Here Comes the Bride

Under blue skies on a sunny day at the end of May in Tuscany, I trod the stony, dusty track from the farm buildings to the wheat field where the wedding ceremony was taking place. After a busy morning placing five almonds in each of a couple of dozen mini Kilner jars and tying them up with ribbon, I rushed back and forth with drinks and nibbles for a hungry bride, hooked up all the tiny silk-covered buttons on her dress, as well as getting my own hair curled and putting on my mother-of-the-bride outfit. I suddenly realised that everyone else had disappeared.

There was no room in the car – it already contained the bride, her stepfather, the maid of honour and two little bridesmaids – so I set off with my camera; past the barns, farm machinery, stables and training area, past the cute pygmy pony and meadows full of horses. I followed the track, stopping every now and then to reassure myself that the car was not on my heels. From the distance came the strains of music and I could just discern fluttering ribbons on an arch and figures sitting on bales of wheat.

I hurried down a dip and into the field. All eyes were on the road, scanning for the glint of a windscreen, and ears were pricked for the rumble of an engine. The wait seemed to stretch like a shadow in the early afternoon sunshine. And then, there they were, walking the last few yards, my radiant daughter on the arm of my proud husband.

end of Tuscan spring
foals frisk and frolic in fields
full of their future

Kim M. Russell, 2017

My response to dVerse Poets Pub Haibun Monday – Waiting

This Monday we have a guest blogger, Michael aka Morpethroad from Australia, who says: ‘We live in a world where waiting is part of life. At the airport, leaving or awaiting an arrival, in the shops, going to a sporting event, at the train station, the bus stop, even at home waiting to use the bathroom.

Draw from your personal experience, whether it be a pleasant or unpleasant wait, from the exhilaration of awaiting the arrival of a loved one to the trauma of waiting news of a lost loved one or one who is ill.’

32 thoughts on “Here Comes the Bride”

    1. Thank you, Sarah! I used to live in Twickenham and worked on Richmond Hill and later in Fulham back in the eighties and early nineties, so I often drove through Richmond Park. When Mum came over to visit we would often walk there, Marble Hill Park, Syon Park or Kew. Magical parks and happy memories. But nothing can match Ellen’s wedding day!

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  4. Congrats to the family! I love weddings and those moments are always filled with anxious waiting and then just sheer joy. Love the personal photos – such a perfect background for a wedding!

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    1. Thank you, Victoria! Mine did too, looking back at the pictures. I’ll be seeing the official photographs next week and choosing some of my favourites. Ellen and Steve gave me a slate photo frame with spaces for two pictures. 🙂

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