Mawidge.

Marriage is to be taken seriously, but not always in grim earnest; its problems take perspective from fun, adventure and fulfilment, and joy and sorrow are mingled together. We rejoice in success, but we must also be glad that we can console each other in failure. "With my body I honour you" is to many a blessed phrase: but while some find a perfect physical relationship easily, others reach it the hard way, and it is not less precious for that. It is wonderful never to quarrel, but it means missing the dear delight of making up. Children bring joy and grief; some will have none and will miss both the grief and the joy. For some, there is a monogamy so entre that no other love ever touches it; but others "fall in love" time and time again, and must learn to make riches of ther affection without destroying their marriage or their friends. Let us thank God for what we share, which enables us to understand; and for the infinite variety in which each marriage stands alone.
We thank God, then, for the pleasures, joys and triumphs of marriage; for the cups of tea we bring each other, and the seedlings in the garden frame; for the domestic drama of meetings and partings, sickness and recovery; for the grace of occasional extravagance, flowers on birthdays and unexpected presents; for talk at evenings of the events of the day; for the ecstasy of caresses, for gay mockery at each other's follies; for plans and projects, fun and struggle; praying that we may neither neglect nor undervalue these things, nor be tempted to think of them as self-contained and self-sufficient.
from Quaker Faith and Practice

What a wedding. What an absolutely awesome wedding. Classy and sophisticated, yet unmistakably unique to the couple. As with so much of this week, music was the recurring theme of the afternoon; even before the wedding started Dave had found a piano and was jamming to calm his nerves! The wedding itself opened with a 15 minute set of english baroque pieces played by a small string orchestra, climaxing with a piece which the groom had written for the entrance of his bride. The Americans in the congregation seemed somewhat bemused by the vigour with which the groomsmen belted out Jerusalem, but of course both Dave and Sarah looked absolutely stunning. All the right people cried (some of them twice), and the procession left to more of Dave's music.

The reception was no less musical - the professional jazz pianist was soon usurped by a barber-shop arrangement of Happy Birthday for the organist (turns out I can still sing tenor), and around the throwing of the bouquet and garter a very cute pair of englishmen kept the guests entertained with Flanders and Swann. As it was the same englishmen who did the readings (including the one above) at the service, Martin and I got quite a bt of fuss, mostly because apparently we made the readings sound like Shakespeare. Of course the singing and dancing carried on into the wee hours of the morning - replete with compulsory Proclaimers moment - and then a small group of us retired to a hotel suite to gossip about how wonderful it all was.

And so I'm not in Kansas any more! I got a lift to St. Louis with Steph, one of Sarah's Aunts who lives out here and has very kindly offered to show us around a bit. They're all so friendly! The hotel is absolutely fantastic, though the concierge did get off to a bad start by asking me, "So which part of England are you from? Obviously it's somewhere in the south." Thank you, you can all stop laughing now.

And Amy should be here any minute....

UPDATE - Amy is here now. Hot, bothered and tired, but here.