A Happily Married Couple

This week has been so much fun. I hate to see it end. DD#1 and her fiancé were married last evening in an absolutely beautiful ceremony attended by about two dozen family members. I don’t have pictures because I really wanted to be in the moment. However, I am sure others will be sharing some of the pictures they took, so you may see them in future blog posts.

We started our festivities on Sunday when the kids got here. The girls and DSIL (I have a son-in-law!) drove over from Seattle together and my sister-in-law flew up from Los Angeles. On Monday, DSIL’s parents arrived along with his grandmother and aunt from Wisconsin. We all had dinner together that evening. The husband’s brother and father arrived Monday night; my mother and sister were supposed to get in Tuesday night, but we had a terrible windstorm down in the valley and their flight was delayed until Wednesday morning. The rest of us had dinner again together. By Wednesday evening, the night of the rehearsal dinner, our numbers had swelled to include DSIL’s brother, grandfather, uncle, and cousin. And the wedding was last evening.

I remember saying to someone, when asked how we felt about our future son-in-law, that I was so happy that our daughter was marrying into a normal family. These people are wonderful. We have had so much fun together this week that we are trying to figure out how we can get together again. There has been much love and laughter and zero drama (except from the wedding photographer, but that was handled).

One of the delights for me has been having dear friends involved in the planning and preparation. Our pastor, who has known DD#1 since she was a little girl, performed the ceremony. Our friend Anna handled the catering and prepared the most wonderful meal. A friend of DD#2’s did the cake (Cakes by Briza, for you Kalispell peeps—highly recommended!). And yesterday, when I got to the venue before the ceremony, these two very special ladies were putting the finishing touches on the flower decorations:

The lady on the left is Debbie Kauffman, who owns Memories in Blossom. She taught at the elementary school and also drove the bus that DD#1 rode to school every day starting in kindergarten. And the lady on the right, Jan Madison, was DD#1’s first-grade teacher. I would have loved to have had everyone we know—and everyone who loved DD#1 and had a part in her life—at the wedding to help us celebrate, but this was the next best thing.

The ceremony and reception were held at Snowline. Tom and Kristen were marvelous to work with and helped us scale down from our original plans to something smaller. Sarah Gasbarro was our wedding coordinator; I told her yesterday morning that she was my new favorite person, LOL. She smoothed the way and that allowed me to relax and enjoy the entire day. I brought her a box of items and she created a beautiful display to remember and honor my mother-in-law, who died in March.

And thanks to the wonders of technology, we were even able to have far-away relatives join us for the ceremony and reception. My SIL, who has worked in the movie industry for many years, has been filming all week. She plans to create a video when she gets back home.

We’re planning to extend the fun today by having a “garage party” to christen the husband’s new shop and give the kids an opportunity to open some wedding gifts. The husband is being very gracious about letting us hold a party in his space. The remaining guests leave this weekend.

As DD#1 noted last night as she addressed her family and friends, she hoped that this was a bright spot in an otherwise very difficult year. I think it was.