The Ceremony

The season, the setting, and the lure of the Renaissance inspired Tanya and Jim's outdoor October harvest wedding. The traditional ceremony took place on hill behind an old church, overlooking the bride's grandparents' fields scattered with hay bales. Jim (on Tanya's insistence, he says) collected long, wild grapevines to construct the wedding arch. It was hazardous work, the groom says. I ended up with a six-inch scratch across the side of my face a few days before the wedding. The couple arranged 100 wooden chairs in front of the dramatic handcrafted altar and marked the grassy aisle with burgundy- and cream-color chrysanthemums.