The Things That Matter Most

Wedding ceremony

Me during ceremony

My handsome husband

Wedding attendees

Lily

Joshua

Traditional Celtic handfasting ceremony

Exchanging vows

Exchanging vows

The beautiful Bride

Lily and her dad, Tom, walking down the aisle

The Flower Girls - Alison (in back), Gabriella (in front)

My great-nephew, Alex, the Ringbearer

Well, it's been quite a while since I've updated my blog but I finally feel like I have a minute to breathe so here goes.

Joshua & Lily got married on Sat., June 20th at 1:30 p.m. at Lily's mom's farm in Pleasant Hill, Oregon in the middle of a beautiful meadow under a flower and ribbon bedecked arbor. They had a Celtic Country themed wedding and Joshua wore a kilt, tunic and vest and Lily wore a beautiful custom-made dress embellished with ribbons and roses. All the little girls who attended the ceremony were enlisted as flower girls and carried baskets of rose petals that they sprinkled as they walked up the aisle and my little great-nephew, Alex Wood, was the ringbearer. Joshua & Lily walked down the aisle to Celtic music performed by a local band, wrote their own vows and had a traditional Celtic handfasting ceremony where their wrists were bound together (not too tightly) with a ribbon to symbolize their becoming bound together in marriage but not so tightly that they still don't have their own personalities and individuality. My niece, Mandi Wood, made their beautiful 3 tiered wedding cake (2 of which survived - more about that later) with a Celtic design and Celtic knot on top. The wedding reception took place under a huge tent in the meadow with lots of good food and more Celtic music. I have to thank my friends Michelle (who ironed zillions of tablecloths), and Bonnie & Patti (who bought, prepared and served most of the food). What a blessing they were to me. Lily's mom, Marilyn, worked so hard to get her property looking absolutely wonderful and planning and arranging every detail from food, flowers and reception to even a children's play area. It was one of the most beautiful and unique weddings I've ever experienced and I know that's largely due to all of Marilyn's hard work (and Lily & Joshua's imaginations).

Back to the cake. Mandi spent 2 solid days making the wedding cake. She researched and practiced the design so she would get it just right. Things went quite well every step of the way until time to transport the cake to the wedding. As most of you know, we live on a pretty steep hill and so the cake had to go down the hill to get to the wedding. My niece, Megan went with Mandi to help hold the cake in transport, but before they were even to the bottom of the hill, the bottom layer of the cake had slid apart and had pretty much destroyed itself. Mandi was very upset (understandably after all her hard work), but carried on and delivered the surviving top 2 tiers to the wedding. The cake still looked beautiful (just not as big) and I'm sure most people never would have guessed it should have been a 3 tiered cake. But it was a shame. The filling of the cake was a peanut butter filling and was pretty greasy and that, combined with driving down a steep slope, caused the cake to just slide apart. Oh well, it makes for a interesting wedding mishap story that will be told for years to come. But, poor Mandi - I felt sorrier for her than anyone else.

We had lots of family come for the wedding and that was the best part (well, I guess the actual wedding was the best part but all the family being here was a close 2nd). These are the family members who came for the wedding: My parents; my sister, Sue and her husband, Phil; my sister Rebecca, her husband, Bill and her kids, Leslie, Megan, Andrew & Spencer; my niece Mandi and her kids, Alex & Derek; Don's kids, Heather, Jennifer and Jason; Heather's husband, Mark; Jennifer's kids, Alison & Christopher; Jason's daughter, Gabriella; and Don's brother, Sid and his wife, Mary. Of course, Jeremy was there too. We had a wonderful evening together the night before the wedding at our house. Everyone was so happy to see each other and it was just the best of times. Mandi and her kids stayed 10 days so they got to do a lot of things with us before the wedding. My parents stayed 2 weeks and were a huge help to us. Rebecca and her family stayed 4 days so we got to take them over to the coast which they really enjoyed. Heather, Jennifer, Jason & families stayed 3 1/2 days and got to be with their dad on Father's Day which was so nice for him. Everyone else came and went rather quickly but at least we got a little time with everyone and they all got to share in our joy at the wedding. I really gained a renewed appreciation for family during this time. It reminded me of our eternal relationships and how much each of my family members means to me. I know it was a sacrifice for them to come and I truly appreciate it. Their presence will be a precious and lasting memory for me.