The great sixteenth-century Italian artist Benvenuto Cellini once wrote, "The art of sculpture is eight times as great as any other art based on drawing, because a statue has eight views and they must all be equally good."

I'm laughing as I type this, because exactly forty-seven seconds ago I wouldn't have been able to tell you who Benvenuto Cellini was. Looking for something witty to say about sculpture, I Googled, and was drawn to the name "Cellini" because it bore some similarity to "Celina," who happened to marry David at the sprawling Grounds for Sculpture near Princeton, N.J. recently.

(It also was a heck of a lot better than the other quote: "The plague had by this time almost died out, so that the survivors, when they met together alive, rejoiced with much delight in one another's company." I always figure that unless one is discussing Monty Python, it's best to leave plagues and such out of wedding discussions.)

But happy accidents are my favorite kind and now I'm glad I stumbled across my old friend Cellini. He makes a valid point. We've become so used to looking at things one-dimensionally--the 50" flat screen television set in the living room, our iPad2, the morning newspaper. Cellini reminds us that things only get interesting when we walk around, look deeper, open ourselves to different interpretations.

I'm quite sure that both Celina Fang and David Urban and just about everyone in their respective families and circles of friends would agree with this, considering how many of them have advanced degrees and how many currently work in academia. Given that my own father is a mathematician (and retired college professor), my two older brothers have PhDs, one in physics and one in classics, and that my younger brother teaches film directing at Columbia, I felt immediately at home with the Fangs and Urbans. There were enough math degrees, library science degrees, arabic degrees (you name it) floating around that I felt like I was back in the Library Tower in Binghamton, New York, circa 1981. The pre-wedding banter was of an exceptionally high level of wittiness, with nary a word about shrimp size or tablecloth patterns.

I had never been to the Grounds for Sculpture before. It's quite the amazing place: forty-two acres of manicured landscape all dedicated to one type of artistic pursuit. Modern sculpture, ancient sculpture, big and small it's all represented here. I saw a version of the F.D.R. "bread line" sculpture by George Segal, a piece I always love passing at cherry blossom time here in Washington, as well as some fun, almost-kitschy interpretations of French impressionism by Seward Johnson.

David and Celina chose to have their ceremony amidst the popular "Nine Muses" piece by Carlos Dorrien, an homage to an ancient Greek ruin. As per that initial quote from Cellini, hosting the wedding at this particular piece gave it a multi-dimensional quality one rarely sees. David's sister presided over the affair, with the wedding party actually within the body of the artwork. It was a fitting arena for two people who clearly love the art which surrounded them.

In fact, as we raced around the grounds looking for places to shoot (on a very hot day, though Celina was remarkably unfazed), I kept having to pull out my little map. But Celina and David knew practically every sculpture--and there are thousands--by heart. This was not some token catering hall to them. They're too smart for that.

To see a mini gallery of pictures from the wedding of Celina Fang and David Urban, CLICK HERE.

Take care,

Matt