Brittany contacted me by email in February about getting married in my wedding garden instead of at the courthouse. She was thinking April, May or June. We discussed some open dates on my calendar then I did not hear from her until July. She said that they were buying a house and things got delayed but they wanted to get married in my garden in July or August. We agreed on August 11, 2012 @ 6:30 as I had a wedding earlier that afternoon at 5:00. So she and her fiance, Jerry, came to see me on July 7th to look at the garden and discuss the ceremony they wanted. Because they are expecting a baby boy in the near future, I suggested we also do an unborn baby blessing during the ceremony as well as a family unity sand ceremony withJerry's two kids, Dacian and Julia, and include the baby as well. They loved the idea and Brittany got busy coming up with a very unique idea for the sand container.
The week of the wedding the weather forecast was for rainstorms on Saturday so Marty and Dave and I set up the chairs in the family room but miraculously it held off until about 6:15. Jerry and all the guests arrived and since it was only barely sprinkling, we all grabbed a chair and moved out to the garden. Then it started pouring and we moved the chairs back inside! I had about 7 or 8 umbrellas and the guests went to their cars and rounded up some more. In the meantime, Brittany and her sister Bethany arrived and were getting dressed when the rain ended. She requested to have the guests move back outside for the ceremony. I was okay with this but we did not want to move the sand ceremony back outside in case it rained suddenly. So, they ended up with an outdoor-indoor wedding!
Outside....
Back inside...That pretty woman in the pink dress is Jerry's mother, Maria finding her seat.
While waiting for the bride, the rain stopped...
Here comes the bride and we are back outside and the umbrellas down!
All the guests were such good sports!
And we begin!
Now let's go back inside and do the sand ceremony and pronouncement of marriage!
Brittany came up with the clever idea of pouring the layers of sand representing each of them and sand from Wisconsin where she grew up and sand from Mexico where Jerry grew up into a shadow box frame in which she had glued a photograph of the two of them and Jerry's kids.
I provided these glasses made in Mexico for the sand vases.
Dacian and Julia pour in their sand.
Then sand for the baby and for Jerry and Brittany to top it off. All went very well until the sand got in between the photograph and the glass.
Finally, married at last!
I want to thank Ryan, Bethany's husband, the young man on the left next to Bethany holding their daughter, for brilliantly running the "umbrella brigade" and kept us all as dry as possible. Those are his parents on the right who are like family to Bethany and Brittany since their parents have passed away. We were glad to have them with us for the wedding. They were really good sports about the moving back and forth too. In fact, no one complained at all!
Here is the whole gang except for one little boy. This is the largest number of guests I have ever had in the garden. These children were so well-behaved it was impressive!
Brittany and Jerry, congratulations and best wishes forever! So glad it worked out despite the inclement weather. You were both champs and I know you are sooo happy!
