S.D. Wedding Adorned by a Royal Guest List

SAN DIEGO —  An international guest list headed by Swedish Prince Sigvard Bernadotte Af Wisborg and Princess Marianne filled St. Paul’s Cathedral on Saturday for a traditional nuptial Mass that united Kelly Karon Luce and New York maritime attorney Lars Forsberg.

The ambassadorial rank formerly held by both the couple’s fathers accounted for the generous sprinkling of aristocratic and diplomatic titles among the attendance of 600. Karon and Gordon Luce lived in New York in 1982-83 when Gordon served as the assistant U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Ann and Ambassador Franklin Forsberg, now of Greenwich, Conn., represented the United States at the royal court in Stockholm from 1981 until 1985.

Among those placed by protocol in the front pews of the candle-lit cathedral were the Count and Countess Posse of Vaxjo, Sweden, and the Countess von Schwerin of Danndorf, Germany. The Swedish envoy to the United States, Ambassador Eric Virgin, was joined in representing that country by Swedish Consul General in Los Angeles Peter Hammarstrom and by the Honorable Britt Mogard, governor of the Swedish province of Osmo.

Protocol also assigned a bird’s-eye view of the wedding, performed by the Rev. Dr. M.A. Collins, to former U.S. ambassador to Mexico John Gavin and his wife, actress Constance Tower (Gavin and Gordon Luce were roommates at Stanford); to former ambassador to Argentina Ted Gildred and to former ambassador to Morocco Thomas Nassif and his wife, Zinetta.

The details of the formal evening ceremony prompted several guests to describe it as the nearest San Diego might come to a royal wedding. Masses of white lilies, orchids and roses decorated the altar and aisles, the wedding party included 27 members (there was a trio of flower girls), the Saint Paul Choristers sang through the ceremony, and, for the recessional, a brass ensemble played the Prince of Denmark March.

The Luces gave the reception at their Point Loma home, tenting both their back yard (with its sweeping views of San Diego Bay and downtown) and an adjacent lot. The elaborate arrangements included gazebos that housed live doves, buffets weighed down by an international menu and a pair of cakes; the multitiered bride’s cake towered above the newlyweds.

The guest list included the bride’s grandmothers, Carma Luce and Betty Turnbow; soothsayer Jeane Dixon; Marilyn and Bill Cleator; Yvonne and Dan Larsen; Ann Evans; Marilyn and Kim Fletcher; Doris and Roger Lindland; Roberta and Malin Burnham, and Maureen and Emil Ghio. Many family members were in the bridal party, including Erika Ashbrook, Andrew Luce, Beth and Randall Luce and Erik Forsberg.

RANCHO SANTA FE--San Diego’s youthful Mainly Mozart Festival gave itself a leg up Sunday by playing host to more than 100 committed and potential sponsors to what it was pleased to call “An Afternoon for Amadeus.”

Music patron Ramona Sahm opened the doors of her massive house, always a popular party site, to the event; the concert, performed by 14-year-old cello prodigy Felix Fan, was given by the indoor pool, a space that has accommodated as many as 200 guests at formal seated dinners.

“This festival is really special for our community,” said hostess Sahm. “I loved the festival last summer, and I can’t do enough to support the next one.”

According to Mainly Mozart spokeswoman Nancy Laturno, the next concert series will be given May 31 through June 9 on the Lowell Davies Festival Stage at the Old Globe Theatre, with a single performance scheduled on the theater’s main stage. David Atherton, now conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, will return as music director and conductor.

Festival board chairman Blaine Quick characterized Sunday’s reception as “both a thank-you and a kick-off,” which he said was designed to entice participants to continue their support.

“Mainly Mozart enhances our city’s reputation for excellence in the performing arts,” Quick said. “The hallmark of this festival is to achieve artistic excellence coupled with financial responsibility. We achieved artistic excellence in our first year, and we ended our inaugural year with all bills paid.”

Among those who turned out for a sunny Sunday in the country with Wolfgang were Sook and Richard Bower, Peggy Duly, Glenn Freed, Artie Henderson, Julien Lee, Caroline and Damon Siskin, D’Neane Wilkinson, Trude and Hermann Zillgens, Florence and Randall Smith, Sandra and Jeff Schafer, Don McVay, Linda and Chuck Owen, Bob McDaniel, Veryl Mortenson, Carolyn and George Saadeh, and Anne and Sam Armstrong.

SAN DIEGO--Many of this city’s leading performing arts underwriters say they feel they have done their job well whenever they finish writing another check.

Even so, about 30 of the San Diego Opera’s more fervent supporters agreed to go beyond the call of duty Monday and don evening gowns and black tie for a formal group portrait of the “Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Club” taken on the grand staircase of the Westgate hotel.

Dorene Whitney, who will chair the Jan. 20 gala at the Westgate that will celebrate the opera’s 25th year, coached the group during the oft-tedious photo session. “Smile for the camera,” she pleaded, when the photographer announced himself just about pleased with the scene in his view-finder. She suggested that everyone might look “gloomy,” when, a moment later, the man behind the lens admitted that the pose would have to be held a while longer. A pianist in a corner of the lobby eased the ordeal with a selection of Strauss waltzes.

The long-suffering members of the “anniversary club,” who agreed to donate $2,500 each in underwriting the gala, were rewarded for their patience with a reception hosted by the hotel in its ornate penthouse suite. Guests balanced champagne glasses on tables and buffets that once belonged to several of the numerical French Louies (among them XIV and XVI), while accepting such restorative tidbits as carpaccio canapes and crab tartlets choron .

The gala, which in the tradition of previous opera events staged by Whitney will take the shape of a formal “slumber party,” will follow the anniversary performance of “La Boheme,” the first piece ever produced by the San Diego Opera. Opera President Esther Burnham said the company has built a new set for “La Boheme,” which she added has become known as “San Diego’s opera.”

“Having a 25th anniversary shows how greatly accepted we have become in San Diego,” she said. “We’re selling 97% of our seats, and no other group in town can make that claim.”

Among those in the photo session were Marion Bateson, Eleanor and Art Herzman, Jeanne Jones and Don Breitenberg, Jamil Khoury, Harriet and Richard Levi, Charmaine and Maurice Kaplan, Dale Hansen, Wanda and Fred Kaufman, and Barbara and Martin Altbaum.