Last Saturday was a celebratory kind of day. In the early afternoon, we headed over to “The Barn,” which is a barn owned by a church that is in the middle of a large and pretty field, ringed with trees and lots of bedrock. It is a very pretty place. One of my graduated Fools, AJ, was having his all-day graduation party there.
We were among the first people there. We were greeted enthusiastically by AJ and his family, and shown to the food table, inside the barn (it is a clean barn!). There was a lot of food, and it was excellent. I limited myself to some pulled pork and some other little things, and Mer and I headed out to a picnic table in the shade, where we were joined by AJ and several other current and former students. We had a fun time, mostly talking about movies. More people started showing up, and things started to get a festive feel.
Mer and I went back inside the barn for dessert (cupcakes and brownies), and we sat with the parents of one of Meredith’s CVCA classmates. The knew AJ’s family from church, and we spent about 30 minutes talking with them. The father is especially funny, so it was an amusing way to spend some time.
We did have to leave, though, so we said goodbye to AJ and his family, and we drove home to get ready for the next social event, a wedding. We are pretty good friends with our pastor and his wife, and their middle daughter (in her late 20s) was getting married, and we were invited. It was down in Amish country, about an hour and twenty minutes away. We got dressed, and headed down the road.
Things were smooth sailing until we had to get off the highway. We were then on secondary roads, and following Mapquest directions, which did turn out to be accurate. Just as we were beginning to doubt that we were on the right trail, we saw a sign for the wedding. We turned down a back road. Then we turned down a smaller back road that became a one-lane road. Then the one-lane road became a dirt road. Then the dirt road became rough gravel road. It was quite an adventure. We got to the bed and breakfast at the end of the road and parked. Incongruously, the B and B (in Amish country), was called Yeowza! I had great fun (to Mer’s rolled eyes) shouting, “Yeowza!” every time I saw a sign. It just never got old for me.
The B and B was very pretty. It was located on the side of a hill that went down to a pond that the B and B owned. There was a trail around the pond that had lights at intervals that were very pretty once it got dark. The wedding itself was set up to take place on a small dock overlooking the pond, and there were chairs set up on the slope. The wedding was small, with maybe about 75 people total. There was pre-wedding music provided by various family members playing two guitars and the occasional keyboard, along with some vocal selections. It was very well done.
An outdoor wedding always has some risk, but it was a very pretty day. It was fairly hot in the sun, but the chairs had been set up in the shade, so that was well. For the ceremony itself, there were four attendants each for the bride and groom. The bride’s attendants had been allowed to get any dress they liked, as long as it was black and sleeveless.
Ken presided over the wedding, which must be pretty cool – to marry one of your own daughters. Ken is very personable, and he likes telling personal stories about the bride and groom. It made it feel more intimate. There were a few light-hearted moments. Ken had some feedback on his microphone, so he turned it off. When he got that straightened out, he could not remember where he was in the ceremony, so he was reminded by the best man, whom Ken commended for being a good best man. Christa (the bride) and Jeremy (the groom) did something I had never seen before – they had a “sand ceremony.” Each mother had a jar of colored sand, and then Christa and Jeremy mixed the sands together. I liked it. Then, at the end of the ceremony, they were told to kiss, so Christa turned to Jeremy, only to find he held up his hand. He turned to a part of the dock that was tucked away and pulled out a step stool, which he placed in front of him. Jeremy is over a foot taller than Christa. It was a fun touch.
The reception was in a large room of the B and B, and was a buffet. Since the buffet room was strangely hot (there was no air conditioning going), Mer and I wandered around the grounds and talked to people we knew, which was a good number of folks. We got to spend a pretty good amount of time with our former neighbors and our good friends, Ray and Sara. It was nice to be able to talk with them in a leisurely manner.
Once the wedding pictures were done, we were summoned to eat, which was interesting in that Mer and I were half-way around the pond. We did make it back before the bridal party’s grand entrance. It was now even hotter in the room, so I grabbed my food and went outside where there was a breeze, and it was easier to hear and to talk. Ray and Sara came out with us, so that was companionable.
There was a small dance floor, so the newly-wedded couple was able to get a first dance together, and then the father-daughter dance and the mother-son dance. There was some dancing the rest of the evening as well, but most people just went outside to enjoy the pretty night air and the fireflies.
It was a fun wedding. Mer and I love weddings, and this was a good one. As an added bonus, on the way home we saw lots of fireworks going off, since it was Saturday, July 3rd. It seemed like a fitting way to end a day of celebration.