Last night there was a wedding reception at the winery. 3 or 4 people came by last week to tell me about it and to say that it would be noisy, kind of an apology in advance. The father of the groom said that they were going to have a DJ and suggested that I should have a party too, my guests could dance to their music.
Watching people arrive I was struck by the difference in the way that the men and the women were dressed. All of the women were dressed up, jewellery, make-up, cute shoes, floaty dresses, lace camisoles, satin pants, that kind of dressed up. About half of the men were dressed up. The father and uncle of the groom both wore summer suits, I think of them as ice-cream suits. I assume the father of the bride wore a suit. A couple of the men wore blazers, a few more wore dress shirts and slacks, some wore short sleeve shirts and slacks, but at least half of the men were wearing shorts and T shirts, or jeans and T shirts.
Can't you just hear the wives saying "You aren't going to wear that to the wedding?!" and the husbands responding "What's wrong with this?" and the wives just rolling their eyes. And giving up. Because really, after 40 years together is it likely that he's going to change.
There were aperitifs and then dinner. For a while someone was playing a sax. It was beautiful, kind of late night city saxophone. It was dusk, the air was still, there was a background murmur of voices, the occasional random dog bark, and over it all, the music.
