towards the end of the dinner, the bride’s wonderful sister Gabriella came up to me and said, “Be sure to save room for cake- it’s supposed to be amazing!” Room? In this stomach?! Hardly. Still, we all got up and gathered around the beautiful cake and listened to heartfelt speeches and toasts that really made you feel lucky to be a part of such a special occasion. And yes, I tried the delicious cake.
Dinner concluded and it was time to test our ability to maneuver from our dinner chairs. We wrapped the night up by dancing to fun (and interesting) song selections. It was a great evening that was memorable from start to finish. In fact, even though we said goodnight after dancing, the celebration was not really over…
We woke up the next morning, with no earthly desire to ever eat again. Still, the bride and groom invited everyone back over to the monastery for brunch. Who can say no to this?
One last meal at the monastery. A beautiful way to bookend this memory.
Actually, the bookend really came in the form of a storm that rolled in about an hour after we arrived. The brunch was set to end at 12:30, and that’s about the time the rain started to come down. The day prior I had hurried my way to the town hall under cover of some nice Italian lady’s umbrella, and the following day we left the wedding under pretty much the same weather conditions. We were sad to say goodbye, especially since we knew that all of these people were readying for their journeys back to far-flung places like Belgium, Cambodia, Senegal and New York.
My train back to Rome was quick and not as uncomfortable as it might look above. I spent most of the journey reflecting on what great friends I have, and how fortunate I was to be a part of such joy and love celebrated in an incredible setting. I look forward to seeing Valeria and Johan again soon- even if it is not in the sun and rain-painted hills of Tuscany. They will be sure to bring it with them, wherever their future adventures go.
