Does every harpist dread outdoor wedding season? I live in Kansas, a state whose only claim to fame is tornadoes that could carry a house to Oz, so being outdoors adds an element of unpredicatbility that makes me nervous.

There are maybe two pleasant weekends the entire year in Kansas and every bride thinks that her wedding will be on one of those weekends. It doesn’t matter how many clauses I have in my contract, I hate being the person to tell a bride she can’t have her dream wedding because it is too windy, too hot, too rainy, etc. So unless there is a tornado, I pretty much just deal with it.

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With the arrival of May came my first outdoor wedding this year, and it was unseasonably cold. I pulled up to the beautiful lake and noticed the snow still on the ground in the shady spots. Do I even have a clause in my contract about it being too cold? No, I don’t, because I have never encountered this problem. So I played the wedding wearing my heavy winter coat and fingerless gloves. As I looked at the bare-shouldered bridemaids covered in gooseflesh I made a mental note to not take any outdoor weddings before May.

Fast forward six weeks and Kansas had reached the other extreme—100 degrees with oppressive humidity. The groom reassured me, “You will be under a tent—there will be fans and plenty of ice water.” So I donned my coolest outfit, loaded up on bugspray, and prepared for a sweaty afternoon.

Other than my hands being a bit slippery, the ceremony went well. After the officiant announced the bride and groom I started the recessional, Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours,” which I had learned specifically for this couple. I hadn’t even played four measures when suddenly my music stand came crashing down, knocked over by a collapsing bridesmaid. My arms instictively flew out to catch the fainting bridesmaid’s head before it crashed into my harp. As I cradled her head, I wondered, had my instinct been to help her or to protect my harp? We may never know, but fortunately she was okay.

Once she was revived a few groomsmen helped her down the aisle into the air-conditioned house. Was it appropriate to launch back into the recessional as she hobbled down the aisle? I didn’t know the protocol for this situation, but since I had spent time learning the new song, I went ahead and finished it. I continued playing postlude until I saw the paramedics arrive. I decided it was time to get my harp back into the air conditioning too, so I packed things up, grateful it was my last outdoor wedding of the season. •

—Erin Wood, Lawrence, Kan.