Friday, August 20, 2010

Outdoor Wedding Can Be Tricky


Right in the center, Vicki has entered, and Ben steps forward to receive her. They were married under a Jewish canopy, which turned out to be a good thing for them. See those clouds? They are minutes away from letting loose.


Ben Romaner is Jewish, newly come to faith in Jesus the Messiah. His fiancee Vicki Warren is Gentile. It caused some tension and concern in Ben's family.

Wanting to promote peace, Vicki decided to not have the wedding at a Christian church, but at her parents' home in Maidenhead, about 40 minutes from London. The backyard was large enough. We had a small PA system set up for the minister to speak through and for us to play special music. The harpist decided she didn't like the look of the clouds and stayed just inside the house to play the wedding march. We miked her and put it through the PA.

As it turned out, she was smart. Halfway through the ceremony it started spitting. The minister sped up the vows, the rings, the message. He had us play one song. It really started coming down. He pronounced them man and wife, Ben broke the glass under his foot (Jewish custom), and then the guests fled indoors and us musicians all grabbed equipment and ran for the closest shelter. No real damage, and it was a wedding to remember. 

Moral of the story: If you ever do an outdoors wedding in England, you had better have a Plan B.

1 comment:

Andrew said...

boy you have a nice camera, eye, or both...