Pomp and Circumstance

With a personal love for the city of London and British history, I'd like to take this opportunity to address the wedding of Prince William and Kate. From the dress design to the horse-drawn procession, their day will be nothing less than spectacular.  In the midst of the political implications surrounding the union, it is easy to forget that aside from the pomp and circumstance it is just another celebration of love and dedication.   

I'd like to share with you a story recently sent to me by a very close friend.  For Dr. June Davison, the royal wedding represents more than just the joining of two lovebirds.  These are her words.

Now that there’s word of a wedding this summer in the family, my little granddaughter is ecstatic about ALL THINGS WEDDING. Today, as we spent the afternoon, what captured her imagination was the news about the Royal Wedding of William and Kate. When she tired of her dolls, she turned to me to say,

“I wonder what a Royal Wedding would be like…”

With that, I was able to say to her, “Lillian, would you really like to see one?”

Without any further prompting or delay, I pulled out a VHS from 1981 entitled “The Royal Wedding” from Thames Televison and plugged it in to our last remaining compatible video machine. Any excuse to watch this tape will do……

For an hour my sweet little girl and I sat enchanted as Lady Diana Spencer floated through magnificent St. Paul’s Cathedral. We loved the wedding sermon—slow and elegantly pronounced. We loved the tropical-bird costume of Dame Kiri te Kanawa as she sang in superhuman range. We shouted out to the bridesmaids to –quick—catch the train as it floated in the wind and—quick-- stuff it into the coach after the ceremony

Lillian sat entranced, while I must say, I felt nostalgic about how young both Charles and Diana seemed so young, and, with the retrospect of history, how naïve it all was.

For Lillian, as for every little girl, it was pure magic, all the better for being real. And for me, well, I grabbed a Kleenex. Why oh why do I cry at weddings? …..

Another Generation

It's no surprise that weddings evoke strong emotions from those who are in the audience.  From complete elation to the ping of nostalgia and every emotion in between, weddings are strong emotional beacons.  Think of the last wedding you attended... how did it make you feel?


Cheers!
Kate Matthies