Just a short update today, as I’ve just discovered something fantastic. At the church I work for there is a number they call when couples planning weddings make a very specific request.

The request?

“Would it be possible for us to have our wedding rings delivered by an eagle?”

Not having grown up in Middle Earth, this idea never occurred to me. It is, obviously a supremely fantastic notion to spice up your wedding ceremony with the participation of a bird of prey, but not something you would expect to be possible in down-town Brisbane.

Guess again. We’ve got a guy for that and he’s just a phone call away. A trained professional will attach your wedding rings to the claws of an eagle, which has been specially trained to swoop down the aisle of the cathedral and deliver the rings. Presumably some sort of handler catches the bird and gives it some sort of reward for services rendered, before releasing the rings for blessing and… so forth. I don’t think they expect the best man to be on catching duty as the eagle swoops overhead, drops the rings and then soars majestically into the organ loft or anything, but who knows? Maybe the bird alights on the altar and proceeds to serve communion.

And, as with all good church liturgies, it comes with seasonal variations. The latest bride-to-be loves the idea, but hates eagles because apparently she’s a Fremantle Dockers supporter.

“Could we have an owl instead?”

You betcha. No request is too ridiculous. There is a strong literary tradition of receiving deliveries from owls, albeit most of them are addressed to Hogwarts, rather than the Anglican Cathedral.

Clearly Kim and I missed a trick by having our rings borne by a groomsman instead of a white-breasted sea-eagle. But for the baptism of our first child, I believe I’m going to request that the epistle be read by a polar bear, and just see what they can come up with.

This may or may not be a factor in our decision whether to have children or not.

Make of that what you will

Garry with 2 Rs

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