Another weekend, another wedding. I thought June was the high season for weddings, but as it turns out, so is September.
This past weekend found us down in Nelson County again, not too far from where we had been the weekend before, only this time, it was a wedding at Pharsalia. Pharsalia is a two hundred year old working farm that hosts events of all manner. While it still functions as a private home, guests were invited to come tour the house prior to the ceremony. I heard more than one person announce the house was like Monticello, but better, because you could touch things. It certainly had oodles of charm that came from not just being carefully curated over the last 200 years, but from the fact that it was still clearly, a comfortable and beloved family home.
The gardens and surrounding landscape were beautiful, even if it was an overcast day and the tops of the mountains were in the clouds. It was a fabulous little wedding, with the brides looking radiant.
Yes, brides, as in plural. The wedding was what Edie called “a Modern Family” wedding, as that seems to be her reference for what the rest of us call same-sex or gay weddings. Honestly, I think I like Edie’s term better. It sounds more accepting, like it’s just another couple who have pledged their lives together, without too much regard for who they happen to be, based on a tv sitcom about an extended family that accepts and stands by each other, unconditionally. Which is what was, exactly.
As parents, we hope to mold our children into productive, responsible members of society with empathy for others. At the same time, we get to witness the world through their eyes and if we’re lucky, we can learn a few things about opening up our own minds, especially when it comes to empathy for others. Watching the current debate about who can marry whom, through her eyes, I have no doubt the kids are wiser than we give them credit for.
We can’t pick our parents or our siblings, but we can choose who we build a life with. Hopefully, we aren’t far from the day when we can call a wedding a wedding without any descriptions as to make-up of the couple. In the meantime, I think I might join my daughter in calling all weddings “Modern Family Weddings”, because really, do you need to know if it was a bride & groom, two grooms or two brides to know that it was a beautiful wedding, with many happy tears shed and a damn good party celebrating two people committing their lives together? I didn’t think so either.
Chicken Wire & Paper Flowers 
In the millions of times I’ve driven by Pharsalia, I have yet to go there. I’ve seen the beauty from a distance and from photos though. (We were in Nelson this past weekend and again this coming one!) Congrats to the brides!
It’s way up there as Pat said. We’d never been up there either. It’s lovely. The details in the house and gardens are inspiring.
What gorgeous grounds! I’ll show Debra, too, as she is always scoping out spots for a someday ceremony. I hope/trust/think kids like Edie are molding our future thought patterns as a society and all the better if their parents support their open-mindedness. Which you of course do. and which makes you all and Edie completely awesome. And you can tell her I said so – and thank you, too.
Isn’t that how the world slowly changes? Each generation that comes after the next gets a little bit wiser. At least, we hope so, right?
Oh, Becky, this is so beautiful. The grounds, the photos, and your words.
I am always happy when two people find each other, fall in love, and pledge to spend their lives together, regardless of it’s a man and a woman, two men, or two women.
Exactly. And I do love a good wedding.
Sounds like a wonderful day in a beautiful setting for 2 people to tie the know.
It was lovely.
What a gorgeous setting! I’m all for love, who cares what it ends up looking like in the end, it’s always beautiful.
Exactly.