Wedding Day

We went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, just a block away from the hotel. Then we split up. Jake, Mom & I walked around town exploring the shops a bit, while Dad & Scott went to a museum.

We discovered a darling little gift shop called Priscilla's of Plymouth, full of eclectic gift items, many of them obviously hand-made and/or one-of-a-kind. Just the kind of thing I like. I bought 2 FABULOUS and completely useless tassels - one with a cat and one with a flamingo. I adore them. And I found some very unusual greeting cards that I think I can use as templates for cardmaking. I did bring crafty stuff with me and hope to eventually find some time to play with it.

We ran into Scott and Dad just when we were looking for a place to eat lunch, so we all had lunch together at a pizza place. Then Scott took Jake back to the hotel for a nap, and the rest of us visited some antique stores. I found a few things that were kind of interesting, but nothing was must-have. Of interest was a series of late 19th century prints of bird eggs. They were really beautiful. But they were $45 each. No thanks. And there were lots and lots of postcards, but definitely overpriced. I'll wait until we're in the Pennsylvania Mountains where I know I can find ephemera more reasonably priced. My mom is on a search for a butter dish for the cabin. But my dad vetoed all of the ones we found.

We headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. I wore a long black dress with spaghetti straps and sequin detailing that I'd found at the Burlington Coat Factory in Revere. Scott and Jake were in dark grey suits. Adorable. Will share photos when I can.

We walked the 2 blocks to the Church of the Pilgrimage. My dad - church history buff - told us the story of the 2 churches next to one another. The gothic church at the top of the hill was on the site of the original church that was built in Plymouth - probably the oldest congregation in the US. That church is now Uniterian Universalist. When the church shifted that direction, the congregation actually split and a group of them built the church next door (where the wedding was), claiming to be more aligned with the spiritual beliefs of the original settlers. So apparently now they bicker over which is the actual successor to that original congregation that moved here to the US as a group in the 1600s. Can you imagine that?

The wedding was nearly 1/2 an hour late getting started, and Jake used up all his capacity for sitting still and behaving, so Scott took him back to the hotel. The wedding itself was fairly short and succinct. It was a United Church of Christ church. When they exchange rings, they did her wedding ring, then his wedding ring, then her engagement ring. I'd never seen the engagement ring actually part of the ceremony before. Then, at the end of the ceremony, the pastor said a few words about his research into Irish Celtic early Christianity, and a concept he learned about called a "thin place" a momentous time, such as a wedding ceremony, where the barrier between human and divine is so thin as to be indistinguishable.