Looking Back

I am slowly floating down from the wedding cloud. My coming-down-to-earth took a detour over the weekend to watch Little Sister play in her piano recital. (She just finished her first year and played Beethoven's German Dance In G Major. And she played beautifully.) But I am finally back at home where I can sit down and catch my breath. Who knew fun was so exhausting?

Jessica's wedding was held at a garden resort and most of the guests stayed on the property. It was like a big weekend house party. The resort itself had the feel of a summer camp. A camp for grownups. There was golf, of course, but there was also hunting and fishing and horseback riding and sport/clay shooting and a petting farm and hiking and lawn games and bicycles and fire pits for s'more. It was a great place for their friends, who are now scattered across the country, to gather and spend time together.

The ceremony itself was lovely. The prayers and the readings and the vows were all personal and meaningful. The bride chose to have only nieces, ages 4-17, as her attendants. They were thrilled to be included. Between the bride and groom, there were six nieces to stand with them. Yes. It's all girls on both sides. It was sweet when they exited, little ones holding hands with their groomsman.

It was an outdoor wedding, which I find a little scary to plan. The morning weather forecast gave a 50/50 chance for rain the evening of the ceremony. There was a "plan B" in case of rain, but the bride and groom rolled the weather dice. And they won. The rain held off and the the clouds kept us cool. And the ceremony went on as planned. Then the rains came while we were having dinner and dancing under the tent. (The band was fabulous.) And then the rain stopped before the music did. Perfect.

Thankfully, there were very few mishaps. There was the wedding guest who hitchhiked the last few miles in his tuxedo after his car broke down. There was a group of party crashers who wandered into the reception party...and were quickly ushered out by a guest. There was my momentary panic when Daddy-O told me my dress wouldn't zip up and I needed to "suck it in." Blessedly it was only an obstinate zipper and not a chubby mother of the bride!

And there were interesting things that happened. While our photographer was making photos of the wedding party before the ceremony, we had other resort guests walk past who asked to make photos of the bride because "this is part of our vacation!" Not exactly paparazzi like this weekend's royal wedding will have, but still. There was Baby Girl's disappointment when she saw my dress. "Mimi! Your dress. It's not fancy!" I told her I thought it was pretty fancy. "But Mimi. Gray is NOT a fancy color!" 

I look forward to having our newly expanded family together soon to swap stories about the wedding weekend. We can all hear about the parts we missed. And we are waiting anxiously on the official photographs. Everything was just beautiful and it will be fun to see it all over again.

It was a wonderful weekend, filled with family and friends. So much love. So many beautiful memories. So many good wishes for the new couple as they start a life together. Blessings to them!