She comes out of the sun in a silk dress...

...running like a watercolour in the rain... Al Stewart, The Year of the Cat)

I just marvel sometimes at the lyrics waiting to be discovered in a song. Yes, many are simple and banal, but some songs have the most exquisite poetry hidden within them. I'm one of the many people who have started to really enjoy music again thanks to i-tunes, and we downloaded "the year of the cat" a while back when AJ was studying woodwind instrumentsat school, and needed examples of tracks with the saxophone.

When it was nearly time to shoot Danielle and John's wedding the weather forecast was for rain. Note that I didn't say the weather forecast was "bad", because over here it's not bad to have rain on your wedding day, indeed it's considered good luck or a blessing. And I wasn't too concerned about photographing in the rain, not because of my gear, that IS a worry in the rain, but because of the couple themselves; I knew they wouldn't cower in a corner looking miserable, indeed I had a picture in my minds eye of Danielle in the rain laughing, and I was quite inspired thinking of the images that might lead to. During that week before their wedding I also came across the aforementioned track on i-tunes. Actually it's the only track I have in the "folk" classification! and I listened and listened to it, especially the lyric "she comes out of the sun in a silk dress running like a watercolour in the rain". My Libran brain mused the various ways you could interpret it, but I had a picture in my minds eye of Danielle (who I had met over a coffee at the time of booking) running in a sun shower in the rain with the sun behind her, laughing, and in a silk dress... and just that thought was making my heart sing with excitement.

Sure enough the day dawned sort of fine, but as we waited for Danielle's arrival on the "Raikivi" the clouds rolled up and then the rain started....

John kept waiting and playing the guitar as long as he could...

But as the rain increased and increased we were driven indoors where John was heard to say "Oh my Lord, why are you blessing us so?" (!!)

Finally there was a slight lull in the downpour and Danielle and her Dad, family and other guests came running in off the boat to where a relieved John was waiting. She was wearing a hand painted silk dress, and was running in the rain laughing, with the sun shining through the rain behind her...

After drinks and yummy looking food it was off on the "Raikivi" heading for Treasure, with a new take on the classic Titanic poses...

It's still raining actually, but spirits are high and jubilant... love that... especially as they transferred to Treasure Island (well who could blame them there?!)...

More sun, more rain, more happiness, more photos. Eerily I noticed another similarity to the "year of the cat" lyrics as I edited them.

"By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls

There's a hidden door she leads you to"

Well the door IS painted blue (if not tiled)...

Look closely in all of these photos and you can see it's still raining... and why would you want it any other way I wonder?! Besides swimming in the rain with family and friends looking on is fun.

Lots more pictures of this fabulous day over at our page on facebook... but not the more risque shots heh heh... and for those of you who are too young to know what the heck I am ranting on about with the Al Stewart song... here it is. They made songs for the radio longer in those days, so it's just over 6 minutes....

Awesome huh? what other tunes do you reckon have great lyrics or sax solos that I should maybe add to the i-tunes? Because music is art. and art is inspiration. and John and Danielle's wedding reminded me how exhilarating inspiration (and love and fun) can be, and well sometimes we all need more of that...