getting married OUT LOUD

It's always interesting to hang out in Boston's Public Gardens on a Saturday --- inevitably bridal parties and their photographers swarm around the swan pond and picturesque willow trees and the little arched bridge where so many couples become engaged. You can literally count up to 10 couples in a given hour, pouring out from the tiny historic venues and large expensive palaces around Boston's public gardens and Boston Common - these venues do brisk wedding business in the summer.



Today Jen and Joe were married in the Public Gardens, under the pagoda tree. You have to fill out a form in advance (but not TOO far in advance) and pay a fee in order to have the right to have a ceremony out there. And technically you're not supposed to bring any chairs or any meals into the grounds.

The most interesting thing about the location was the gawkers. I kind of expected tourists busting out their point-and-shoot cameras, and maybe even the occasional enthusiastic homeless person, but I did NOT expect the middle-class middle-aged couples who actually pulled out lawn chairs, picnics, and parked themselves right across the sidewalk from the ceremony... so much that they were nonchalently watching the ceremony attenders from about 10 feet away. I couldn't believe it!




It was a lovely day for these two and their loved ones...