Weddings Worldwide: You can marry on a train in Florida, in a hotel garden or ski slope in America, on a beach in Hawaii, or the Maldives, outdoors in a field in Israel, on a rooftop in Singapore, UK Kew or zoo

American Weddings

Brightline is a privately owned railway  line which has served as a marriage venue for a wedding in 2022. 

I have witnessed a wedding (as the official witness) on a cruise ship out of Florida, but this is the first time I have heard of a wedding on a train.

The train wedding couple did not meet on the train. They met when the husband to be was renting property (Americans say leasing) from his bride-to be. They had many dates taking the train and the bride thought the train ride was the most romantic part of the date. 

The train company sectioned off part of the train for the ceremony and reception afterwards. Photos were taken on the train and at the station. 

UK Weddings & Emergency vehicles

In England I have seen many reports of unusual carriages to the wedding venue, usually connected with the jobs of one of the spouses or their family. A nostalgic horse and carriage is quite common.

 I recall a double decker bus being used. Also I recall one case of the bridal party stuck when the road was impassable. Emergency service vehicles (a fire engine) came to the rescue.

Israel Outdoors

I attended a wedding of a relative by marriage in Israel. The incoming security stopped me and asked me the bride's name. The wedding invitation was all in Hebrew and I hadn't a clue. (Her name was Ayala.) We took a taxi from the airport. The taxi driver had trouble locating the venue so we arrived later than expected.

Australia's Public Parks

I have also seen weddings in public parks in Australia. The problem with public parks is that strangers can come along and heckle or  intrude on photos. Not to mention wandering dogs!

I have also seen pictures of ski scenes in weddings, and under-water ceremonies.

Singapore's Rooftop Wedding Receptions

I attended a wedding on a rooftop in Singapore. While we were circling before the wedding we had a chance to take photo of the bride and ourselves against the distant scenery. Once we were seated, because of the high safety wall, we did not see the scenery at all. That was okay. We were more interested in the food and talking to each other. However, at 7 pm in Singapore the sun sets. Later, the view had vanished. Just some lights in the darkness far away. So it's a good thing to arrive early at a scenic destination to get photos. The bride and groom and official photographers might be monopolising the best spots, and, of course, they have priority. So, if you are a guest, arrive early.

Botanical Gardens Bandstand

And another in a restaurant in the Botanical Gardens, after a ceremony planned for the bandstand. The officiant was late. 

The bride wanted photos of exchanging vows on the bandstand at sunset. So we rushed to do a mock ceremony. 

As a Toastmaster I was able to improvise the mock ceremony. I had a few stage-whisper prompts from those standing alongside. 

Afterwards the officiant arrived as the dinner was being served at the allotted time. The real ceremony was performed indoors.

Useful websites

USA

Train

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brightline

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11211743/Florida-couple-married-Brightline-TRAIN-using-meet-one-dates.html

Ski Slope

https://www.herecomestheguide.com/wedding-venues/type/ski-resort

Boat

Singapore

https://www.facebook.com/vineyardhortpark (Singapore)

https://vogue.sg/the-best-unconventional-wedding-venues-in-singapore/

UK

You could get married at Kew Gardens in London. Going north, you could get your wedding photos at Ness Gardens in Liverpool.

You can hire a classic fire engine.

https://www.classicfireengines.co.uk/fire-engine-weddings/

My son got married indoors in London. However, just before the ceremony, the photographer unexpectedly walked us across to a tiny park we had never noticed with feature of rocks and tumbling plants. A look at a map might show you the nearest park to an indoor venue.

Angela in an Ann Balon dress and Marks & Spencer fascinator at her son's wedding in the UK. Pre-wedding photo in the nearby public greenery.

UK

https://www.kew.org/venue-hire/civil-ceremonies

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Dorset ballad: the Cerne Abbas giant, the wedding wish granted, and ghosts!

Short story writer Della Galton asked for a Dorset song for her book. She meant us to look for one. Instead, I wrote one. First I checked out the local landmarks, which I found on the county website. Where is Dorset? On England's south-west coast.

Dorset with a coast in Southern England, UK

Cerne Abbas Giant, Dorset, England.

The Cerne Abbas giant, a figure cut into the chalk through the grass. This well-known local landmark was one of the items I sought to see last time I drove through Dorset on my way to the coves of Cornwall.

St Catherine's Chapel on the hilltop, from afar. 

On my first to Dorset I did not know about the legend. On my last visit to Dorset, I was with my husband, who was not keen on the idea of St Catherine helping you find a husband. 

If I had known, I would have gone there. Huff, puff uphill for the view - and St Catherine's Chapel outside from the hilltop

Finally, a haunted house. Athelhampton.


Athelhampton Hall House in Dorset, England, UK

I was ready to write a ballad.

I wrote:
Here you are. I checked local landmarks and legends online. Here's an ancient Dorset song, from 8.50 April 21st 2020, by Angela Lansbury. It starts


:I went to St Catherine's Chapel,
For it's said she will answer your prayer,
'Please send me a husband, who's wealthy'
But only two poor men were there.

One of them said to me, 'Darling,
Why don't we go for a walk?
I'll take you to see the great giant -
Whose ample physique is carved in the chalk!'

I said, 'Sorry, dear, you're not for me
For you're poor as a little church mouse.'
To scare him away, I ended the day
At haunted Athel-hampton House!

Mother said, 'Our sensible God only helps
A person with skills who will help himself.
You can add up a bill and read lots of books
What else does a man need to share health and wealth?

'You're young and pretty but age fades your looks
What's missing, that's lasting? You must learn to cook!'
So off I went, to take cooking lessons
Guess who I married? I married the cook!

We went to the chapel to marry
'Cos Saint Catherine had answered my prayers
What's more she provided as witness
Those two ragged beggars, still hoping there.

Weddings also take place in the big haunted house
Guest often hear 'ghosts'. I guess that's a mouse!
Guests, sleepless as mice, claim, 'A ghost moved my bedding!'
'Who's the bride in your garden?' 'Ma'am, we've no wedding!'

-ends-


Useful and Entertaining Websites For the armchair traveller
https://www.hauntedrooms.co.uk/haunted-places/england
https://www.athelhampton.com/copy-of-history

Author, Author! About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (Not related to the actress.) See books and profiles on Lulu.com and Amazon, such as Wedding Speeches & Toasts, Quick Quotations, Who Said What When. Also watch videos on YouTube.
See other posts on singers and statues and languages and destinations.

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If you want to learn to speak the Queen's English, or Received Pronunciation. join me at my online toastmasters club, Braddell Heights Advanced. Wednesdays, 7-9 Singapore time which is seven hours ahead of London, England. I am also a member of Singapore Online.

Travel Teaches You The Meaning Of Life And Why You And Others Travel

Problems
Why do people travel?

1 To learn about the world.
2 To find the meaning of life.
3 To go to a place they have always yearned to see.
4 To escape from danger.
5 Thrill-seeking, excitement, end of boredom.
6 To join a joyful crowd, experience an event.
7 To find the answer to a problem.
8 To find their ancestors or a lost love they are seeking.
9 For romance which eluded them at home.
10 To earn more money. (For yourself, or your family, or your community, or to save somebody who is sick.)

When I go to Toastmasters, the opening speech by any speaker is often the Ice-breaker, when they tell their life story. Sometimes a speaker postpones their icebreaker for as long as two years.

Why? They say they were too shy. They lacked confidence. It was too challenging.

They don't want to admit to themselves or others about their past failures. They don't know how to recall the past without upsetting themselves.

A Chinese Story
Once, a Chinese girl told us her life story - in a table topic, an impromptu speech, which she later expanded into an Icebreaker. When first speaking to her I had admired her for her courage in taking the big journey from rural China to Singapore / Hong Kong at an early age. She studied relentlessly, studied at night, took two jobs, learned two new languages.

I was surprised to find out that hers was partly an escape story. Her parents were separated and hostile to each other. This made her unhappy at home, yo-yo-ing between the two. She went elsewhere to have education and job prospects. She dreamed of a boyfriend and marriage. Her qualifications and jobs and income and accommodation were gradually improving.

She has two motives. One is escape from warring family. The second is build a secure future.

An Indian Story
At another event, I heard an Indian boy's story. He was smartly dressed in a shirt and tie and business suit and worked in a finance company. He lived in a small village with an extended family. His family and the neighbours all worked day and night and pooled their savings to send him to school and then college so he could get a job overseas either from a scholarship or taking the cheapest form of transport and taking every skilled or unskilled job available and paying his way at each step.

The understanding was that he would pay back to the community, sending money from his salary to his family and those who had funded his education and travel. He would also pay for one or two or three children from his home area to go to school and college.

The second time I heard this story, I thought, I've met this young man before. But I hadn't. It wasn't a unique story. If you think you have met the same young man as the first one I met, or second one I met, probably not.

You eventually find that stories you hear form a pattern. They are not necesaarily copied from each other. They are simply patterns of behaviour. Some people are born poor, others are born rich. You meet some of both.

Some are worn down and commit suicide. Others persist and become famous for their success, like Jack Ma, Chinese founder of Ali Baba.

English And Asian Attitudes
Unlike people in England, who sneer at financiers and those who want to earn money, and wearing a suit and tie, he was very proud to be employed and earn a good salary. he said his dream has been to buy his mother a house, and he had achieved that. Now he was still working non-stop, day, evening, overtime, whatever was pleasing to his employers, whatever would keep his job and earn him promotion. Whatever would enable him to get another job elsewhere. Whatever skills he would learn to run his own company.

He has three or four motives. Fulfil the dreams of his family. Help his family. Repay debts. Start a better life.

Conclusion
Draw your own conclusion about others and yourself. I presume you reach the same conclusion that I reach. But when you ask what people learn from a story, the answers you hear are surprisingly divergent.

Why are you travelling? Are you travelling to get away from something or get to something?

Jews After WWII
After WWII, escapting Jews travelled to get away from the dangerous places and regimes and memories they left behind. Some travelled to the yearned for promised land of Israel. Others travlled as far as possble to South America or Australia.

Some tried to escape and hide their past in a totally new environment. They changed religion. They became buddhist, atheist, humanist. I met a Jehovah's witness in Poland who said he or his co-religionists might have been descended from Jews, but for safety nobody ever admitted it, and rarely discussed it, except with a dying grandparent.

Advantages Of Travel
Some went to a Communist country with no religion. Some married somebody from Asia, such as an a Japanese or Chinese or Vietnamese person who had no knowledge or or hostility towards Jews. I met a man who had married an Asian girl. I eventually learned about his grandparent's past. His mother had kept it from him, and encouraged him to travel to Asia and study Asian languages. Her wish was fulfilled. He had a new life.

Jews in WWII, the Kindertransport, have something in common with modern day Chinese and Indian migrants. You admire their enterprise and determination.

Efforts At Assimilation
It can be quite a surprise to learn the initial difficulties they faced. When you meet somebody who seems confident and successful, their past can be a surprise. I have often been taken aback on learning how they started in a dormitory, then it took five or ten years of study and working to learn a new language, get an education, a shared university room or flat, a new skill, a job, a better paid job, a well paid job, their own room, their own flat, owning a flat.

They forgot the past and kept quiet about it, concentrated on their future. If you give them the opportunity to talk, and listen sympathetically, they will tell you.

Revelations - If You Ask
The bouncy, smiling, confident, detmined youg girl starts blinking and licking her lips and sighing as she tells you her past. The suave, loud, or quiet, young man, hesistates, or stammers, when he tells you about his past.

Some tried to hide their poor origins and early suffering. They enthuse about their new contry. Others try preserve what they had lost. Others find a balance. Listen and learn.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Please share links to this post.