I love to see a beautifully choreographed dance with highly trained and disciplined dancers. It’s magical, spectacular and awe inspiring. But I also love to see spontaneous dance, natural dance, people just enjoying the moment and expressing themselves to the beat of music. There is an enormous range of dance possibilities between these two extremes, and all of it reflects life.

Life is a dance of our own creation. Dance is initiating and responding in an endless cycle of expressing emotions and beauty. Dance tells a story through movement and music; life is the story. We can try our best to choreograph life according to our perfect design but there will always be a spontaneous element, unknown factors that create unpredictable events, and that’s what makes it exciting, dramatic and unique. We have to be flexible and continue to learn new moves and responses in the dance of life.

Dancing Through Troubles

Since I see all of life as a beautiful dance it was hard to decide on one photo. But a wedding is a good example of the dance of life. My daughter created her own DIY wedding. She worked on it for over a year, designed and made all the decorations herself, chose the venue, bought the flowers and made her bouquet and head band, organized the catering and arrangements for the wedding party – she could totally start a business as a wedding planner now. She also set everything up the day before, with the help of the groom and a lot of friends of course.

Photos courtesy of friends of the bride and groom.

I was there to help for only 2 days before the wedding and those days were really stressful trying to bring it all together and finish last minute tasks. When we went to set up the tables and decorations the day before the wedding the weather had changed. It was an outdoor wedding and the wind was blowing ferociously, and it was chilly. We were 2 hours late for the set up and rehearsal, and we could not set up as much as we had planned because of the wind. That meant we would have to do everything on the morning of the wedding.

The rehearsal took longer than planned and was somewhat confusing, while a lot of people waited for the rehearsal dinner. Most of the wedding party had traveled from far away and everyone was tired. I was afraid my daughter’s wedding was going to be ruined by the wind and uncharacteristic cold weather. Tucson, AZ in March is usually warm.

I woke up early and made the one hour drive to the venue by myself to get started with the set up plan as soon as the park opened. Everyone in the wedding party was already there (except the groom who had other responsibilities) setting up. Unfortunately the wind persisted and got worse. Glasses were blowing off the tables and breaking and we thought we might have to forsake the decorations.

My daughter kept putting decorations where she wanted them while I ran around finding rocks and rope to make sure things didn’t blow away. All the bridesmaids were creatively figuring out ways to make everything beautiful and set up according to plan while fighting the wind and making sure the whole wedding didn’t blow off the side of the mountain. At one point I thought for sure the tables would blow away.

The Show Must Go On

By noon the bridesmaids all went to get ready, and a few friends who arrived early stayed at the venue to finish decorating and make sure nothing blew away or crashed. I kept praying that the wind would stop while I was getting myself ready and doing some photos of the girls. Then it was time, the guests were there, but the grooms father was late. The sun was getting lower in the sky and the wedding photos would be affected if he didn’t get there soon. Eventually he got there and we started – and all went beautifully despite the wind. I actually think the wind calmed just a little during the ceremony.

It was a beautiful, lively and very entertaining ceremony. The wind didn’t stop and it was getting colder by the minute, but everything just rolled on according to plan and everyone found ways to make due with the weather. After the dinner and a few toasts the party moved downstairs to an enclosed patio and inside part of the building. This was not the original plan but it turned out really well.

Everyone was saying then, and for days afterward, that it was the most beautiful wedding they had ever been to.

Amazing; I though it was going to be ruined by weather but it turned out to be spectacular. So much investment and heart by my daughter, and loving support from everyone, made this a miraculous and beautiful celebration of life and love. At the end we were all dancing and singing. (captures taken from video)

For more on the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge/Dance go HERE