Sunday, July 15, 2007

Congratulations Jim and Martha




Today I was one of the honored guests at Jim and Martha's wedding.



Martha walked in with her brother, Doug. She and Jim asked everyone gathered there to give her away and Jim as well.



Martha's dress was just as beautiful from the back - just perfect.



Martha's brother, Rob, did a lot of the ceremony, with his son Ryan performing the actual marriage.



Rob told some marvelous stories, eliciting tears...



... and outbursts of laughter within the same few minutes.



Rob's wife, Shirley, was the matron of honor.



Rob mentioned their 31 year marriage during the ceremony. You may recall Rob and Shirley being on the blog a few weeks ago when I saw them in DC, where they now live.

The wedding was held at the historic home built by Martha's grandparents. It's the same house where we hold Chicks. Doug, the current owner, is most generous with his home.



The marriage was performed in front of the same fireplace where Martha's parents were married. Her mother was there today, too. She was ushered in by her grandson, Michael, the son of Martha's sister, Marilyn.



After the wedding I had a chance to chat with Michael quite a bit and he was delightful fun.

Jim's best man was Stu, who is another one of the Prairie Rose Wranglers. Stu is responsible for Jim being in Kansas, where he and Martha met, so it seemed appropriate he be the best man.



Being a musician, Jim wrote a song for the wedding day. But, he recorded it instead of doing it live, which I think is wise because weddings are very emotional. He was going over details with John Eberly before the ceremony.



Music was a really important part of the ceremony and dramatically added to the event.



As you can tell, this was a real family affair. I loved getting this snapshot of Shirley and their son, Ryan, eating cake and talking quietly in the corner after the ceremony.



And speaking of cake... it was beautiful...



I helped a bit with the food, but Teresa and Andrea did the majority of it. It was lovely.



I think everyone had a wonderful time.





I know everyone there felt honored to be included. It felt wonderful to be in the presence of such genuine affection. Everyone in that room had love for Jim and Martha. I've become a huge fan today of smaller weddings, where everyone there has a real connection to the couple. It was a sacred experience.





Related Posts: Martha's Bridal Shower

6:03 a.m.

It's 6:03 a.m. and I have not been asleep. I guess this is why I don't sleep during the day very often.

I stayed in bed, trying to get myself to sleep. But, I couldn't. At various times I played solitaire on the phone, watched a show on serial killers on TV, and tried calling Greg who was in the car. Somehow, none of those things helped me sleep.

Finally, at 5:45, I got back up. Almost four hours of trying to sleep is agonizing in its own way.

I'm going to fix some breakfast, journal a bit and take a nice bath. Maybe I can at least sleep a couple of hours before Martha's wedding this afternoon. We'll see.