Ahwahnee Weddings

Today we had weddings.  Three weddings throughout the day.  It was a perfect day for glorious weddings with happy brides and handsome grooms.  What a place for a wedding, beneath spectacular skies,  towering granite walls dripping with spring snow melt, pines, and cedars and fir swaying gently in the wind, pale blue sky graced by puffy cotton clouds, and air so pure and brisk it sweeps right through your body.


This photo was taken this winter on the wedding lawn.  Believe it or not the wedding was held on the fresh fallen snow and the guests sat on the white chairs while the bride and groom declared their love for each other.  They might have gotten a little shaky before the ceremony was over...since the temperature was about 30 something at the time.


It is interesting that guests for weddings in an outdoor setting dress according to the weather, however, the bride seldom ever does.  Many brides during the outdoor service dress as though they were inside in front of the fireplace, all cozy and warm...however, sleeveless wedding dresses are not warm and yet the brides tend to never feel the weather.  I suspect they are too excited and happy to notice the temperature.


There is a spiritual awakening outside under the cliffs, trees and sky...something totally elemental about the natural influences of the area.  Everyone declares the unseen presence is alive and watching over us.  Many people feel this presence and I would suppose that when a minister is standing in front of you and reading the wedding ceremony, God must be floating about high above and listening to every one of the human thoughts.


Or maybe it is the squirrels in the trees or the deer in the bushes or the bear in the blackberries.  Or maybe it is that we are inside of a container of granite walls and we feel secure and protected and so we think all is well...


We are in a space in time that is over 104 million years old...more or less.  Certainly we are surrounded by walls that speak to us and light that is refracting and reflecting in many dimensions unknown in other areas of the earth.  Perhaps we are part of an experience that is unworldly and are not even aware of it.   We are all part of some greater experience and as we touch our tasks or our duties, then we reverbrate our experience to one another and thus we create our creations and those leap forward and so on and on.

No matter where a wedding is held, it is special.  Frank Sinatra had four major weddings; Nancy, Ava, Mia, and Barbara.  They were all spectacular ceremonies, although he never made it to Yosemite, nor did he make it to the Ahwahnee.  However President Kennedy did, as well as Queen Elizabeth.  Each wedding that Frank Sinatra had was lavishly planned and perfectly performed.  He created quite the luxurious style of weddings throughout his life and career.  It greatly influenced the wedding preference of the American Culture throughout the 40s, the 60s, the 70s and the 80s.  Every woman wanted the diamonds, the furs, and the commitment.  In 2010 we are observing a resurgence of the wealth inspired weddings of the late 40s, with the little woman being catered to, however the little woman of 2010, now has a doctorate and a career and stands steady alongside her husband.

After the wedding ceremony the bride and groom and their party retires into the hotel where generous portions of gourmet food is specially served in the manner fit of any queen or president past or present.  The private party is out of sight and beyond the curtains tucked comfortably in the solarium where sunlight dances in grand display upon the Glacier Points majestic and mighty cliffs and the newly weds life is blessed as it passes from one moment of heavenly experience back into the reality of the human cultural expression.