One Down, Two to Go

[Elspode]

June is always a busy month for us, but this one has taken the proverbial cake.

Today we have completed step #1 - marrying off #3 son. Rain scuttled the original plan, which was to conduct the ceremony at the Swope Memorial in sprawling Swope Park, Kansas City's largest park. The wedding was scheduled for 5:00 this afternoon. At 3:00 we made the call (and many phone calls), and moved the ceremony here to the house. We furiously decorated, moved furniture and did some detail cleaning that we had previously deemed unnecessary. At 4:30, the rain that had been upon us moved out, and the system that seemed to have been forming behind it petered out. So at 4:35, we began taking chairs, the harpist, some decorations and the plans out to the back asphalt patio (which I have spent considerable time deweeding and cleaning these past couple weeks.

Fortunately, the bride was 15 minutes late, so all the knees bent scurrying about was completed in time, and the ceremony went on in muggy 80 degree splendor. The reception was always going to be in the back, but we served food inside and the 50 or so guests came back outside to eat. It was an interesting event for a couple of reasons. First off, Selene's family doesn't know about our Paganism, nor our alternative lifestyle choices. Secondly, the bride's family are staunch Baptists, verging on fundies. The bride's stepfather is in fact the campaign manager for our local Missouri State Representative, who was also in attendance today. I am therefore very, very eager to see the video of the bride and groom's first dance together as man and wife. See, two other couples came out to dance with them after a respectful period of time. Two *lesbian* couples, who danced very intmately, and macked on each other quite a bit in the process. Selene's mom once said she'd never met a gay person. I think we've pretty well fixed that today, and I expect some interesting facial expressions in the background of the video.

This whole thing has been quite the strain on Selene. The bride's mother just finished law school this past Spring, and is taking the bar this coming week, so she has been unable to assist in any of the planning (let alone any of the *paying*). Selene, despite unemployment/partial employment/trying to get into med school, carried the entire burden of planning, getting the bride's dress, buying the supplies, coordinating the wonderful coveners who provided the catering and associated labor, sending out invitations...in short, everything it took to make a wedding come to fruition. Oh...did I mention that the original wedding date was in October, but was moved up because the bride is in the family way, the newlyweds lost their apartment and can only live with the bride's family if they were married first? So all of this was essentially done in a month.

For my part, I've been working furiously in the yard for a few weeks getting it up to sufficient snuff, with lots of help from Tree Fae, and even a little help from the groom. It has been a hell of stressful time around the Lushede Covenstead (i.e., our home), and we're damn glad it is over.

Coming up tomorrow is Litha ritual, one of our eight annual such rituals, at which we expect another 30-50 people. Next Saturday, we host a backyard concert for some musician friends of ours, and there will probably be at least 50 attendees for that.

Wow. Just wow. Here's an iPhone pic of the prettier side of today's nuptials.