I Do I Do in a Very Special Way

Last week-end I attended one of the sweetest weddings ever - in a long line of weddings I have been to, or have been a part of. This one took place in the mountains at our denomination's campground. The bride and groom met when they were working at the camp - the groom's father is the director of the camp, so it was his home. This is the third romance of kids from our church who have spent their summers working at the camp. My nephew and his wife married there 8 years ago, after meeting at camp and even both changing colleges so they could be together their junior and senior years. It was an absolutely perfect day in a rustic, beautiful setting. The path to the "sanctuary" was marked with these clever signs.

The guests enjoyed the beautiful weather as we waited for the processional.

The sister of the bride and her escort --



Very happy for her little sister.

The adorable ring bearer and flower girl - children of the officiant, who grew up in our church, as did their mother - they went to college together, then ended up at the camp with him as assistant director

.

And here comes the bride on the arm of her dad. (Love her red shoes!)






Levi, the father of the children, did a great job, as did the young woman who wrote the beautiful ceremony.




They had so many personal touches that made the ceremony so special. They did the triple chord ceremony, representing the strength of three strands over two - Jesus being the third strand.

There was laughter.



There were tears.




I've never seen the attendants sing together in any wedding I've attended. Unique and wonderful. I wonder if they had to try out to be in the wedding party!?




And then the Danielle and Ben served communion to everyone. I've often seen the bride and groom and maybe their family take communion, but never the guests. Lovely.




Mr. and Mrs. face the future together --




The camp staff prepared lunch for everyone - typical camp fare, hot dogs and brats and burgers -
everything tasted great.




A blue grass band entertained us as we ate.




I wasn't able to stay through the entire reception, so missed the part where the groom sang a quartet with his groomsmen. He was in my brother's choir in college - one of my brother's favorite guys ever. I did get them in a casual shot inside the lodge.




They ate on the go as they visited with their guests. It was apparent that they enjoyed every minute.

I headed down the mountain feeling very hopeful for this lovely young couple's future.

The Wedding Week-end, Part II

Christmas has come and gone. It was much smaller than usual for us, with so many out of town. I will share a few things next time.

The day of the wedding arrived - an unusual day for a wedding, Monday. It had to do with the military schedule being followed by David and Kelsey.

I had to rush around in the morning getting a haircut for Care Bear, which we should have done on Saturday. I decided not to get Feisty's hair cut since it looked really good when it was curled at this length. We had to be at the Tapestry House by 2:00 to prepare for some pictures. I decided to take them and spend the afternoon there (thinking I might get some relaxation and reading in, which didn't happen!) rather than leave them to the care of the wedding party. It's a good thing I did!

We got there in time to take a tour of the grand old house and take some (lots of) pictures. It was a beautiful old house on a one-time farm that had been many things over the years, most recently this venue for weddings. It could serve as a Bed and Breakfast, but is mostly used for weddings - the wedding party uses the house for preparation for the day, and can rent the rooms for the night before or after the wedding. The house was particularly lovely right now because of the Christmas decorations.

The bridal party arrived after a morning of beautification --




Here comes the bride --

View from the house to the event center.

The sun porch

Views from the front entrance

The floor at the front entrance.





The ceiling.

From a stairwell.

The kitchen.

Some of the bedrooms. The first one is the kids' room where they were supposed to rest and watch movies - the problem was, somebody had destroyed all of the video tapes and the t.v. wasn't working. Bummer! I think they should have gotten a bit of a refund.

I love this bathroom - wish I could have gotten the full view with the steps going down.




Living room.

Dining room.

I love the contrast of the tv set on top of the old sewing machine.




The beautiful decorations.

The girls changed in the very large master bedroom, which I didn't get to photograph before they took it over.




The big girls fixed the little girls' hair and put a bit of sparkly makeup on their faces and mascara on their eyes. They were pretty pumped. The beautiful third flower girl is Kelsey's cousin who was adopted from Ethiopia when she was three. She was delightful and very smart. The three of them decided they wanted to be cousins.




The girls with David's youngest brother, Luke. Most of my time that afternoon was spent trying to keep them from destroying their hairdos and bows on their dresses.





The girls with David's next brother, Joel. Their baskets were satin with rhinestone decorations, filled with white rose pedals.




The flower girls spent a lot of time running from the house to the event center, where the ceremony and reception would be held. I wandered over there after a bit one of the many times and found the event planner with them. She told me they had decided to practice, and it wasn't her idea, it was Care Bear's. Knowing CB as we do, I told her that her job could very well be taken over someday. Here are some pictures of the "chapel" area. (Note the ladder still there).












The photographer was busy in the bridesmaids' room --










Taken in the "chapel"




--- and outside the house.





--- and "goin' to the chapel' --- (taken by the official photographer)




A lot of time was spent waiting while pictures were taken, but it was a very lovely place to wait.

The groom's family lounging --







and posing for candid shots --






The Mother of the Groom's beautiful wrist corsage --




The bride's mom had brought good food to munch on all afternoon and the guys finally got their turn -- (once again, I wish I had known and I wouldn't have eaten lunch before we went.)





I love this precision - very military! (taken by the official photographer)



Finally ---- (taken by the official photographer)

And here's where my camera officially died. I wasn't able to get any pictures of the ceremony, so depended on my brother for the rest of the pictures - and nobody got any during the ceremony except Tiffany the amazing photographer.

One of my favorite parts of the whole wedding - the pomp of the military saber ceremony.

See why they lowered the last two sabers?

The reception was beautiful - lovely hors d'ouvres and a delicious sit-down dinner. The flower girls could hardly wait for the cake ceremony, because the cake broke from tradition --






Then the fun began - the gingerbread cookie bar - everyone got to decorate a cookie if they wished. But the three flower girls took over the table and took their time while the crowd lined up. I tried to hurry them!





One of the things I love most about David is his absolute love of his little cousins (second cousins really) and the fun he creates for them - in the middle of his wedding reception.




Remember the guy in pink? He caught the garter.

(Note me in the background ready to go - I was tired! - we didn't stay till the last song ended)

A neat tradition by the Tapestry House - a brick on the path, memorializing the day for each couple who is married there --

And it's off to Jamaica for some sun and surf and relaxation before the bride begins Office Training School and the groom begins his grueling ranger training.