STARRY NIGHT

Photo by Bill Slavin

The Golden Hour, the hour treasured by photographers when the sun sets and leaves behind light that is filled with luminosity. That light also makes a wedding in the Napa Valley full of magic. Everything looks beautiful, everything seems to work perfectly, romance is in the air.

At S. Vittui winery in St. Helena last weekend the full moon had risen as we watched the wedding party walk down the steps to a courtyard where all the guests had assembled. The groom with his parents came first. The groom turned to his parents and kissed and hugged them. The bride's friends and their escorts followed. Then we all waited as the bride came down the stairs escorted by her parents. We looked on as they all greeted and hugged each other. Standing, we honored those small traditions that create a community and memories.

Photo from Shuttercock Images

Later in the evening when the sun had disappeared and the moon shone above us, Bill and I leaned on a tall table with another couple in the diffused light outside the reception hall. The other couple, old friends whose wedding we had attended, reminded us that the young 30-something couples standing nearby seemed just like us at that age. The women wore flowing evening dresses amd the men had suits with ties -- a change from the casual look of today's work place. One woman had a soft baby pouch wrapped around her while her baby sleep against her shoulder. One of the men held hands with a toddler who kept pulling him away to play, and another couple held each other's hands. For this evening they seemed to have the assurance of people who knew that the world was ready to be explored to its fullest.

We asked each other about memories from our 30s when Bill and the couple had worked together with the bride's dad. We thought of weddings we all had attended and how the small traditions, such as walking down the aisle, have changed to be more inclusive of both sets of parents and and more equal for the bride and groom.

We talked of team-building activities that had created a bond between the people who worked together that carried through to this day. We had all remained friends even though career paths had taken us in different directions. As we talked we tried to recapture specific moments and laughed at how fleeting memories can be.

The wedding, like other ceremonies, gave us a chance to bring back memories and to ask deep questions about our lives. We talked about how much the world had changed since our 30s, we regretted that we hadn't kept better records of the events that shared the same luminosity as this evening's wedding, and how fortunate we were to have had those experiences and to have retained friendships with people with whom we shared our lives. As we left the winery, we looked up at the stars shining above us and felt once again the magic which started with the golden hour.

Perseid meteor shower  in August by Bill Slavin

Check out the night sky on August 25, 2018:
https://in-the-sky.org/skymap2.php