The wedding tree

It's not quite Bilbo Baggins' party tree, but it did the trick. Four years ago, in May, Ken and I were married under this tree in Washington Park. It was a little fuller then; the weeping branches and leaves stretched all the way to the ground, and there was a picnic table nestled under the canopy. The park's groundskeepers have pruned it back quite a lot since. The picnic table is gone, and now there are ropes around the tree.

 

The wedding tree today. It's been pruned back, and the picnic table is gone.

I don't remember this little sign, either, but I'm glad it's there now.

It's a European Beech! Who knew?

Here's what the tree looked like back in May 2012.

Me, Pat, and Ken, under the wedding tree in 2012. It was much more leafed out then.

I got to see Pat, the woman who performed our ceremony, and her husband Richard, again on this trip. We got together with my friends L&L for dinner at a great little Italian restaurant called Café Calabria. We shared fried calamari (a recurring theme on this trip) and then I had chicken piccata with angel hair pasta for my main course. It was great to see Pat and Richard again!

Richard and Pat on the left. My dear friends L&L on the right, who were at our ceremony in 2012.