Star Wars Wedding

[Dave]

from Ananova:

'May the 4th be with you'

A Star Wars obsessed couple themed their wedding on the films with the groom playing Han Solo and the bride Princess Leia.

Duncan Thomson, 41, and Sammi Gardiner, 39, got married surrounded by friends and family all dressed as characters from the sci-fi movies.

And they chose Monday as the date for the service, so they could bill it as "May the 4th be with you", reports the Daily Telegraph.

The couple, from the Isle of Wight, even invited the movie's director George Lucas, who wrote back to them saying he couldn't make it.

During the wedding in Shanklin on the island, Mr Thomson told his bride: "I promise to protect you from carbon freezing and promise to protect you from the Dark Side, through hyperspace and into the far reaches of the galaxy."

Mr Thomson, an amateur astrologist, said: "We had both been married before with traditional services and wanted to do something a bit different and fun to put a smile on everyone's face."

The couple had to remove certain Star Wars references from the 20-minute civil service because Jedi is a recognised religion, he added.

The bride's ring was made out of meteorite found in Canyon Diablo in the US, engraved with: "May the 4th be with you."

Following the ceremony, the couple departed for a honeymoon on a cruise to the Mediterranean, with a special guard of honour using light sabres.

Sammi, an IT worker, said: "The films brought us together and are something that our families, young and old, have always loved."

Two things though -

"Mr Thomson, an amateur astrologist" - is there any other kind?

"The couple had to remove certain Star Wars references from the 20-minute civil service because Jedi is a recognised religion" - no it isn't, a lot of atheist students put it down on the 2001 census as a prank, that doesn't constitute a religion.

 

[Rodders]

Yeah, i saw this in todays papers. A bit OTT for me, but good luck to them.

Another fundamentalist group in the making though.

 

[nj1]

What references? I don't understand that, is there a Starwars bible out there somewhere and they're not allowed to quote it cos they're not inducted into the religion or something?

 

[Rodders]

Perhaps it was against the rules of the registry. Christianity is the norm i would imagine and this probably would be a little outside of their normal boundries.

That said, i'd be interested in knowing why they had to censor their vowels myself.

 

[The Judge]

I seem to recall that no religious aspects are allowed at ceremonies conducted by a registrar. Or rather in the main vow-y bits - I imagine you could sing 'Fight the Good Fight' or something if you wanted.

J

PS I love the idea of censoring vowels! Sppse tht's wht txt spk mst b.

 

[Dave]

This was also on BBC Breakfast TV news. They said Darth Vader was the Best Man but his speech was (heavy breathing) ....err extra ....err long ....err!

 

[Rodders]

Is it me, or are we reading more and more about this type of thing.

A Scottish woman who is an "active Jedi" and a Star Wars Wedding. I should keep a scrap book and keep track of this.

 

[Dave]

Was this the other story?
Ananova - Cop's Jedi way of life

I think the news media just like this kind of story as a fun item to pepper the depressing news of the day, or to end the bulletin on a lighter note. I don't think it is becoming more common. There was the man who redesigned his flat as the USS Enterprise, and the couple who insisted on going to work in Starfleet uniforms. Often it is the same story regurgitated, as when the flat in question came up for sale.

What it does achieve is to paint all Sci-Fi fans as peculiar, juvenile; nerds, geeks and weirdos; something that has now become the general perception of the mainstream public, and is the reason that science fiction literature, TV and film is mostly looked down upon.

 

[Shadow Trooper]

I like the story, as some things have been getting a little heated here lately. Clever with the May the 4th date.

Dave (honest question only, not an inference from info I've heard), but I thought that if enough people registered a particular faith it, at least, became recognised (if not taken too seriously)? I thought this is what happened with the Jedi faith.


I'm in agreement with you on the Jedi Cop thing! My wife and I went to a convention (Star Trek) many years ago in London. Did the media ask us or any other normal looking/dressed individuals to comment?
Of course not, they went to the people who actually 'lived' the part, talked Klingon, or in that particular year, a group that dressed up as 'Disco Klingons' with rainbow afros and platform boots!

 

[Dave]

Dave (honest question only, not an inference from info I've heard), but I thought that if enough people registered a particular faith it, at least, became recognised (if not taken too seriously)? I thought this is what happened with the Jedi faith.

Honest answer: I don't actually know!

I do know that the census doesn't make it official. It is against the law to put false information on the census, with the exception of that one question on Religion. However, on the basis of what I've read, no Religion is 'official' either. This report from 'The Register' gives more details from when it was still in the news:
Jedi Knights achieve official recognition as a religion • The Register

 

[Shadow Trooper]

Honest answer: I don't actually know!

I do know that the census doesn't make it official. It is against the law to put false information on the census, with the exception of that one question on Religion. However, on the basis of what I've read, no Religion is 'official' either. This report from 'The Register' gives more details from when it was still in the news:
Jedi Knights achieve official recognition as a religion • The Register

Dave, appreciate the link and the census info.

I'm guessing Rodders is right when he indicated that it may be against the rules of the registry (if they did recognise 'Jedi' as another faith).

 

[Rodders]

Dave, i can see that you don't like the media coverage of these type of stories.

I really don't have a problem with it. I'd go as far as to say that i like this kind of thing. Yes the media are playing on a stereotype of the geeky star trek nerd, but it's only a stereotype that people have of us. And let's be honest, a lot of people do this for the attention anyway.

I've said before that this kind of think is not for me, but i do find it quite a mood lightener. Fnny and sweet all in the same measure. It's nice to see Sci-Fi represented in the media. Regardless of what peaple think, its just a bit of harmless fun.

 

[Pyan]

What it does achieve is to paint all Sci-Fi fans as peculiar, juvenile; nerds, geeks and weirdos; something that has now become the general perception of the mainstream public, and is the reason that science fiction literature, TV and film is mostly looked down upon.

Couldn't agree more, Dave.

It doesn't help when you log on here, and see this advert on the index page, though...

SciFi Dating
Other SciFi fans are Nearby
Meet and date on Geek 2 Geek
www.********

 

[Dave]

Dave, i can see that you don't like the media coverage of these type of stories.

BBC Breakfast News yesterday morning showed clips of the new 'Star Trek' film. And who did they say they would have in the studio today to review the film - the film critic from a daily Newspaper, maybe?? - a 'Star Trek' actor?? - a rival director?? - one of those random families they pick that you know are really the next door neighbours of the producer??

Of course not, they have a man who makes his living as a "professional Klingon" (whatever that might be) and the man who owned the 'Star Trek' themed flat that I already mentioned earlier. I rest my case, my Lord.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

What it does achieve is to paint all Sci-Fi fans as peculiar, juvenile; nerds, geeks and weirdos; something that has now become the general perception of the mainstream public, and is the reason that science fiction literature, TV and film is mostly looked down upon.

This disturbs me not at all. If people want to look down on the harmless ways that people who like SFF enjoy themselves, so be it.

When I was in my twenties I used to be deeply involved in the SCA, the Renaissance Faire, etc. I spent a lot of my time, even when I wasn't at an event or on my way to an event, in historical or fantasy costume. 90% of me was navigating the real world, taking care of my children, running errands, etc. but the 10% that was in my own private fantasy realm was the more visible part because of the clothes. Can't tell you how many times I answered the question, "Are you in a play?"

Flash forward about fifteen years. I ran into an old friend at a local SF convention, and we were watching some slightly demented-looking youngsters run by in costume, acting out some little drama based on whoever it was they thought they were at the moment. "Ah yes," my friend and I said to each other with somewhat superior smiles, "I remember when I was like that."

Later, it hit me: I'd give a lot to recapture that old magic.

Flash forward another twenty or so years, and I still would.

 

[Pyan]

Funnily enough, Teresa, having read your books, and with that avatar of yours, I've this mental picture of you dressed as Galadriel all the time...

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Avatars do allow us a certain amount of "dressing up" without being subjected to all the odd looks.

Oddly, I never think of you with tentacles.

 

[Vladd67]

Back when I was in the Sealed Knot (an English Civil War re-enactment group) we often used to leave musters in costume, I remember once a convoy of us all stopping at a garage to fill up before the motorway and the girl on the till asked me just what was going on with all the strangly dressed people. I didn't twig at first as I had got used to seeing people in 17th century dress. Another time a guy went into a garage in full gear, filled up went into pay the guy on the till looked him up and down and asked Cavalier? He replied nope Ford Escort, after awhile you just forget how you are dressed.

 

[Dave]

Can I add that I personally have no objections to people dressing up, or living their fantasies out. I think it can be quite harmless fun and very therapeutic. It is only the depiction by the media of them that I dislike, which is invariably done with a kind of disdainful sneer. Maybe it is because, in reality, the reporters lead such boring lives that they also wish that they could be young again, we would have to ask them.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

That's a wonderful story, Vladd.

But speaking of weddings ...

My second-oldest daughter, Daisy, had a spur of the moment Las Vegas wedding, but she decided later that she wanted to have another ceremony for family and friends in our back yard, which was looking rather magical at that time, what with the hollyhocks and the lilypads and the little hobbity garden sheds.

For some reason that I don't remember, they wanted it to be a pagan hand-fasting with one of their friends presiding, and in keeping with the setting everyone in the wedding party was going to wear fairy wings. As mother-of-the-bride, I was not, of course, technically part of the wedding party, but naturally there was no way I was going to allow myself to be done out of an opportunity to wear purple butterfly wings! Some of the guests turned up in wings as well, and our garden was swarming with goth and punk-rock fairies, which was really quite wonderful. Anyway, Daisy had agonized for weeks in advance whether some of these details were likely to offend the groom's mother, who was a recovering drug addict going through some sort of born-again-Christian phase as part of her recovery.

In the event, the mother-in-law was just worried about whether or not we'd be comfortable with the fact that she brought her lesbian partner with her. She couldn't quite seem to wrap her head around the fact that we had actually planned for her girlfriend to sit up front with her and the rest of the family. (What there was in the whole set-up that made her imagine we were the kind of people who would expect her to hide the poor woman away at the back for very shame, I still don't know.)

It's funny the way people sometimes tie themselves up in knots worrying about what other people might think, while all along the people they are worried about are caught up in their own fears of being judged and rejected.