Sep 10 - Wedding in Italy - Wedding Day!

By morning most of our friends had arrived, around 30 people! Because of yesterday's storm their flights had been re-routed all over, even to other European cities. Other people had been stuck on closed freeways or just simply got lost. But they were there by lunch.

Lunch was in an amazingly beautiful place. It was a humble shack on a sloping green field that overlooked Lake Vico (Lago di Vico). A crown of green hills surrounded the lake and horses grazed below in the sun.

One half of the shack housed long wooden tables where we ate. The food, hot and homemade, came out of the kitchen in the other half. And oh what food!! We had the full Italian feast -- the antipasti, the pasta, the meat, the veggies, and finally homemade candied chesnuts from the trees in the field.

We then drank a local mandarine alcohol and chatted with each other in the sun. Marco and I sat in hammocks with our good friends Mitesh (from India) and his girlfriend (Indian-American) and Kaoru (from Japan / Europe). We talked with Joanna (Portuguese) who is working for the WHO in Mozambique, and Ally (English) who's working in Kenya, and Pedro, who's at home in Portugal. And so many others. So good to see them!

The wedding began at 6pm. There was no church. The wedding was held at a farm villa in the countryside. The ceremony was in an orchard of hazelnut trees. The bride and groom, both friends of ours, are two wonderful Italians named Vanessa and Stefano whom we all met in Singapore during INSEAD.

The ceremony had no priest. Vanessa and Stefano said the vows themselves and in a fantastic surprise, Kgashane officiated. Kgashane, a Zulu from South Africa, is a wonderfully charismatic guy and is also a part of our Singapore INSEAD group. It was a great sight to see the three of them together. Their closest friends and relatives read passages. The music was cheerful West African folk songs by a Senegalese street musician that Vanessa and Stefano had gotten to know in the streets of Rome.

The ceremony was quick but very moving. Genuine and honest. Afterwards we followed a candle-lit path from the orchard to the main house. We had champagne near the pool and dinner on the villa lawn. The dinner featured a pig roast, fresh veggies and good pasta.

We danced on the villa patio until the wee hours of the morning. Vanessa's brother was the DJ and I was glad to see that he used some music I had brought. The dancing was hot and fun and energetic, reaching a high point at great old hits like It's Raining Men and Tom Jones' It's Not Unusual where everybody sang along. I got a chance to talk to Fiona, our old roommate from Singapore and one of the spiciest Irish girls the world has ever known. So much fun!

Congratulations Vanessa and Stefano!