A Daughter's Wedding

"I do."  The words that seal the deal.  Such a simple statement for the life-altering decision to permanently bind yourself to another person.

But that's exactly what my daughter and son-in-law did a couple of weeks ago.  They met, they dated, they fell in love, they got engaged on a rooftop in Haiti.  They planned, they jarred jam for favors, they constructed pinwheels for place cards.  We reserved and deposited and shopped and decorated and-- yes, the bride made an impromptu garter out of a baby headband the night before the wedding.  The day finally arrived.  It was drizzly in the morning, but I was told the sun literally came out as the bride started down the aisle.  Everything went perfectly-- which doesn't happen often at weddings.  Here's how it all happened...

Two nights before the wedding, the "best woman" hosted a bachelorette party.  My girls love (still) Disney princess movies.  So what did they do?  Ate food, talked, had their nails done-- all with Disney movies playing  in the background.  Precious.











The day before the wedding was spent decorating and rehearsing.  Things were a bit chaotic but some precious people (thank you Stockeland's!) took us in hand and got everything in order.

"Left, right, left, right..."

Best woman, bridemaids, flower girl... ready to go.

Pastor, groom, groomsmen... stand here.

Scripture readers... got a Bible?

Then we headed off to the park for a delicious rehearsal dinner.  Decorations were adorable and the food was scrumptious.  Thanks Stone's!

The wedding day dawned early.  The bride's new mother-in-law to be arrived to do the bride's hair in time to leave for an 11:00 a.m. wedding.  She did a great job with Katie's hair!  It was gorgeous.

We drove on down to Littlestown to the beautiful St. John's Lutheran Church (the bride's grandparents' church) for the ceremony. The next hours were spent in a flurry of dressing, flower-pinning and sweating.  The church was air conditioned, thankfully, but for such an occasion there will be sweat!  The flowers were all fabulous, by the way, (starring lovely hydrangeas) and exactly what we wanted thanks to Pam Newton, our good friend and florist AKA Inspire Wedding Flowers of Hanover, PA.

The ceremony was lovely.  The music provided by some accomplished and talented friends playing the violin and piano provided just the right touch.  The bride and groom incorporated a foot-washing into the ceremony to symbolize the mutual servanthood which is a part of marriage.  They also asked the pastor to issue an invitation to be issued to anyone who may want to know more about following Christ.  The whole ceremony was very touching and meaningful.

The excited mother-of-the-bride escorted by her eldest child, the brother of the bride.

The sister of the bride/maid of honor/best woman.

Here comes the bride and her Daddy.

"Her mother and I."

Proverbs 3:3-6 & Ephesians 4:1-3

The music during the foot washing was a beautiful song called "My Beloved" and is meant as Christ's song to His bride, the church.  But at a wedding "You're my beloved, you're my bride" had additional meaning.

"You may kiss the bride."

Presenting, for the first time, Mr. & Mrs. Stone

"Whew! We did it."

Our friend (and Katie's boss), Mark Stockeland performed a beautiful wedding ceremony.  His wife, Lacey was gracious enough to act as an impromptu wedding coordinator and got everybody down the aisle at the right time.

So cute!

Love, love...

Our birds are flitting out of the nest.

Family of the bride

The parents

The groom's parents

The reception was just 10 minutes away at the charming Union Mills Homestead.  It took place in The Tannery (basically a barn) there.  Here's how it looked when we got done decorating the day before:

We were so pleased with how it looked after we got it set up.

Announcing the wedding party...

First dance

Favors

Welcome from the dad

I wish I had a picture of the food tables/caterer.  We were thrilled with the delicious picnic food chosen for this light-hearted mid-day wedding.  The homemade sandwich bread was yummy.  We highly recommend our caterer, Tom Schuman of the Kountry Kafe & Katering in Westminster, MD for any event.  He was a delight to work with.

Our friend Monique of Gateau Monique baked a delicious cake for us.  It was scrumptious with a white layer and a chocolate layer all filled with creamy raspberry mousse.  My only disappointment was that the chocolate pieces were snatched up so fast I never got to taste it.  But the white was delicious too.

Good catch flower girl!

Looks like we are low on single men!

After all the traditions were taken care of people were free to chat, dance or go outside to play badminton, croquet or corn hole.  I'll have to add pictures of these if I obtain any.  We were extremely pleased with our DJ too.  He was very professional, the sound system and volume were perfect and the music was just what we asked for.  Again, we were so pleased every single one of our wedding "vendors" and DJ Dennis Stem was no exception.

Niece and nephew of the groom

My sister-in-law and my 89-year-old dad.

My niece and her pappy.

The extended maternal family of the bride

To complete the praises I've been singing of all our wedding vendors, last, but not least I'd like to mention Tara's Bridal of Camp Hill, PA where we found The Wedding Gown.  We went to three different places and Tara's was, by far, the best.  Patient, kind and helpful personnel who didn't hard-sell.  Charming ambience.  Gowns separated into rooms by price-- and they never tried to upsell once we told them our budget.  Great to work with and the recommended an awesome and inexpensive seamstress to do alterations too.

And many thanks to my brother who took most of the pictures included here.  I don't yet have access to the professional shots.  I realize that we are missing some special ones including grandparents and other special people, but I didn't want to wait any longer to post what I have!

Thanks to you all for checking in on our special day.  As Katie said, "The wedding came out exactly how we wanted.  It was perfect."  Ah.  It does a mother's heart good to hear that :)  Now, may God bless their whole marriage even more richly than He blessed the celebration of its beginning.