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Once upon a time...
In a land only an hour and twenty minutes away...
One Rikae, death date August 25, 2006, and one Macalaure, death date March 29, 2006, agreed to intertwine their lives in a legal and binding manner.
The wedding was scheduled for 5pm.
The bride and groom arrived... significantly after 5pm.
In the mean time, Fea, Nienna, and Lari (Mira was there in spirit) attempted to keep themselves entertained inside of the car as the rain poured down.
"Nienna,"
Fea pouted, "I'm bored. And it's raining."
"Wait!" says, Nienna, "
I think I see a car!"
"No," says Fea and Lari, "No car."
They turn the other way. "
No car this way either."
Eventually, there are, in fact, cars.
And eventually we emerge into the rainy afternoon.
The rainy, cold afternoon.
The bride and groom... are still missing.
The executive decision is made that it is too rainy
where the wedding should have been and the wedding therefore shall no longer be outside.
The ladies in dresses rejoice.
The
bridesmaids arrive. The ladies in dresses take a lot of pictures.
The wedding guests, all of whom have retreated indoors, watch through the rainy windows for the mysteriously missing bride and groom. It is about 5:40.
"
They have arrived!" cries someone.
"They're blurry..." pines Fea.
And then?
They are wed.
And then they are forced to
pose. A lot. For a very long time.
The self-declared
flower girl discovers that she doesn't mind posing. She poses many times.
While the flower girl is preoccupied with being exceptionally blurry due to her love for spontaneous motion,
the rest of the happy family looks beautiful, stunningly lit, and quite happy. This is quite possibly Fea's favorite picture.
The younger two of the children capable of upright movement claim Fea as their new playtoy.
Fea learns a great many variations of the lines to Ring around the Rosie. Many of which seemed spontaneously composed. Fea insists, however, to any who are reading, that she does not like children, does not dance, does not play, and is completely and utterly evil.
The wedding party and accompanying guests depart, heading to the photographer's studio and the reception.
At the photographer's studio, the were-duckling expresses her displeasure at both great length and great volume.
Mama Mac speaks soothingly to her in German. Annika shrieks more loudly.
"The German does not help," mourns Mama Mac.
Mac smiles at his mother, bounces his baby lightly, and says, "No, you have to speak to her in
Baby German."
Mama Mac laughs and says, "Tooka tooka tooka. Ticky ticky ticky."
Fea smiles, though Annika is still crying, and murmurs, "That's fabulous. Baby German sounds suspiciously like Baby English."
As photographs are taken, all involved learn Fea's hitherto undiscovered talent with a tickle feather. "Look up here!" Tickle, tickle. "Smile!" Tickle tickle tickle. "Big smile, girls, stand up straight! Big smile, Rikae. Don't think I won't aim the feather at you!"
As Fea oogles the photographer's fabulous lighting,
Nienna keeps the bridesmaids (and the self-proclaimed flower girl) occupied by reading them
Angelina's Baby Sister.
After a fabulous meal - almost entirely vegetarian! Fea rejoiced! - the dancing commenced.
Nienna, matchmaker extraordinairre, made a few well-placed suggestions, taking advantage of people's vulnerability.
Mac and a stepdaughter.
Fea, who, I assure you, was having absolutely no fun at all.
And finally, it was time for the bride and groom to share their first dance.
They tried, believe me they tried, to avoid the spotlight.
Mama Mac put her foot down. "Chris-tee-ahn," she commanded, "in twenty years, you will want these peectures. Danse!"
Fea, who wants to be Mac's mother when she grows up, smirked, adding, "Erika and Christian, if you did not want photographs, you should have eloped. Now
dance."
Seeing the futility of defying both Mac's mother and Fea, the couple, as you might have guessed...
danced.
After,
there was cake. Delicious, delightful, moist, strawberry filled cake. Fea was in love.
All night there had been champagne and sparkling grape juice, but once the bridesmaids went to sleep, Mac put his math skills to work, measuring proper proportions for his signature drink, which has been called many things, including, 'The Downer,' 'The Mac,' and '
The Awkward Penguin.'
Containing mint ice cream, food coloring, peach schnapps, and vodka, it was... fabulous.
And so the wedding day ended.
Or, rather, so it ended for us, as we had to leave so Nienna could sleep the night before her last ever final exam.
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Congratulations from Fea, Nienna, Lari, and Mira to the first - unless people have been holding out on us - Barrowdowner Bride and Groom!