Because there are people who do not use Facebook and have not yet heard anything about how today went, I am writing a quick report. We missed all of you and we wish you had been with us. There were 40 people in attendance, representing all the circles of our community. The farm, family, temple, Blueberry Hill, friends. As Jon noted in his toast later, about a third of the guests had been at our wedding 35 years before.
As you know from the most recent post, Jon cooked all the food and Alissa and Rebecca made the cake. The venue was the Moutoux Barn, a building with lots of family history. Benjamin chose that spot from a nice list of outdoor spaces, and he chose it mostly because Jon and I got married there (and then after us, many more). Anna and Gordon assembled the linens and the dishes and many other items, Stephen brought the tables and chairs from the stash that was created for his wedding two years ago. Most of the quilts came from our house.
Benjamin was right to choose the barn. It is in the middle of a farm full of baby cows and chickens and vegetable fields and rustic buildings and tractors. The Moutoux family runs a full diet year round CSA and it is a lively place with lots to see. The barn sits on the top of a rise so there is a lovely view of fields and animals in three directions -- the fourth side is a fence and a tall hedge that marks the southern border between Lani's horses and the Moutoux property. Our farm is on the eastern border.
The weather forecast for Sunday had been grim and unsettled all week, and last night there was 100% chance of rain by about noon. So we got ready by assembling lots of market tents and Alissa bought twelve clear umbrellas. We all brought our boots. We put up the tarp structures over the parking area so we would be ready to carry them in on a moment's notice.
Some family members arrived at about 9:00 to put the finishing touches on the set-up (we did the first touches on Saturday afternoon, figuring out how to use the space, setting up little tables in the appetizers area, putting out the chairs, hanging the quilts). Guests began to arrive at about 10:00. Because we were all outside, we had plenty of room for visiting, in masks. Jon brought out the appetizers at 11:00 -- sushi, dumplings, summer rolls, edamame -- and Tillie and Hugh were very happy.
The whole event was broadcast and narrated by Hugh. He interviewed guests and kept a running commentary until the wedding started.
After the ketubah signing (the witnesses had to write their names in Hebrew, for the first time in years), the chuppah ceremony began. Jon and I walked Benjamin up the aisle and then Julia and Shaia accompanied Yael. Julia walked the bride in as one of the most recent additions to the Newcomb family, knowing how to welcome Yael as the newest member of this clan. The chuppah holders were Michael, Anna, Scott (B's longtime friend) and Tillie. Rabbi Gold performed the ceremony with grace and wisdom and lots of affection for the bride and groom. Benjamin had written a new version of his vows last night, and they were very place and time related, welcoming Yael to his community and home of origin. Yael used the same perfect words (and my favorite phrase remains the same -- that she is spoiled by having her creative dreams brought to reality by Benjamin, giving her a feeling that anything is possible). The seven blessings were ably recited and interpreted by family and friends, and this time Yael's mother delivered hers from Israel, over the phone. Magic.
After the wedding, we had lunch. Guests sat with their own families -- after they brought their own tables outside and placed them wherever they wanted. Still no rain, just a grey, cloudy sky and plenty of humidity. Lunch was cold sesame noodles, Butter Tofu (instead of Butter Chicken, as this was a vegetarian affair), sweet and sour cauliflower, Asian slaw and our signature garlic green beans. This is a crowd of real eaters, and we ate all the food. Everyone got plenty to eat but Jon did not end up making way too much, as he often does.
Then the performances! The bride and groom did a long and complicated couple dance that they had learned for their first wedding. It was so much fun to watch. Then Michael and Kenyon did an excellent reprise of "Agony" from Into the Woods, complete with a long explanation of why this song is appropriate at a wedding. Nell led us in a socially distanced song, the Newcomb sibling generation sang the only song we still know well enough (Sto Mi E Milo) which made Yael cry somehow, and then a big family group performed a customized version of Favorite Things that Yael's mother and sister had written and performed for them at the last wedding. It was all very satisfying and not too long.
And then the cake was presented. Alissa didn't tell us that there was about five pounds of butter in that three-tiered masterpiece, but that's part of what made it so delicious. One layer of espresso with chocolate ganache, one of brown butter with caramel , one layer of strawberry with lime curd. We ate all of it.
Still no rain, so we moved on to the next phase -- starting the wedding quilt. We made a circle of tables and piled fabric scraps on them. People sat down to work with some scissors and created squares for future stitching. That project could last a lifetime, but Yael is a determined crafter.
We got everything cleaned up and loaded back into trucks (my contribution to this event was behind-the-scenes logistics: getting the flowers picked and ready for bunching, having the right vehicles in the right places, asking people to retrieve things before they were needed, ordering the bridal bouquet...I didn't cook a thing but I did pick the green beans myself.). It started to rain as we finished packing up. We could not have asked for anything more.
It was so nice to have a whole wedding in daylight, with no rain and no heat and no bugs. The whole thing felt calm and right. Perhaps less weighty because they had already gone through all this a month ago. Jon's toast (concocted in the middle of the night when he couldn't sleep) reminded us about the toast that Leon gave at our wedding, and he pondered the differences between the generations of Groisser men. When Jon speaks in public, we all sit up and listen because he rarely speaks without thinking first, and therefore he is succinct and on track. What Jon did not say was that when he first got his diagnosis, his first big regret was that he would not see his children getting married. Well, yes he did. And it was just perfect except that so many people could not be here with us.
Here is the link to the Facebook livestream that Hugh did:
