“Not the sun or summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight.”
Thus spoke poet Ralph Waldo Emerson his essay “Nature”, and as a wedding venue that hosts walking grounds, you’ll forgive us if we’re partial to agree. Even though the summer is at an end (we’ll miss you, beaches), now is the time for cool, invigorating breezes and shoving every pumpkin spiced flavored object into our faces that is viable for legal consumption! Summer is not the end of outdoor weddings here in New Jersey. It’s more like an enjoyable bonus round where you’re no longer sweating in body parts you didn’t know existed.
So what makes a wedding under the open sun so wonderful?
We’re not going to lie. This started off as another “Top 5” blog, but really, we felt that would be doing the subject an injustice. Because what makes an outdoor wedding so wonderful is much more than individual line items read off as if it were a Walmart receipt. It’s the totality of the experience.
There’s actually a word for that: Gesamtkunstwerk. Just think, “Gesaumpt-kuns-fert” and you’ve got it.
It was used most famously by German composer and theatre director Richard Wagner as he described what makes opera so great. He asserted that it wasn’t just the music, the stagecraft or even the actors alone, but the combination of efforts working in harmony to create something more than the sum of its parts. Gesamtkunstwerk was also adopted to describe beautiful architecture. Just look at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Is it just the pillars or the arches that make it stunning? Or is it the culmination of every individual piece adding to the whole?
It’s that same beauty –that culmination –that happens when there’s a wedding under the open sun. The sense of freedom, the colors, how art complements nature and that unique, fun energy that weddings entail all create something that’s greater than each individual piece.
So, you know, the next time you’re at an outdoor wedding and someone turns to you and says, “isn’t it great out here?” You can tell them it’s because of the “Gesamtkunstwerk”, and enjoy the look they give you as they think you’re trying unsuccessfully to clear your throat.
Contact Nanina’s In The Park for best wedding venue ideas.
