What They Wrote When We Married

"New Knot: The bridal couple Meredith and Michael Skrzypek dressed in white and glowing at the little turf church Silfrastad which sits in a field in Arbaer."

On the occasion of our 10th anniversary, I uncovered the original article written in Icelandic about my wedding with Michael. I thought it would be nice to have the translation typed (it was originally written in longhand by a friend of the family). Some things that struck me: how poetic and gentle the language is, and how hilariously wrong our meeting story is. I suppose trying to understand food media back then was a challenge... 

This page's title: "A Dream Life."

Repeated the performance of her parents in turf church

"Look, Michael, isn't the little church cute. I am so thrilled, " said Meredith Arthur to her fiance when she saw the turf church in Arbaer district last Tuesday after a long and hard journey all the way from San Francisco in California, where the couple lives and works. Meredith has always wanted to follow the example of her parents when she found the right man by marrying in Silfrastad church, a turf church which sits on a field in Arbaer.

The story repeats itself in Iceland

So it says the story repeated itself last Thursday, when Meredith and Michael Skrzypek met, both dressed in white and glowing in the little turf church to get married with their family present, who had flown over the ocean to rejoice with the couple.

The parents of Meredith, Rodney and Nancy Arthur from Toledo, Ohio, who are now retired, were married in the same church Aug 7, 1969 At the wedding ceremony with their nearest relatives in front of Silfrastad church. Furthest to the left are the parents of the bride, Nancy and Rodney Arthur who were married in the same church 38 years ago. Rodney had graduated as a lawyer and lived here in Iceland for 8 weeks with 4 other young men on scholarship from Rotary. Rodney wrote daily to his fiancee and told her of his fascination with Iceland. Their plans for their wedding were still up in the air and they had not a date or place and it happened that Rodney sent for his fiancee and they married in Silfrastad church.

This is Erlendur Einarsson next to my dad. He and my father would play chess late into the night (drinking, too, I'm sure).

Erlendur Einarsson (deceased) former president of SIF looked after the wedding, was best man, and held the wedding reception at this home. Erlender was the first host to Rodney on his tours around Iceland. Rev Oskar J Porlaksson performed the wedding service.

Rodney and Nancy visited Iceland on their 20th wedding anniversarsy with their 3 children --Meredith, 14, and twins Matthew and John, 10, who have followed in their father's footsteps and are lawyers. They rented the same suite at Hotel Saga where they spent their wedding night and they invited all their Icelandic friends who had made their day unforgettable to a reception in Hotel Saga. The voyage to Iceland was to show their children the beautiful land which they had talked about and they spoke with Morgunbladid in 1989 that their children were equally thrilled and decided that they too would marry there.

Leading to the Meeting Place

"And now I'm keeping my word and I'm so lucky that Michael was more than willing and now Iceland is on the map as a wonderful and friendly place to visit. I did not have to urge him about this dream of mine for all these years," Meredith said. When asked how they met they looked at each other with a smile. They said a year ago they had met at a business friend of Meredith's. Michael, besides his law career, was a model for a picture where she was working in a restaurant. It was after the 3rd meeting they felt a love and it increased since then.

Beatles songs & the honeymoon

Meredith's parents, twin brothers & girlfriend were present and the groom's parents also. His mother saw to it that the ceremony was a liberal one as they were not of deep faith. The bridal couple were both dressed in white like Yoko and John Lennon according to the groom and the songs that were sung at the ceremony were those of the Beatles including the tune "Blackbird" from the White Album and "In My Life" from Revolver. "I love the Beatles and songs of John Lennon and Meredith was in agreement." At the end of the ceremony the couple with their families went to Sjavarkjallarann and the newlyweds were taking a honeymoon for a week in Iceland before going home to a reception with friends and relatives.

"Then we will come back to Iceland on a wedding anniversary and maybe with many children," said the newlyweds laughingly.