Once, I was booked for a wedding that led to love at a crossroads. Back then, I lived in an easy-to-get-to Seattle neighborhood. I had a home studio that I used for teaching harp lessons at the back of my house, and I also had wedding couples visit me there for in-person consultations, which was a popular perk that people took me up on.
Before the Wedding
One couple came to see me a few months before their wedding. They told me a few songs they liked and wanted to hear me play them. I also played a few of my suggestions, and we made a plan for their processional and recessional (arguably the two main songs of a wedding ceremony).
The week of the wedding arrived. Customarily, I do a check-in with my client 1-2 days before the event to confirm the details I cannot err on: arrival time, play time, and song details to name a few. I spoke with the bride, and everything was good to go!
I live in Western Washington, which has the largest fleet of public ferries in the United States. The venue required me to take a ferry boat to Bainbridge Island. I knew where I was headed off to; it just required a little extra time for waiting at the dock and passage across the water. I was excited for a little adventure out of the city; I’m sure it would be a lovely day!
On the Day of the wedding
On the day of the wedding, as I was driving downtown to the ferry terminal, my phone rang. Visualize a lot of concrete, road signs, being beneath a loud overpass, and cars in all directions, except one, which was water. I sensed I was at a crossroads. I had to act fast. Should I pick up the phone? To do so meant getting off the road. My only option to do that would be turning left, thus getting off my path to the ferry (which could also mean potentially missing my boat). Or should I ignore the phone and turn right as planned? (This would mean entering the ferry terminal, paying, and getting in a line that there was no getting out of). As the phone rang, I thought, “something tells me this is about the wedding and I should pick it up.”
I turned left into a parking lot snugged under two concrete walls and the overhead of the now defunct highway 99 viaduct. I picked up the phone. It was the mother-of-the-bride. She sounded exhausted. She told me that the night before, after the ceremony rehearsal, the groom told her daughter he couldn’t go through with it. He wasn’t going to marry her. There would be no wedding.
I was very grateful that the mother was so gracious to me, and agreed to send full payment to me just as planned. I was also grateful to my intuition, or I would have been in the ferry line going to Bainbridge Island, despite the cancelled wedding. Of course I mostly sad for the couple, no doubt like many other guests, and people in the wedding party. I’ll never know how it all unfolded after that. I hope that they were able to continue on their life’s journeys in their own unique ways, after they each got through this crossroads.
