So, I had a stupid moment.
Yesterday morning as we were driving to go get my grandma and bring her with us to the wedding, Mom and I realized that I wouldn’t be getting internet. Unless I had a Wi-Fi card thingy or something. Which I do not. So I had to make do with music and sleeping, really.
It was a long ride. Five hours is hard. Not as hard as two days to DC or Tennessee, but hard.
We had to be there two hours before the wedding so that my grandma could be in some photos. So I sat around at the church in my dress and tried to keep myself entertained.
Then came the wedding.
It was great!
The prelude (on piano) was lovely, and then came the start of the ceremony.
The bride (my cousins)’s brother-in-law and the groom’s brother (or, one of his brothers) were ushers, and walked people in.
They lit the candles—or tried to. There were six candles each for them to light, and either because of pre-lighting for photos or because of vents and air, only three stayed lit for each of the ushers. The top three for one and the bottom three for the other.
My family was sitting in one row and we giggled back and forth that “Gee, I hope the candles by the Unity Candle stay lit!”
The guys tried to get their candles to all light, but eventually they just gave each other this look and walked out. To a round of applause, of course!
And the groom escorted his mother and his new mother-in-law up the aisle.
Then he and his father and the pastor came out together and sat down.
At this point, I had a brain fart.
“Shouldn’t [my uncle, the father of the bride] be up there???”
…Duh.
He’s the father of the bride. He’s walking her up the aisle.
Hahaha.
But anyway, the rest of the bridal party’s entry was successful, and they all looked very nice, and then came the bride.
This is one of the first (and only!) times I’ve ever seen her in a dress, and she looked gorgeous.
(I’d seen her in the dress for photos, too, but still.)
My uncle’s voice cracked a little when he gave his “Her mother and I” answer to the pastor, which makes sense, because she’s the youngest and the last one to get married, you know?
The beginning song (THIS! Only not the Italian. Which always makes me think of Quest For Camelot.) was a duet, sung by a couple from the church I would assume.
Then my dad got up and read Romans 12:9-18, which I thought was an interesting passage for a wedding.
The pastor’s message was nice—he told us that he was going to speak directly to the bride and groom, so if we wanted to we could tune out for the next 15 minutes or so.
First he brought up that he’d been thinking about it, and marriage is a legally binding contract as well as a spiritual one. He was thinking about how my cousin and her husband will probably sign plenty of contracts over the years: they’ll buy cars and perhaps a new house…
But this is the only contract that people will come to celebrate with them.
So that was cute.
Anyway, the message he shared contained references to both the bride and the groom’s occupations, and I liked it a lot.
My cousin is an art teacher, and her husband is a construction worker (and part-time farmer, but we’ll get to that later).
The pastor started with the groom, speaking about foundations.
See, the groom helped build the church we were in. Or at least, he helped with the remodel. The pastor spoke about how after they broke ground, it seemed to take forever for the addition to be completed. But see, the construction guys (the groom, his father, his brothers) knew what they were doing. They knew that thing shad to happen in order, and in specific times, or else things would be messed up. They could have skipped steps to save time, but then the church wouldn’t have had a roof, or no foundation, or something. (The pastor explained it better; I’m summarizing.) There had to be a foundation, and things have to be done in their own time and in the proper order. The pastor talked about how in marriage, you must plan and purpose, just like you do in building things. It was a really nice illustration!
Then he went on to speak to my cousin.
This year is the 10th anniversary of 9-11, and my cousin had her art class(es) create a panel for the special event that the church is planning. It’s a gorgeous silhouette (we looked at it after the service) of the New York skyline—with the Towers still included. The pastor tied in something he had said earlier, about their families and being raised by loving Godly people. He spoke about how we all want to continue to do things the way we were raised, and how we are all prideful and that can get in the way. He said that just like my cousin’s art piece, those things have to fade into the background for a marriage to work. That really kind of struck me, because lately I’ve been thinking about compromise…
So anyway, it was a wonderful message and a great wedding. I’m so glad I sat through over ten hours of driving time to be there. 🙂 (No, seriously. It was worth it.)
Then came the reception!
Oh, man. Let me tell you.
You know it’s a party when the dance floor is filled with children, some of whom know the words to the music by heart.
I had so much fun watching and taking pictures and videos of my cousins and the other kids.
But before that, we had to find places to sit and be dismissed to go get food!
We sat at one of the bigger, square-ish tables (that was actually two pushed together I suppose) RIGHT NEXT TO THE CAKES.
Yea, I said cakeS. Plural.
It’s a groom’s-side tradition to have multiple cakes along with the big one. (In this case, three-tiered.)
The groom’s uncle made the cakes, and they were amazing.
There were like 12. I had two slices.
One of my little cousins had probably like six pieces, the little stinker.
All I know is that when I was in line for my first piece, he was getting his second, and continued eating throughout the night.
Oh, the food.
We didn’t eat cake first…
It was a buffet. Of foods that the bride’s father will eat. He’s a little picky, and I guess he decided that if he was paying for the food, it would be food that he was going to eat.
So we basically had meat and potatoes. And salad. Pretty good.
And then came the speeches. The bride’s sister was matron of honor, and gave a really nice speech. She talked about how she’s known her sister for a long time (we all laughed) and how she’s never seen her sister happier than she was yesterday. It was very sweet. And then she poked a little fun at the groom being a part-time farmer. Her husband is, too, and so she had a little something to tell her sister about the best and worst things about part-time farmers: they’re never home in the spring and summer.
The best man (groom’s friend)’s speech started out fine, but then he got himself into a little hot water with our family and earned himself some playful boo-ing. He started out by talking about how not too long after they started dating, the groom came over to his house and was talking about wanting to ask my cousin to marry him. But see, engagement rings are just so expensive! And his friend pointed out that you know what, they’re expensive, but what else gives you a life-time committment…
of a dishwasher?
That got my family boo-ing a little.
But the groomsmen all went together and bought the bride a gift to kind of welcome her into the family so to speak. And he pulled out what I think was supposed to be a stuffed sunflower? I couldn’t quite tell. But it was cute.
THEN came the cake, and the dancing.
It wasn’t a very big dance floor, and it was right next to the bar, so… that was a little different.
But it was so much fun to watch the kids dance.
Several of the little boys attempted to break dance, which was adorable.
It was a good night.
And something that I found interesting was the timing in my Max Lucado devotional book.
On August 4th, the lesson was about marriage, like how we’re Christ’s bride.
You Have Captured God’s Heart
Isaiah 62:5
Have you ever noticed the way a groom looks at his bride during the wedding? I have. Perhaps it’s my vantage point. As the minister of the wedding, I’m positioned next to the groom…
If the light is just so and the angle just right, I can see a tiny reflection in his eyes. Her reflection. And the sight of her reminds him why he is here. His jaw relaxes and his forced smile softens. He forgets he’s wearing a tux. He forgets his sweat-soaked suit. …When he sees her, any thought of escape becomes a joke again. For it is written all over his face, “Who could bear to live without this bride?”
And such are precisely the feelings of Jesus. Look long enough into the eyes of our Savior and there, too, you will see a bride. Dressed in fine linen. Clothed in pure grace… She is the bride… walking toward him….
And who is the bride for whom Jesus longs? … You are. You have captured the heart of God.
When Christ Comes
How awesome is that? That’s the whole point of my starting this blog, to learn more about capturing God’s heart so that I can someday capture the heart of the special man with whom I will share the rest of my life.
Being at a wedding and thinking about weddings and watching stuff on TV about weddings has gotten me thinking about mine.
I know I don’t need to yet, but it’s okay to get ideas beforehand, right…?
My dad has told me to elope, but with our family, that’s not happening.
Last night he told me “no glassware” at the reception, to which my mom replied, basically, “Good luck with that.”
Don’t worry, Dad, I have to find a boy you approve of before I start thinking seriously about a wedding…
