The Wedding of Daniela
and Fabrizio Fabbri
16 October, 1999
When we left Italy
in July, we assumed that it would be our last visit of the
year. It turns out we were wrong. Fabrizio and Daniela, our two
Italian friends, decided that they could arrange a wedding in
less than 9 weeks--and we were invited. So that is how we found
ourselves returning to Bologna in October.
We flew in Friday evening and were promptly greeted by rush
hour traffic. In fact, it is only "rush" in name. We
didn't get anywhere very quickly. In some respects this was a
good thing as we weren't quite sure where we were going and so
had extra time to figure it out. We were successful and arrived
in our hotel room at the same moment Fabrizio called to arrange
dinner. It was during dinner that they asked if Juli could carry
the rings.
Aha, now we know why we were asked to bring the pink dress!
Of course she said yes and a big day just got bigger. We were
curious to see to how an Italian wedding would compare to an American
wedding and now Juli was to be a part.
We arrived at the church and found the family and guests waiting
on the front steps. We were very surprised to realize that we
had been introduced to a great number of them during our stay
in July. This was nice as several speak English and so we had
people to chat with while we mingled.
It turns out that we were all waiting for Daniela to arrive
so that we could follow her into the church and the wedding could
begin. In effect, we were a (small) part of the wedding processional.
While this works well if you are expecting it, Juli found herself
(and the rings) swept up into the entrance of the church and awed
by the spectacle.
Gentle prodding from Mom, Alex, and Daniela's Mom finally
convinced her to go near the front and hand the rings to Fabrizio.
With the rings, the wedding could begin. One of the first
things we noticed (other than the fact that everything was in
Italian) was the arrangement of the wedding party in the chancel.
As might be assumed with the way we entered the church, there
were no ushers and thus no bridesmaids. Instead they had witnesses
from each family. Stephano and Francesca for Daniela and Fabrizio's
brother with his wife. Further, everyone in the chancel had chairs
on which to sit.
The ceremony was beautiful with several scripture readings
and a wonderful choir. You didn't have to understand the language
to understand the solemnity and the wonder.
When the wedding was over, we all returned to the front steps
to wait for Daniela and Fabrizio to exit and take the car to the
reception. The family was waiting also. As Daniela and Fabrizio
exited the church, they were showered--no pelted--with rice. A
short drive in the safety of the car and it was time for the reception.
The Reception
The reception was just down the street in an old mansion.
A long, tree-lined lane leads to a fountain and the front door.
We were some of the last to arrive as we had to stop back at the
hotel to pick up an emergency change of clothing for Juli. It's
a good thing that we did. She didn't even make it to the dinner
where we expected problems. Instead, she found the fountain in
the front and the nice cold water. With a fresh change of clothing,
she and Alex played with their friends of the summer.
Dinner was a multicourse Italian feast and was wonderful.
Daniela's seating arrangements were inspired. We shared our table
with two other couples who, besides speaking English, were also
expatriots with many fun stories about life outside their home
country. In fact, the conversation was so good, that it was only
the dessert buffet that got some of us up from the table. While
we were enjoying the company and the food, Juli was enjoying the
band and her new friend from the next table. The evening ended
with a group photo and warm farewells.
Our next day was spent exploring more of Bologna.
To see that part of our weekend, click Here.
