artists' wedding

 

"In the Field, Under the Tree"

So went the invitation, slipped into an odd envelope along with a strip of silly pictures from a photobooth.  The effect was playful, casual, & optimistically romantic.  For my fellow Fishies, I thought you'd enjoy this peek at this incredible wedding.  Rare is the place so overwhelmingly beautiful that I put down my camera altogether.  These are the images I took the first half-hour, after which I was swept away in a sensory bath of Watermelon-colored mountains, corn, cheese & chili-based appetizers, hand-tinned kitchen cabinets, nook-after-nook of hidden gardens, insanely cozy rooms with foot-thick window ledges, & most impressively a community of decades-close New Mexican artists dancing to Diana Ross & our beloved Michael.  

At night's end D & I parked on a wooden swing & wondered at the silence of Corrales, a high-altitude valley outside of Albuquerque.  We sat & discussed the property, 2-acres of love & hand-made vignettes.  We watched these dance-floor friends as they held hands, twirled, laughed, marched & jived, trading children, spouses & wine glasses.  We couldn't help but cry at the happiness they all felt, their joy at a grown child's wedding, & the intimacy that had come from years & years of knowing each other.  Their children were all there, clearly still so close with their parents.  We both noted the possibility for ourselves - staying connected to those we love, living & creating alongside a common tribe.  And at the reality of living one's life as an artist - not like it's a part of you, but as someone who's fully integrated that part of themselves with every other piece of themselves.  Creating, constantly & totally so that every gesture is a self-expression.

I'm not sure what I'm more inspired by - the life, the homes, the scenery, the friendships or the food.