A Wedding and A Sunburn

Our friends J & M got married yesterday! It was a really beautiful wedding. It was held outside at this lovely facility.

The weather was just about perfect for an outdoor wedding. It wasn't too warm, nor too humid. It was fairly breezy, however, which resulted in music stands and floral arrangements being blown over and candle flames refusing to stay lit!

The bride was gorgeous, the groom beaming with happiness (I know he was because I could see his face for the whole ceremony; you'll have to take my word for it, though, since My Man couldn't get a picture from where he was seated) the bridesmaids were lovely in yellow, the flower girl and ringbearer behaved impeccably and did exactly what they were supposed to do.
The music was provided by these two. Can you imagine how lovely the music of two harps would be at a wedding? Well, you are right. It was that lovely. Both girls played beautifully and one of them played the flute as well. She also accompanied me on the harp as I sang during the unity candle lighting. It was the first time I had been asked to sing in someone's wedding and I was so excited to do it. I sang "Good and Perfect Gift" by Abigail Miller. (If you go to her website and click on the "listen/purchase" button, you can listen to a sample of the song from the disc I Can Go In. Many thanks to my mom for telling me about it!)

The ceremony was scheduled to start at 1:00. Not wanting to be a distraction, I took my seat near the musicians about ten minutes beforehand. See me sitting there?
But as anyone who has been to any number of weddings knows, they rarely start on time. This one was delayed for thirty minutes. So I sat there for a quite a while. Let's take another look, shall we?Notice how the sun is reflecting off of my very white skin? My pale, untanned, haven't-seen-the-sun-in-who-knows-how-long shoulders? Do you think that it even occurred to me to put on sunblock seeing as, you know, the wedding was OUTSIDE in the middle of the day?

Nope.

I have pictures of me afterward but I'm not going to show them to you. I am too embarrassed. After the ceremony there were hors d'oeuvres and then there was a wonderful sit-down dinner with toasts to the bride and groom and the whole time my shoulders just got redder and redder and redder until the people around our table were looking at me in alarm and someone said that I was starting to glow. Over 24 hours later I am still very red and tender to the touch. My good Man slathered my shoulders with A&D ointment tonight which helps. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll notice much improvement.

But enough about me, back to the wedding ...

During the picture-taking after the ceremony the guests ate bacon-wrapped scallops, chicken tenders, and fried ravioli. There was a digital camera set up with a printer next to a table with scrapbooking things; guests could have their picture taken, then scrap a personalized page for the bride and groom. There was a Wii game system set up with a big tv. There was a candy bar. Not a candy bar like this:but rather something similar to thiswith Skittles, M&Ms, Twizzlers, Hersey's kisses, chocolate-covered raisins, and my own personal favorite, Jelly Belly. It was a huge hit. My Man and I are still eating from our boxes of candy.

Then everyone was called into the dining room to sit down for dinner. My Man and I sat with BIL/SIL1 as well as several other people from church. Dinner was yummy. There were toasts to the bride and groom by the best man, maid of honor, and the bride's parents. There was an amazing slide show/movie that the best man (the grooms brother) made. My Man and I slipped away right before the cake was cut so we didn't eat any but it certainly was beautiful!I'm so happy for J & M that everything turned out so nicely. It was a perfect wedding day.

Meanwhile the Boogie stayed with her Auntie MA and Uncle B (my coworker and her husband.) I was a little apprehensive that she wouldn't be comfortable with them but she had the time of her life. They took her out to eat and to a pet store/small zoo where she fed monkeys and chased chickens. When we arrived to pick her up she just looked at us as if to say, "oh, it's you," and went right back to what she was doing.

Now I must take my sunburned shoulders off to bed. I hope you had as enjoyable a weekend as we did!