The Wedding Party p21

Rolls Royce, Venice model

As we arrived at Sta Maria della salute, we saw this beautiful boat approaching as well. It was covered in flowers and there was a bride sitting inside. A little flower girl was even throwing petals into the water as the boat made its way to where we were standing. After the gorgeous wooden boat arrived, a fleet of wedding guests followed close behind. It was quite a production. Everyone was dressed to the nines and as they gathered at the open square, we sat on the steps of the large church of Santa Maria della Salute and watched the party happening. I don't know if it was more like a party, or a fashion show ... but it sure was fun to be a fly on the steps.


Mariachi Band

As the wedding party gathered, this band was playing festive music on the steps of a bridge nearby. It just added another magical element to the atmosphere. This all took place in the late afternoon on Sunday, by the way. We were enjoying it thoroughly (as you can see these other by-sitters on the steps are, as well), till we realized that maybe the wedding was going to take place inside the Salute church ... and we hadn't been inside to see it yet. We decided to take the opportunity before it filled with the wedding shindigs.

As we entered the church, though, the music from the band died down, and as our eyes adjusted to the darkness and candlelight, we heard voices singing the hymns of the mass going on inside. The church was as beautiful inside as it was outside. It was appropriate that there was a mass happening inside, afterall it is a church. So many of the churches that we had seen so far seemed like ornamentation that was used to attract tourists. (I know, that's totally absurd, but that's really what it started feeling like.) This was a nice break from everything. So many sounds filled the air, the mass, the singing, the faint yet audible marichi wedding music going on outside, and of course the wedding bells at a few nearby towers. All of these sounds filtered into the chapel and created an orchestra of sounds I never imagined hearing all at the same time.