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Not By Blood Alone  by French Pony 7 Review(s)
BodkinReviewed Chapter: 3 on 8/6/2005
Loved Celeborn's version of the father of the bride / son-in-law ritual.

And the arrival of Cirdan to save the day and stand with the groom. Though Elrond should make a note that his parents-in-law seem to have a very thorough understanding of him - and that perhaps he should be rather wary of their insight!

It will do Elrond a power of good to build his own happy family. And he gets about 2500 years to bolster him against the strains to come.

Good tale!

elliskaReviewed Chapter: 3 on 8/4/2005
Sorry to be late in reviewing (again--I think I'm just going to program a macro key on my computer so I can hit the key and it types that whole sentence for me).

I chuckled at Elrond's 'discoveries' of the loss of his library, the Hall of Fire etc. When I got married, I lost little pieces of my house each night as the wedding got closer. Decorations covered my dining room table. Family members took over my spare bedrooms and living room. My mother-in-law took over my kitchen... So I felt for the poor guy.

And I cracked up over Celeborn's conversation with Elrond--so casual. Hehehe. That was great!

Valandil's arrival was exciting and a neat touch.

And I loved the wedding and Cirdan's role in it. That was very appropriate and I liked it a lot. I loved the gifts, especially Cirdan's unfinished pearls.

Great story FP--very funny and a lot of really poignant moments in it too.

NilmandraReviewed Chapter: 3 on 8/3/2005
Good, I was hoping for Cirdan. He is who I would have chosen also (and did! but that is for much later). All of these wedding preparations made me feel likely to elope, which at my age I should anyway, should I ever marry. Celeborn's 'talk' was quite good and every bridegroom should gulp a little before his future father in law.

eliza61Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 8/3/2005
This was a great story! Boy do I ever empathize with Elrond. I always figure that after the absolute insanity of my wedding (including my reception being crashed by Elvis impersonators)the actually marriage HAD to be easier. (22 years & counting). All your characters are nicely done. It's great to see them all in another light, especially Thranduil & Celeborn (what father doesn't have a little heart to heart with his future son in law). Looking forward to your next story. Post soon,

Eliza

perellethReviewed Chapter: 3 on 8/3/2005
I had to laugh at Celeborn's "tradition", it was an amusing scene, "I shall cut your throat, pass me the chicken, you'll regret it if you ever hurt her, try this wine..." so politely threatening! It was the perfect gentleman's behaviour.

And all is well that ends well, and ELrond finally went through this ordeal! It gave me the shivers! At fifteen, I had attended enough family weddings for two or three lives! so when I fell in, it was an almost too private affair... but my sister-in-law, who earns her living staging events for other people, almost crashed down when it came to her own wedding, while my brother, as it becomes any groom, simply called in in the last minute to see if his help was needed, and to allow my mother to check that the formal suit he was supposed to be wearing fitted him..( this, the day before the wedding!)

Nice story, FP, and thanks for the musical tip.. I was wondering if it came from Purcell....

ManderlyReviewed Chapter: 3 on 8/2/2005
So many wonderful details that I felt like I was present throughout this event, including everything that led up to it.

The "hurt my daughter and you're so dead" ritual speech by Celeborn was highly amusing, as was Elrond's surprise. Elrond's education must be sadly neglected if he was unaware of the ritual of such threats from all future father-in-laws. He's lucky that Celebrian has no brothers or else he'd be getting an earful from them as well.

I quite like your portrayal of Thranduil, a rare glimpse of what he was like in his younger days before he got bogged with kingly duties.

I guess Galadriel and Celeborn know Elrond well after all, much more than Elrond gives them credit for. A nice, completed picture with Cirdan standing in for Elrond's father.

Thank you for this wedding tale. Now if only the family wedding that I am attending this weekend can proceed as smoothly as this one and not end with certain relatives leaving on unspeaking terms with one another.

daw the minstrelReviewed Chapter: 3 on 8/2/2005
I was amused by this image of an elaborate wedding. I don't enjoy that sort of thing and so didn't do it. No one seemed too surprised. We got married in the student chapel in Ann Arbor with our immediate family and about 30 friends. But of course, when you figure out who Elrond was connected to over the centuries, he had a whole different set of problems.

But in the end, it was love that made the difference. He was surrounded by people who loved him, as he deserved to be.

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