The circle of deep purple pansies at the entrance attracted attention:
If you look carefully, you may notice a girl in costume on the other side of the circle. Yes, a lot of people showed up in full cosplay splendor (wigs included) for sakura matsuri. But there was, ironically, no sign of sakura anywhere - the trees were completely green. I was really lucky to catch the cherry blossoms at their height two weeks ago. The wedding was lovely:
Getting ready for the wedding was a bit of an adventure. I wasn't sure what to wear to an afternoon wedding. I was thinking of a black cocktail dress (elegant and sophisticated) but was worried it might be improperly somber. My other alternative was a silk dress in peach, but it just seemed a little too bridesmaid-y for that time of day. With 10 minutes left to go, I ended up calling my mom for fashion advice. She wasn't home, so my dad gave me advice: Eschew black. I still wasn't sure about the peach, so I tried on a turquoise dress I'd bought 7 years before and had never dared to wear. (I'd brought it as an alternative once to a wedding I went to with S, but he said -- impatiently and apathetically, without looking at the alternatives -- that the first dress I'd put on was fine.) I almost thought it would work, but it seemed awfully daring (form-fitting) and so I asked my neighbors whether it was OK. They were encouraging.
So I set off for the subway. About a 20-minute walk in high heels, but I knew I'd be meeting a friend at my destination and driving the rest of the way. I arrived at the meeting place 8 minutes early, and called my driver friend to confirm location and let her know I was there. All was well. Another passenger friend showed up. We waited. A third passenger showed up. We waited. And waited. No sign of our driver or the fourth passenger. Finally we checked our voicemails and found that we had missed several calls from our driver. She asked us to meet her one block away and she'd explain. We walked over... and found her on the phone with the police, next to her vandalized car. She wasn't going to the wedding.
We three passengers gave her hugs and then conferred. How were we to get to the wedding? Hire a cab? No, said Passenger 3, it's much better - faster and more reliable - to go by public transportation. So we walked another 5 blocks to the subway. Took the subway up 150 blocks north. It was running local. One stop short of our target (the GW Bridge), everyone else exited the train. As the doors closed, I got very nervous. Sure enough, we weren't going anywhere. Luckily, an MTA employee came by and let us out with just a small scolding.
Some near-misses too with the subsequent transfer to the bus and then to the taxi -- but the story has a happy ending. We arrived at the church about 3 minutes before the ceremony began!!! And our missing fourth passenger made it too! She ended up taking a taxi the whole way, which was about $40 before tolls and tip.
An evening of joyful celebration and dancing ensued.
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