We decided to have our ceremony at Four Winds Faire when we found out his family could come and all my friends were already there at the faire. Since the final weekend of the festival would be 'Tolkien Weekend', our dress would be very non-conventional, even by Renaissance standards! It was our first faire as Howl-o, and our budget was so very limited, thus creativity was the main directive!

Getting ready for the ceremony included making a flag string to encircle our area, corsages for all participants and head wreaths for the ladies and groom, and an eternity candle. Charles Beasley of Mystic Moon Mansion (http://mysticmoonmansion.com, Dallas TX) was our wonderful priest. He gave us a list of special items to get including bowls, candles, ropes and ribbons. We found a gold rope and a silver rope for the Lord and Lady that would bind our hands, the four elemental ribbons, and we cut five-inch ribbons for our guests to tie on after the ceremony. Our priest provided the broom over which we would jump, plus incense, and a lovely altar cover.

Douglys already had most of hs wear in his 'bag of tricks'. Our Elvin transformation and Douglys' tunic were by Fox Moon Productions. (http://foxmoonproductions.com). I had made a blue chemise more in the Medieval Celtic dress vein than the voluminous chemise of Ren-wear. And I wanted to wear a blue dress to the ceremony anyway. We went to Target and found lovely bowls and candles. We were walking around waiting to be inspired when I saw in the curtain section a lovely net curtain with tiny red roses with green stems embroidered all over. I knew how to make a spiffy jacket out of a rectangle of cloth and got another one for the veil.

The eternity candle was in a very large glass jar half filled with rice. Over the rice, I placed flowers; silk forget-me-nots and white rosebuds, and guitar picks on the top layer with a lovely candle. Douglys picked the candle; crème with flowers on the sides. Then I put a ribbon around the top that had glass crystal fringe. It was so windy every candle went out except the eternity candle because it was in the oversized glass jar!

Being a wild flower fanatic, I wanted a wild flower bouquet. We collected goat weed, red clover, and cornflowers. It was raining when we woke up the morning of the ceremony. But in the night, Douglys had picked a bunch of Drummond Phlox and 'Tall Purple Ones'. The sky cleared right at opening gate and we brought all our goodies to the small back stage area. My Dear Maid and I wrapped the flowers up in green ribbon for the most beautiful bouquet I have ever seen!

We have a copy of the ceremony posted, as well as a flash presentation giving a quick run-down of the service. The short of it is…The priest, the groom and his guardian drew the circle that the ceremony would be in. The priest called on the guardians of the four directions/elements for blessings and lights the Lord and Lady Candles. The herald announced the arrival of the bride. The priest introduced us to the Guardians and we got a special blessing from each and with each blessing, a ribbon representing each elemental colour.

The commsueioning basically asks whether or not we know what we are doing. Our Bard reads a lovely poem called 'The Art of a Good Relationship'. In the Collaboration, we assert our freedom to make this decision. The Offer asks 'will we' and the Acceptance answers 'we will'.

The vows were very sweet and dear. In Consideration of our desire to marry, we exchanged rings, and then with proper pomp and ceremony, the priest bound our hands with the Lord and Lady cords and then tied on the elemental ribbons. We were pronounced married at that point but still would do 'three firsts together'; drink a libation 'May you never thirst', eat bread 'May you never hunger' and then the priest laid down a broom on the threshold of our circle and we made a 'Leap of Faith'. Then while we greeted our friends and they tied on ribbons, the priest and the guardians closed the circle thanking the Great Spirits for blessing us. And we all stood around and laughed and blew bubbles.

It was a beautiful ceremony. I still get all misty remembering the time.

Photos courtesy Howl-O and www.stalkwell.com