Chantel

At the reception, everyone laughed when Scott presented Chantel’s dad with twelve cows…little stuffed ones, that is!  It was a reference to Chantel being a “twelve-cow wife” in the spirit of the legend of Johnny Lingo’s eight-cow wife.  And it made this farmer’s wife think of all our joking references to my being a so-many-ton wife—ton of hay, that is, since Merritt traded hay for my ring!

But the part of Scott and Chantel’s wedding ceremony I hope I never forget was a line from the beautiful bride’s vows to her new husband.  The word picture of a wife’s heart being the graveyard for her husband’s faults and mistakes is one I want to not only remember, but live out in my marriage.

I take you, Scott, to be my lawfully wedded husband, my partner and my companion in life and my one true love.

I will cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you, honor and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together in this life, and staying by your side through sunshine and storms. My heart is the graveyard for your faults and mistakes and by God’s grace I will always do my best to uplift and encourage you in your best.

I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, my all, from this day forward for as long as we both shall live.

Photos by Bethany Tiss

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

I knew we wanted a family wedding. We wanted it to be close and small. We wanted it to be a happy time for everyone. We wanted it to show the happiness and beauty of True Love, and our desire to grow and learn and live that love in deeper ways each day.

In the smaller details, we wanted real flowers–Tulips or Sweet Peas or Lilacs.We wanted a deep purple, and we wanted to include a little bit of Western Theme to the day, and we wanted our family to be included as much as possible. I’m not sure that a whole lot else mattered so very much.

Since Scott and I lived far apart, we registered right away at a couple places all in one day. It was quite the overwhelming feeling to wander among aisles and aisles of things and try to think of what we would like or want in our own place, and trying to reach our “minimum” that the lady who started us off gave us of 300 items, was impossible while being practical, so we had a little fun and finally, hours later, hungry and foot sore, we finished up and both agreed that we were glad that it was over with.

With three holidays coming up, all of which would slow down mail orders and local shopping, time was short and we needed all the head start we could get. It was just a few days after our engagement that I bought the dress that Scott and I picked out.

Yes, we picked out my wedding gown together. There weren’t many stores in Colorado that carried the kind of dresses that we were looking for, so we spent quite a while sorting through website after website of dresses (I have quite the collection of sites to choose from- if anyone would ever need it!), weeding it down to a couple favorites, and at last decided on one that was not only pretty but that wouldn’t break the budget right from the start. I was rather nervous, and totally excited after I hung up the phone from placing the order. I was told to expect about an 8 week delay in the shipment, but it “just happened” that they had one in my size in stock already, and shipped out my dress the day I ordered. I got it not even a week later, and I could not believe how perfect it was- more of what I really wanted than I hoped to find. And the brides who have had multiple and trying trips to get their beautiful and delicate gowns altered will understand my absolute excitement to find that the size I ordered fit me perfectly. All I needed was a hem.

Right at that moment, I felt very blessed. It was just the first blessing through out the whole process of planning and preparation, for God continued to show His goodness in blessing after blessing. (And, no, Scott didn’t get to see me wear it until I walked around the corner of the church on our wedding day!)

I had bought just one book on recommendation by several other brides: Bridal Bargains. I planned to get it through PaperBackSwap, but in the end, I had to buy it from Amazon.

That book was filled with so many details and ideas, and I gleaned some good links to give me a starting point in narrowing down my search for flowers, candles and got tips on a lot of other necessary things.

I also found a style of bridesmaid dress online that Scott and I right away agreed was perfect- it matched my dress, and was simply just what we wanted. The price, though, was much too steep, and we didn’t like any of the colors. That left just one option: sewing them.

Months before, I had happened to be in the only JoAnns Fabric in Colorado Springs, and caught sight of a lovely purple taffeta  in the formal section. I told mom it was “exactly what I’d pictured” for my maid’s gowns’ if I ever got married and if I had purple in my wedding. Thankfully, Mom was more on the ball ( or maybe just more informed? ) than me, and insisted that I get a little piece to keep, because “you never know if you might need it sooner than you think!”, she said, and it never hurts to have it for matching purposes, at least. So I did, and I was pretty glad I had after we were engaged and I realized how much had to be done from such distances! Incidentally, Scott had also thought that a purple wedding would be very pretty, so it really wasn’t hard to settle on our colors.

I pulled out the fabric strip, the prices I’d written down and my calculator, and gulped at the cost, but it was still much better than the online dress. I had no idea that the store even still had the fabric, and was ready to try to settle for something a little different, when I found it. Not only was it 40% off the original price, but they’d order me a whole bolt, if I wanted.

Of course, not everything goes perfectly smooth for any wedding-in-planning. The bolt arrived, but it was a totally different shade from the yardage I’d already bought- and a color that I simply do not like at all. Sale fabric is usually not returnable, but they took it back, and called ahead to other stores to put holds on the bolts that remained. Once again, I felt humbled and blessed.

The day Scott flew home after his two week stay, April was convinced to be dragged around Denver as a fabric consultant and ‘tour guide’ to help keep us country folk from being too hopelessly lost. She also agreed to try to create the picture I had in my head, with the picture I found online, and with nothing but experience, imagination and two unrelated patterns, and some trial and what can I say?

They were more than perfectly what I had hoped for. I still don’t know how she did it, but it wouldn’t have been possible with out her! Later on, I hand sewed the beads on the front, and we did the hems just before the wedding. The only wish I have is that I could have had one too- they were so pretty!

The guys wore black jeans, with silver vests that we purchased through Amazon. We bought them bolo ties from Western Wearhouse as their gifts, and they wore those for the ceremony and we were able to get cowboy boots for a good price through the boot barn online as well. Scott had to have his hat, and the little Wagon Man was totally thrilled when I found one for him too. Matching Scott made him feel pretty important.

I’d long said I didn’t want to wear heels at my wedding. In part, this was a playful statement directed to a girl who we teasingly hold responsible for our marriage- my childhood best friend for whom I was Maid of Honor two years ago. That’s where I had to wear heels for the first time in my life- three and a half inch spikes at that. (It’s also where I met Scott, her new husband’s brother, who was best man.  But who would have guessed then that we’d be getting married ourselves, especially since we had no interest in each other then!) Well, things change with time, and Scott thought that small heels were more elegant than flats, and I was happy to try to find something moderate that he would find attractive, too.

I ended up buying all of our shoes from Amazon.Com. They were just $16.99 and they all matched. Plus, I got free shipping by buying them all at once, and every penny saved meant a lot! Mine were pearly white, and the girls’ were black.

Scott and I only had some vague idea of what we wanted our “style” to be. Elegant with a touch of Western, but that could be interpreted in a lot of ways, and it was really not as easy as we thought to figure out the littler details.

The dream of an outdoor wedding vanished with the rain that nearly spoiled the wedding that we met in, and with the fact that mid March in Idaho can’t be expected to be very warm, thus we turned to dream two: a little, white, country church.

The first few never materialized, and the one option wasn’t so good, and then we found the Methodist Church tucked away in Asotin, and could not believe that the only wanted $150 to rent it. They were so kind- offering to let us use candle holders and lights and to do all that they could to make it work for us- including renting it Sunday afternoon, instead of Saturday, since that was when our wedding was to be.

I never saw the church until two weeks before the wedding- but Scott took pictures, and I knew if he liked it so much, it’d be perfect for me. And it was! The only thing that I had wished for was that the bell would work- but it was out of repair at the time of our marriage.

With a very tight budget, and with not knowing how the church would look, mom and I set out to try to make sense of the Elegant Western Wedding that Scott and I kept wishing for. The Goodwill and local thrift stores turned out to be our main shopping center. A little paint turned candle holders into like new items that cost us likely a quarter of the original cost. We also got some of the serving dishes for our reception meal, and I even got our crystal goblets and the flower girl baskets there. We also  were able to get amazing deals from Hobby Lobby- between the weekly coupon and the weekly sales, we were able to save a lot of money on the little details- like tiny silk roses and the wedding bubbles.

Of course, shopping sales and the goodwill meant many, many trips and a lot of patience and creative thinking, and a little giving and taking. Sometimes the mental images we build in our minds aren’t always a must have, and learning to be a little flexible with details that really didn’t matter so much was something that gave me practice for learning flexibility in Marriage.

I couldn’t pass ebay by, either. I ended up getting all the candle holders and plenty of candles for the reception tables for a fraction of the cost elsewhere. I felt bad when they accidentally sent me double what I ordered- but they laughed and said, “Well, count it as a gift to you for a happy wedding!”. That was one thing I had more than enough of!

Mom and I spent hours searching the internet for the best deals on tulle, plates, and other items we couldn’t find elsewhere, and I fell in love with these hand painted parasols, and they did add a special touch. Ruth’s little one was my very favorite of them all! (I still have many other links and lists of places I ordered from- if there are any brides to be planning out there, feel free to ask!)

Dad built the wagon that Ruth rode up the aisle in. I couldn’t believe how hard it was to find a simple radio flyer wagon! Apparently the things that amused me for hours in my childhood are things of the past already, but Craig’s List saved the day on that one, and Dad did a great job turning it into a buckboard wagon to match our western theme.

There were bumps along the way- besides the initial fabric scare. I was tempted to be frustrated, overwhelmed and worried more than once. I got to where I was so tired of trying to figure out what flowers I needed for bouquets and reception, what candles needed to go where, and who needed to do what at the reception that I wished it was just over with.

But, God works all things for our good. I learned that this means not only that I don’t need to worry. I  can trust our God to work out the little details as well as the big, but that this sometimes means that He sees what we don’t, and that what is best for our characters isn’t necessarily what is always best for our pocket books.

When I couldn’t find anyone to do my cake, and thought I’d have to do it myself, when unexpected setbacks made it so I couldn’t afford a photographer, when the candles we ordered custom color just didn’t show up, I took a deep breath and kept going. One by one, those things did work out, but when the “much better deal” that a local florist offered me turned out to be a big cheat, and my bill was more than double what I was expecting and was quoted, and I had to be firm and challenge a very angry stranger on the phone just two days before our wedding,  and the flowers were not the color I had ordered, I broke down and cried. I felt very upset, and cheated and close to angry. Then I laughed. What was I doing? Hadn’t God worked out the other things too?

When I saw my bouquet, and the girls’ bouquets against their dresses, another amazing accomplishment of April and some of the  other sweet girls I love dearly, I knew that He had. The color was perfect- better than what I had planned originally.

And even though there were stresses and tears, planning our wedding was a lot of fun for us all. Setting up the reception, and being with dear friends on top of it, made it all so much better.Watching Scott and Aaron discuss and try to figure out seating for the reception was amusing, and the commotion that was our rehearsal actually turned out to be productive after all. In away, I wished those lingering moments would never have ended.

Yet, I am thankful that it is over, and that the endless details and plans did have an end, because when I stepped around the corner into the aisle, and saw my man, my beloved standing waiting for me,  the church filled with family and surrounded by the dearest friends ever, all I saw was a perfect day. None of the little, missing details were even noticed. It was beautiful, it was happy, and it was full of memories to treasure. I married my best friend, and we have begun the happiest home ever. And that is what matters the very most, after all.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

Instead of a wedding ceremony on a sunny Saturday in June, ours was on a rainy Wednesday night in January; but it was not lacking in love and joy…

read the rest here:
“You’re in the Army Now!”

P.S. In case you haven’t noticed yet, now you can subscribe to the latest courtship stories in your feed reader: ylcf.org/courtship-stories/feed/

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

by Claudia Adams

Claudia, do you take Harris to be your husband; to live together in the covenant of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?

On June 22, 1969 I stood before God and all my assembled family and friends and “plighted my troth” and promised to love, honor and obey my husband. Yes, I wanted obey included in my vows even though I knew that phrase was rather out of date. I believe I thought it sounded noble and romantic. I did mean what I said…I just did not fully understand the working out of those vows.

My husband and I were married while we were still in school; I was an undergraduate and he was in law school. We met at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. I remember the first time I ever saw him. It was in the fall of my freshman year and I was sitting in chapel at the Thursday morning assembly and turned to see him standing in the back of the chapel. The thought went through my mind that I was going to marry him…it was as if I knew I would.  For the remainder of that school year whenever I saw him he just stared at me and never said a word to me.  The next fall Harris transferred to Georgia Tech 100 miles from Macon.  I thought that I must have been wrong about marrying him since I had never even spoken to him! That same fall  my cousin, who was my roommate at Mercer, received a phone call from Harris asking her if she would set up a “blind date” with me for the following weekend for both Friday and Saturday nights. That was such a long week!! I still remember what I wore that first date and how I felt coming down the stairs from my room and seeing him waiting for me in the “date parlor”. One year later we were engaged and the next year we were married. I was 20 and he was 21…soooo young!

Being married while still in college and law school was quite a challenge. Sadly it was a challenge that many of our friends were not able to overcome. My husband and I both came from families where marriage was considered to be a lifetime covenant and commitment. I know God protected and blessed us in thousands of ways through those years.  For me, as a young bride I felt safe and protected in the assurance that my husband was going to take care of me. That first summer, I stayed in our little apartment and wrote wedding thank you notes and tried to get used to planning meals and buying groceries with not much money. My slightly-built husband worked pouring concrete that hot summer and came home every night with blistered hands and a sunburned face and back.  Those weeks set the whole tone for our marriage. Through the years whenever storms would rage around us and it sometimes felt as if we would literally drown I would recall how my husband laid his life down for me from the first weeks of our life together.

I still am amazed when I look back over these forty years to remember all the tender mercies and blessings that the Lord bestowed so richly on us. I vowed to love and honor my husband and to forsake all others. One of the great challenges of those early months and years was to do just that. All of my friends were still active in our sorority and school activities. They did not go to the Laundromat every Saturday or try to buy groceries for a week with $25.00. We lived several miles from campus so when we were home we were home and when we were on campus we were in class. I could not drive back and forth to sorority meetings in my old dormitory. It seemed strange, and out of place. We had lots of friends and spent a great deal of time with them but I felt that my sorority activities belonged to a past season of my life. So I forsook those “others”.

This is a pattern that I have followed all my married life. In post-college life my activities with my girlfriends were times that were not only enjoyable but fit well into the pattern of our lives. But when our children were very small, it seemed that every time I would go to an evening meeting for Junior League or Symphony Guild Harris would have to call me because someone had a raging fever, an earache, a stomach flu or some other “I-want-my-Mommy” event. I found that I could be very fulfilled in keeping many of my activities during the day and keeping most nights at home unless I was on a date with my husband. We were blessed with our most precious Mary who took care of our children on date nights and all the times we were away from home.

“Forsaking all others” looks different to everyone. Certainly the Biblical command to be faithful to your husband is not to be violated, but I believe in our society that we do not think enough about the “others”–whomever or whatever they might be.

I trust my husband completely and he does me also. That has always been a major part of my “knowing” my husband. He is an honest man and has a very deep devotion to the truth. That freedom has been a blessing in our marriage and in the lives of our children. I think being faithful to your husband also means speaking well of him. I’m sure you know the old saying, “If you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all.” Harris has often said that just because I think something does not mean I have to say it! He is right—I do struggle with saying things I should not have said. I am glad to say that I can thank God that He has taught me to keep my mouth closed a little more!! I have had many women tell me more than I wanted or needed to know about their husbands. Yes there are confidences shared when counseling or praying with a friend with a burden or struggle. But casual, disparaging remarks about a husband is in reality being unfaithful to him. “The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her.” (Proverbs 31:11)

In the Name of God, I, Claudia take you, Harris, to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow.

Just typing these vows makes me want to shout, GREAT IS HIS FAITHFULNESS!!! Sometimes in these past forty years we have literally held each other through deep valleys and almost overwhelming grief. Maybe not as much as some couples experience, but enough to know that we have always come out of those dark valleys with a deeper love for each other and our Lord. In 1986 both Harris and I came to the realization that having minors in Christianity and being what my mother-in-law called “good church workers” was not enough. We had both been baptized as children and had regularly attended church and been involved in teaching Bible school and serving on various committees. We were both convicted within months of each other that we had never totally surrendered to the Lord.  What a transformation in our lives and the lives of our children. He led us in paths that were life-changing for all of us. Those years of teaching our children and working together to build firm foundations for them were some of the richest days of our marriage.

When I vowed before God to have and to hold in sickness and in health I blithely thought of the flu and sprained ankles. But we have been through those dark paths of bedside vigils of sick children, hospital stays that seemed to never end for two of our children, miscarriages and the deaths of the dearest of our friends.  Many of the couples that we have known over these forty years are now divorced. In these later years our parents have all gone to be with Jesus. We have lived in abundance and with a tightened budget. We have survived cancer and cancer surgery and radiation therapy. As a young bride I could never have imagined any of the deep wells of joy and grief that would enter our lives but neither could I have imagined the love that Harris and I have. I did love him when I married him but it was an untested love. No storm, disease, death, heartbreak, loss or disappointment has ever undermined our relationship. On the contrary our marriage has grown stronger through every trial we have had.

Nor could I as a 20 year-old bride ever have dreamed of the great joys that would come into our lives. Our Lanier, Elizabeth and Zachary are the sweetest blessings that the Lord has given us. Harris poured himself into investing in the lives of our children. He drank thousands of cups of tea with our girls, watched every Jane Austen movie, all of the Avonlea series and Anne. He showed them their great worth and value as young women. He played basketball, tennis, golf, hiked, fished—whatever Zachary was interested in. Not one of them ever touched the piano without having him as a listener. He praised them as well as corrected them when needed. They always knew they could talk over any issue or problem with him. He has been a counselor and confidante for them as well as for me. All these years I have had absolute trust that my husband would take care of me and protect me. He values my counsel and I need his wisdom. We are each other’s best friend and confidante.

Everyone that knows me knows how I revere Shakespeare and these lines from Sonnet CXVI really express what it is like to live and love together for forty years:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! It is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken…

I do not like to think much about the last line of my vows: “till death do us part”. It is a reality, but we are married and we will be until that time. It is a reality that makes me a very blessed wife.

P.S. And the “obey” part of my vows…Harris is noble and romantic so that was never an issue!

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

As Ashleigh and I were both celebrating such milestone anniversaries this year, and as our weddings were exactly five years and one day apart, we thought it would be special to post a series on our wedding days and the journeys we’ve taken since. Part One is here. And look out later this week for a very special forty-year perspective in Part Three!

Ten years ago, on a Sunday afternoon in June, I stood at the church doors, one hand resting on my Daddy’s arm, the other clutching my bouquet of sweet peas and gardenias. I remember how the petals trembled under the waves of joy that crested and broke over me as I watched my pretty maids in their pale pink gowns all walk so solemnly down the aisle ahead, preparing the way with a joy of their own. Then the great congregational hymn, the loved ones and friends filling the sanctuary with a triumph of praise to our Lord who had been so good to us. And on the last verse, I knew, even if I couldn’t see it, my beloved would be walking out from a side door with his groomsmen and the pastor that was to unite us before God and men in holy matrimony.

And suddenly, dreamlike, it was my turn. The doors opened at the touch of unseen hands, the strains of the Handel aria I had selected as a special surprise for Philip soared around me, and together, Daddy and I stepped into the church. It was filled to capacity—either the sanctuary didn’t hold the 500 people that the church administrator had promised it would, or there were many more people there than we had expected. Whichever way, it was a sea of loving, smiling faces that greeted me that day, all beaming with a happiness that is so tender and tremendous for me to consider, even all these years later. But of all that beloved throng, I saw only one face. Shining out from all the rest, so handsome in his morning coat with a gardenia in his buttonhole, smiling back at me with a joy that made me want to break into a run. Philip—my groom.

Everything was as I had always dreamed it would be—my mother almost single-handedly saw to that. From the urns of roses and the garlands of smilax that graced the altar, to the sweet little cones on the pews holding the offerings of friends’ summer gardens, the church was a picture. The morning’s rain that had threatened our outdoor reception had gone to its own place and the June sunlight pouring in at the tall windows was like a benediction. Each member of our wedding party had played such an important and valued role in our lives, and they had flown in from literally all over the world—Australia, Poland, France. The man that married us was the man that led my Daddy to Christ; the dress I wore had been worn by my mother and my grandmother before me. Every detail was fraught with meaning and significance and we were humbled, overwhelmed, by the loving support that had brought us to this place and this time.

But in that instant, timeless in its lucidity and standing out from all the blissful haze of that precious day, the only thing that mattered was that Philip and I were going to be man and wife at the end of it all. Each step brought me closer to the desire of my heart; each moment that passed was one less of a solitary journey. I received my Daddy’s kiss and heard him give me away; I passed my flowers to my sister and placed my hand in Philip’s. I heard our minister begin the recitation of the lovely old vows from the Book of Common Prayer and I repeated them back with all my heart. Friends later teased us over the brevity of our ceremony—any guest a quarter-of-an-hour late would have missed the wedding altogether. But we had one object, two-fold in its implication: to be married; and to lift up our Lord Christ who had brought us together into a union we had hardly dared to dream of.

That done, to simplicity and joy, we were off to our reception at the farmhouse that was to be our home when we returned from our honeymoon—the home that Philip had worked so hard to prepare for me from the day he placed his engagement ring on my finger five short months previous. When we pulled in the driveway the policeman directing traffic informed us that the pastures were full and that no more cars would be permitted. That until I leaned forward with a sly smile and a wave and he broke into a laugh and ushered us in—to our reception and our new life together.

My mother-in-law was more gracious. She met us on the front walk as we bustled out of the car.

“Welcome home!” she cried with a radiant smile.

And I wondered if any bride had ever had a happier homecoming.

This June I’ve been wandering around the yard, looking at the roses we’d planted and the trees under which the white and green tents were pitched; at the vine-covered trellis Philip built specifically for us to enter our reception beneath and the wide expanse of lawn that had been trampled by the feet of dancers in the Virginia Reel and Marie’s Wedding. The back porch where the fiddler stood and the front porch where friends had served lemonade from a frosty silver bowl. The perennial garden my mother helped me plant. The stone steps where I stood to pitch my bouquet into my sister’s willing hands, and the stone walkway lined with dear ones down which we raced back to our car in a pelting flurry of lavender.

“Ten years??” my heart keeps demanding. “How could it have been ten years?”

It just doesn’t seem possible that a decade has passed since our wedding day. That we’ve reached such a milestone and that ten years of long talks and lingering dinners and breakfasts on the fly and books read and rooms renovated and dreams dreamed lay between that day and this. Journeys abroad and blissful homecomings; rooms full of friends and silent Sunday afternoons; tears dried and laughter uncontrollable. I just can’t believe it. But even more amazing to me is the thought that there ever was a time that we weren’t married. That idea strikes me as almost ridiculous—and has with impartial force on every single anniversary we’ve celebrated. I can’t believe it’s been that long; I can’t believe it’s been only that long. Emily Dickinson says it well:

How odd the Girl’s life looks
Behind this soft Eclipse—
I think that Earth feels so
To folks in Heaven—now—

So what great insight can I offer after ten years of marriage? What pearl stands out from the others as I cast my mind and heart back over all that these beautiful years have meant? What hard-earned truth is mine, wrested from the quarry of experience?

Above all, only this: that I am utterly undeserving of the least part of it. The love that my Philip shows me–that has characterized and sanctified my married life from that day until this–flows from the very heart of Christ Himself. As Christ loved the Church—he has lived it out. It is unconditional and unremitting and unstinting—and this from the man that knows me better than anyone else on earth! How can it be that he could look into the soul of this sinner and still grow tender-eyed? How could he truly know me, in all my weaknesses and vanities, and still greet me with joy at the end of each day? How could he forgive with such abandon and love so lavishly? I do believe, after a decade of such day-in and day-out constancy that Love is the most humbling thing that could ever happen to a person. If I was overwhelmed on my wedding day by the outpourings of family and friends and the sight of my groom waiting for me at the altar, then I am speechless today. Words, my old and trusted friends, have forsaken me utterly and I can only stand upon this precious milestone with a heart full of love and gratefulness. To my husband, and to our faithful God who joined us as one.

Allow me, in my incapacity, to borrow from the poets once more: lines penned in praise of the believer’s relation to Christ, but no less applicable to the earthly union that is an image of the heavenly one:

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey’d Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack’d anything.
George Herbert

A marriage made in heaven? Absolutely. A gift of God before which we both stand in awe. As our minister reminded us before we were married, the very best matches are those in which each partner believes that they have gotten the better part of the deal. After ten years I know that I have. But it’s a deal of mutual wonder and joy, undimmed by a decade of loving and being loved. It truly only gets sweeter–and more beautiful–with each year that passes.

Thanks be to God.

June 27, 1999

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

~Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Five years ago today I was standing in a church, facing the man I loved with all my heart, vowing, covenanting to love him, honor him, obey him, and be faithful to him until death. We stood hand in hand on the platform, with so many dear ones watching, knowing this was the start of forever for the two of us.

But this wasn’t exactly how it was planned. Oh no, we weren’t supposed to be in that church at that particular moment. If you had asked us the day before, or even that morning, we’d have told you we’d be joining our lives before God that day in a breathtaking outdoor setting, with a back drop of snow-capped mountains, shining lake waters, surrounded by majestic pine trees. But God, in His wisdom, had other plans.

It started the evening before the wedding, with the rehearsal dinner. Being that my beloved and I are outdoorsy kind of people, his parents had suggested doing a barbecue in their Rocky Mountain backyard, as opposed to dinner at a fancy restaurant. It was just more “us.” The plans were made, the tables, chairs and decorations set. And then… the clouds rolled in. With thunder. And lightning. And rain. And hail. Our family and wedding party rushed for cover into the house… and began to talk about what we’d do the next day for our 1:45 pm wedding. Surely, we told ourselves, surely, after all this planning, the rain would hold off. It just had to be clear. Surely.

Yet, the next afternoon, forty-five minutes after the wedding had been scheduled to start at the lake, our guests filed into the church auditorium from where they’d all been squeezed in the foyer to keep out of the hail. The storm, which had returned with even greater fury than the night before,  had driven us from the lakeside just minutes before the ceremony was supposed to begin. While guests caravaned the short drive from one place to the other, my sweet bridesmaids and everyone else who was close enough to help–all in full wedding attire!–pulled out vacuums, transferred the decorations as they arrived in cars from the lake, and did everything they could to calm my rather shaken nerves.

My beloved called my cell phone many times in the course of the location switch, making sure I was alright. “Just remember,” John told me, over and over. “Today is STILL our wedding day. You are my bride no matter what. By the end of today, we’ll still be husband and wife.”

Five years later, I sit here, several states away from that wedding site, smiling to myself over the way the day turned out. We didn’t have the outdoor wedding I’d spent so many months planning, but we did get married. We didn’t get to take the wedding pictures near the Colorado lakes and streams and mountains that the “photographer papers” we wrote out said we would, but we do have pictures radiating our love and joy that day. Fancy dresses may have been a bit wrinkled and tux coats set aside until the last minute, but we were shown by every single person around us that day just how much we were loved and how blessed we were to have such dear ones in our lives.

If there was one life lesson that has seemed to characterize our marriage these five years, it’s the fact that “nothing is certain except change itself.”  Things seem to change in drastic ways around here, sometimes faster than our minds can even process. And yet, through every change, we come to the end of each day still as bride and bridegroom. At five years, a milestone when many couples are evaluating their relationship and whether it’s worth staying together, we can say without hesitancy that the many changes and curve balls our first five years have brought have only served to cement us even closer, stronger, and with more reliance on the God who joined us. The people who surrounded us that very first day remind us by their example and with their current presence in our lives of the covenant we made, the support we have through every step, and have shown us that true Christlike love gives, serves… and is flexible.

Things don’t always happen exactly as we planned them. Dinner doesn’t always turn out, husbands come home late or change schedules, jobs are lost and gained, moves can happen at a moment’s notice, babies don’t arrive when we expect, family troubles can threaten marriage bonds, children don’t always behave the way we want when we want, illnesses take our health, and a thousand other changes can send stormy weather in the direction of a husband and wife.  But that’s okay. At the end of it all–and perhaps because of it all–we still look into each others’ eyes and see sparkles. We can still kiss under the stars and be amazed that we have each other. We can laugh until our sides ache, sleep snuggled close every night (and go to bed at the same time!), and play footsies under a dinner table surrounded by our little ones. My husband still wraps his arms around my waist and buries his head in my hair while I make dinner, steals kisses whenever he walks by, and catches my eye from across a crowded room for a look that only I can catch. I think the fact that he makes me a cup of coffee every morning, selecting the cups I like best (like my “Marine Wife and Proud of It!” mug!), blending the cream and sugar perfectly, and bringing it upstairs to wake me with a kiss–just as he did every morning of our honeymoon–qualifies us as the perpetual honeymooners we are.

When we stood in that church on June 26, 2004, we didn’t know what was ahead for us. We couldn’t hope to foresee the particular challenges we’d face or what our life together would look like, any more than we can see what the years ahead will be. But we did know one thing–we would be facing all of it as best friends and with the Jesus who brought us together. And if this first day was any indication, we’d be learning to be flexible!

These foundational, strengthening truths we’ve been learning every one of the 1,826 days we’ve been man and wife are the ones we trust our Lord will be continuing to refine and perfect through the decades ahead of us. After all, He got started on the very first day in June.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

It didn’t take long for it to become busy. My sister and I ran down to grab something to eat, and by the time we got back, the girls were gathering in the bridal suite to get ready, and it seemed like my phone began to ring and I began to wonder as time went on, if I would manage to be ready in time, or if I, too, would be just another bride late to her wedding ceremony.

But I put on that dress, that beautiful white dress, the most expensive and fancy I’ll ever wear in my life, and I was ready to go to my groom- on time.

There were pictures first, and then the dash from the car to the basement of the little white church in Asotin, and the ceremony began.

I had seen many of my friends marry, and I had the privilege of standing up with three of those girls as they joined their life with the man they loved, and I had tried to soothe nervous jitters, wiped away tears, and watched one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen- the face of a bride as she walks towards her man. I’d laughed and cried through those days. Laughed, because they were the happiest days, and cried because they were the most beautiful, touching moments I’d ever shared, and then I wondered, as I saw the face of a dear friend, glowingly radiant, and caught a little of their happiness and tucked it away in my heart, how could one ever truly describe a day like this?

I was not nervous, and I didn’t cry as I walked down the aisle, but from the time I stepped around that corner and saw the face of my beloved, I heard and saw little else. The music that was playing, the faces of family and friends, the wedding party- I couldn’t tell you anything about them at that moment. All I saw was Scott’s face, and that was all that mattered as a million emotions surged through my heart, and must have been written on my face.

But there we were. Together, joining our lives. It was the beginning of our happily ever after, and it was beautiful.

My brother’s talk was good, and the music was wonderful, once I started hearing it again. The church was full- full of the people we loved, and the decoration was simple, yet perfect for us. The bridesmatrons, my beautiful sisters, looked so pretty, and the groomsmen were handsome the western-ish touches in their outfits. My cousin Steven, and Gretchen’s little Ruth Ann being pulled in the wagon, made an adorable “Wagon Man” and Flower girl, and Suzuki’s “The Happy Farmer” certainly added the right touch to their appearance down the aisle.

Our reception was great too-  the amazingly beautiful cake,  that song I’ve always loved, “Grow Old Along With Me”, and the story that led to our own little game  we started during courtship (SILUM!), and best of all the presentation of the 12 stuffed cows to my parents, the playful fulfillment of a talk Scott and Dad had before our engagement. The expressions and that moment were priceless.

Three months have slipped by since I was a bride, but the happiness remains, and the love that was so deep then, only grows deeper. It gets better every day. I pray that it always will. It’s something that must be a way of life, a choice each day, something that we each must guard as a treasure worth more than life. And, by God’s grace, that beginning of happiness will indeed be just the opening chapter in our Happily Ever After… forever.

P.S. You can see some of the pictures of our day here and here.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

It was the summer before I turned 13.  The summer before I met Merritt.  The summer my world changed from that of a little girl to a teenager.  It was the summer I read His Perfect Faithfulness by Eric and Leslie Ludy.

All I knew about dating was what I observed from afar in the church youth group.  I didn’t think I wanted any part of it.  And I never could picture being on the stereotypical first date with a guy I hardly knew.  In the story of Eric and Leslie’s courtship, I saw a better way, a way I wanted for myself.  And in the style of that first generation of those who believed in courtship, I paved my path with good intentions and extremes.

In my search for standards that were desperately needed, I embraced legalism.  I confused modesty with extreme frumpiness, and my better than thou attitude about my apparel stood between me and many a friendship.  I wore my purity like a badge on my arm instead of as a quiet covenant of my heart.  I had my life all figured out at thirteen-except I put God in a box and left my future husband’s thoughts out of the picture entirely.

My romantic, almost-thirteen-year-old heart was enraptured by the story of Eric and Leslie saving their first kiss (with each other) for their wedding day.  It sounded beautiful, romantic, perfect.  I knew right then and there that is what I would do.  But I did not just quietly embrace the commitment to a higher standard of purity than what I saw around me; I made sure I told everyone that I was saving my first kiss for my husband.  I did more than just draw the line in the sand for myself; I thought everyone else should as well.

It would take many years to learn that there is a difference in saving your first kiss for your husband and saving your first kiss for your wedding day (which I viewed then as one and the same).  It would take a lot of conviction on the part of the Holy Spirit to see how I made the issue one of pride, not purity.  And it would take even more years before I felt like I could share my story with others without fear of what they would say (even more pride).

But I have a little sister who is thirteen years old.  And for my little sister and the countless others like her, I write this.  So that you won’t make the same mistakes I did.  So that you will embrace a high standard of purity without becoming prideful.

That summer when I read Eric and Leslie Ludy’s book I little guessed I would soon be meeting my future husband.  I had no idea the affectionate, godly man he would be.  Or how he would shake my every conviction to the core.  Not because he was a wild, rebellious boy-but because he was a godly one.  Not because he thought my convictions were all bad-but because he wanted to know where they were in the Bible.  Not because he led me down the wrong path-but because he challenged me to look at my extra-biblical rules for what they were.

“I have found that a man will usually be as much of a gentleman as a lady requires and probably no more.”
-Elisabeth Elliot

I adhered to the idea that I had to draw the line of purity or else I’d be taken advantage of.  And in my interactions with other guys, I was only too thankful to be labeled “untouchable“!  But I had yet to learn about submission to the leadership of the man who would be my husband.  Or letting the man lead and guide the relationship.

When I finally realized what I was doing, that the only reason I was not letting the man I was going to marry kiss me was because of my pride, that in fact I was not showing him love as I could and should be at that point in our courtship-I let him kiss me.  And my only regret was that I had insisted on doing it my way for so long and hadn’t let him do it in his time and way to begin with.

I’ve been to weddings where the couple made such a big deal out of the fact that it was their first kiss and did so much kissing that it was awkward for everyone there.  I’ve been to weddings where that first tender kiss, displayed for hundreds of pairs of eyes, is nothing but sweet, tender, and rather embarrassed.  Personally, I’m rather glad our first kiss wasn’t in front of all those people.  But I wholeheartedly applaud those couples who wait until the preacher says, “You may now kiss the bride.”  They probably saved themselves a lot of difficulty during their courtship by drawing that line.

But as Josh Harris has always said, purity is more than just a line in the sand.  You can be very impure in thought and attitude without your lips ever touching.  Just as you can share kisses without sinning.  You have not lost your purity if you’ve kissed someone.  But if you save that first pure, innocent kiss to give to the man whom you get to spend the rest of your life kissing, you’ll save a lot of heartache, and give him an incredible gift.

“Kissing is a means of getting two people so close together that they can’t see anything wrong with each other.”
-Gene Yasenak

As I tell my little sister, watch “Pamela’s Prayer“, read The Princess and the Kiss, read Eric and Leslie’s story and the other stories like theirs.  They will remind you of all the reasons you are saving your kisses for the man you’re going to marry.  And if he or you or your parents want you to wait until your wedding day to be sure that it’s your husband you’re kissing, do it.  Just as a hands-off courtship makes it much easier to know you are making the right decision, without too much emotion involved, keeping your lips to yourself will make it easier to maintain a heart and standard of purity.  I don’t recommend kissing for long courtships or in situations where couples see each other each and every day-it’s asking for trouble!  But if he wants to kiss you when you’re engaged, let him!

“I married the first man I ever kissed.  When I tell this to my children they just about throw up.”
-Barbara Bush

That first date I could never quite imagine finally came not too many months before my wedding day.  With a man who was already my very best friend.  There was nothing awkward about the way we enjoyed our cream of broccoli soup and gourmet entrées.  It was the most delightful first date.  And, true to all the stereotypical first date stories, he kissed me afterwards as we stood on the porch steps in the sunset.

If you can’t trust the man enough to let him kiss you, then by all means, don’t even kiss him goodbye-run the opposite direction.  But if he’s a man worth marrying, he won’t even try to kiss you until he knows you are ready to be kissed, until he’s committed to marrying you.  I’ll never forget the way Merritt looked at me one time as he kissed me, and said in a way that spoke volumes, “I would never do anything to hurt my best friend.”  I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that was true.  Which is why then, and now, I feel incredibly safe in his arms.

And the kiss on our wedding day?  It must have been pretty wonderful, too.  We’d planned for my cousin to ring the antique bell in the church steeple as we kissed.  I asked Merritt later, “Did they remember to ring the bell?”  He looked at me and grinned.  Apparently, his brand new wife had been so distracted by that kiss she never heard the bell ringing.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

Last Saturday, I watched as my cousin Brian slipped a ring on his new bride’s finger. The pictures in their slide show coordinated perfectly with the lyrics of the new Country song by Heartland, “I Loved Her First.” And as the vocalists sang Newsong’s “When God Made You,” we all rejoiced together with Brian and Jordyn.

My cousins make such handsome grooms. Brian is the third of my cousins to get married in the past few years. It is so exciting to see each one find the wife God made just for him.

I got Brian and Jordyn a funny card. Having just recently opened a mound of wedding cards, I knew they’d appreciate the humorous break in the midst of the pile of congratulations.

What I wrote in their card was different from what I might have a year ago, as well. Gone were the cousinly bits of advice. Seven months of marriage have taught me that I will never be finished learning how to better love my husband. Any bits of wisdom I might previously have tried to pass on, I now know they must learn for themselves.

No one can make you always put your husband first just by telling you-you must learn it by daily practice. There is no textbook perfect way to balance keeping the house clean, the meals warm, and your husband happy-you have to learn it for yourself, by learning exactly what your husband deems most important. And as my husband would testify, no one can explain to you how to understand your wife-it is something only time can teach you (I’m sure he would add, “if ever”, but in 7 months he has come to know me better than I know myself).

So what could I say to my newlywed cousins? Only this. That I prayed they might find as much happiness together as we have.

And truly, I could wish them no better than to be as happy as we are.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

There were many beautiful things about our wedding. There were so many blessings, and a whole lot of happy moments that I’ll treasure forever.  Most of all, though, it is the people that I will not forget.

We were surrounded by family and a little dream of mine came true, for I was surrounded by not only my sisters, Alicia, Jennie, Alina and Katie, but by the  some of dearest people in the whole world. Sometimes I don’t think that any of it could have happened without them- for the joy wouldn’t have been as great, and though perhaps they wouldn’t admit it to any one, I know that a whole lot of time, effort and love were poured into that day to make it what it was- a perfect, wonderful, beautiful day.

Words failed me when I tried to say thank you, just a few moments before I stepped into the aisle to go to my Sweetheart. Instead, tears threatened to overflow, and all the gratitude and thankfulness I felt inside refused to find expression. All I could do was squeeze each one tight, and whisper “Thank You”. It felt so small of a thing to say for all that they did, yet somehow I hope that it conveyed the depths of my heart at that moment.

It was important to me to be surrounded by family and our close and mutual friends, but I never expected so many of the relatives I haven’t seen for so very long – or even those I’d never met before-to take the time and effort to come out to our wedding in the little white church. But they came. They came from as far away as Alaska, my old childhood home, from Arizona, from California, and from scattered places in Washington and Oregon. They overwhelmed us with their kindness, the way they stepped in to help, and the way that they shared our joy. I didn’t know how many would make it, but when I looked into the church and saw it filled with family, it made me feel warm inside. As one person said, after the ceremony, when they called for the family to step up for pictures, nearly all the guests “swarmed” up onto the platform. It was a happy thing.

Merritt & Gretchen made more than one trip to the airport, they loaned us little Ruthie to be our adorable wagon-riding flower girl, and offered smiles and help in many different ways through out the weekend.

Aaron & Johanna came early and  spent hours helping us with preparations the night before the wedding,  and hours driving me around and even going out at an odd hour of the early morning to make sure that I didn’t go too long without something to eat. I’m  not sure Taco Bell ever tasted quite so good as it did that time! Johanna was my hair dresser, and even though it was her first time, and what we had originally thought to do didn’t work out with the veil,  my hair turned out perfectly beautiful. I liked it even better than our original plan! She helped the other girls with their hair too, and I’m planning to hire her next time I need a formal hairstyle.

Natalie was my constant companion. She waited on me as if I were royalty and did so many little things for me that no one would have noticed in the busy rush of the day except her. She helped me with my hair, my dress and when the phone was ringing nearly constantly and I suddenly wondered if I’d ever manage to get done in time, she quietly reminded me that it really was okay to just turn off the phone. So I did- and I was ready in time, and able to walk down that aisle unstressed and unafraid of what seemed like an over abundance of eyes looking my way. It meant much to me to have her there.

Bethany was our photographer, and she amazed me.Somehow she captured not just the day, but the spirit and happiness and emotion. She seemed to be everywhere at once, but never distracted or even seemed to be “there” during the ceremony. That’s a talent that few have. Her time and energy and expertness deserve much more than what she asked for, and I feel unworthy.

Matthew & Angela helped with the cake and  the reception. They did an amazing job, too! My brother, Craig, who agreed to do the homily for our wedding, even though I know it was a new step out of his comfort zone, but he did so well. Kandace, who played the violin for us and did a beautiful job and the Pastor & his wife of the little church we rented, helped with decorating when time was getting tight and we didn’t have enough help and who set up a place to sign our marriage license so it would be pretty in the pictures- all this even though we were strangers to them, and they didn’t have to do anything. It all means so much to us.

April  & Ashleigh worked wonders on the flowers which for a few moments that pre-wedding night, looked dauntingly like a disaster to me. They stayed up till past 3 in the morning to complete them, and they were beautiful.

April has the talent for somehow creating exactly what I have pictured in my mind so closely that it never ceases to amaze me, for the flowers and the dresses were both so exactly what I wanted that I could have cried.

Ash was just everywhere- helping with photography, helping with decorating, helping with everything.  And it was Ashleigh, when the ceremony was over, and several times through out the remainder of the day, stopped me and said “You’re…you’re married. Can you believe that you’re married?!”

It’s those words that I hear at random times in my mind, as I am working in the kitchen or sitting by Scott in the evening having worship and reading our nightly story together. And I grin, and once again relive the happy memories made, and feel that I am blessed beyond measure to have friends such as these who share life with me.

But now, the wedding is over. I am settling into our own little home here in Northern Idaho, and enjoying it all so much. There were so many people who made the day what it was, and I have a lifetime ahead of me in which I hope to be able to show our thankfulness for each one.

Yet, when I sit down in a quiet moment, and review the day, OUR day, tears once again fill my eyes, and my grateful heart remembers. It always will, for Kindness, and the people behind that Kindness can never be forgotten.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

I’m sitting here at the library down in our little town- a place I have yet to take into my heart and feel as if it really is mine too. It’s a beautiful little place, and I see so many interesting things to explore… eventually.

But for now, I’m sitting here, thankful that I took as many tissues as I did with me, and trying to figure just what to write first. It’s one of those moments when I feel like the things I could write are too many to sort out and I couldn’t begin to tell you all the things that are going through my head- the things I’ve learned, the beauty and joy that I’ve tasted in just these two weeks.

The wedding was beautiful, and I have a heart full of gratefulness to God, to my family, and to the girls who stayed with me all through that weekend, when I was still not feeling so good from my first sickness, who waited on me as if I were a princess, who shared hugs and laughs and took time to make my dreams come true with a whole lot of hard work. They may tell you it wasn’t so much, but I have worked behind many weddings, and I know the effort it took. Just knowing that they were there made me feel strong when I needed to be, and knowing that I could look out over the gathering when I suddenly needed an encouraging smile, and that there would be more than one face to smile for me helped keep me.

I am beyond blessed. I couldn’t have done without each one of you girls. But more on the wedding in later posts…

Things don’t always go as you plan. Life goes as it will, and we must learn to live it, and know that One who is above all does all things well.

The night of our wedding I found Gret’s words about a cold “relapse” after the wedding to be true. I had hoped to go home and spend the week planned spending time together, setting up our little home and settling into our schedule. I had thought of special meals I wanted to fix and of a tidy, clean home for Scott to return to when he came home from work, and of doing my best to have the happy home we both so wanted.

The adrenalin and need had revived me from my pre-wedding sickness only as long as it needed to, and as it was really and truly over, I was sick again- much worse than before. My fever shot up to 104 and for a while, we couldn’t seem to get it down. And then it’s been on to other things, and this endless use of tissue that makes me wonder what exactly my head is made up of.

Thus, our first two weeks have been spent taking care of each other, trying to get well and a few feeble attempts at setting the house in order.

Strength is returning, however, and slowly but surely we are making progress at getting well and I still can’t wait to do all the things I have wanted to do all along, looked forward to for all these years.

Yet even now, I can say honestly, that these have been the happiest weeks of my life. Real life isn’t a dreamy fairy tale, after all, it is real. It includes sickness and health, and spending it with my very best friend couldn’t really be anything else but happiness.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

Words are a feeble way to capture the power of a day like this. It was a day of innocent beauty and pure joy. We had an absolutely wonderful experience celebrating with Chantel and her new husband. Few pleasures in this life equal that of seeing a friend uniting herself to her best friend for life to the glory of God.

Having the privilege of walking down life’s road the past few years, seeing how God has led her and brought her into this new season of goodness and intimacy is awe-inspiring. Chantel is the real thing; everything she writes in her articles has been learned in the intensity of the fire and God has used it to purify her, His daughter, into gold. All I can do is praise God and be amazed. He is so good.

I’m also savoring every last minute with these precious girlfriends who I am blessed to have in my life. Ashleigh, April, Chantel and Gretchen are some of the best friends anyone could hope for.

We serve an awesome, loving God who delights to give good gifts to His children. And today He gave two young people to each other to have, to hold, to love, and to cherish. Praise be to Him who gives, who takes away, whose name is blessed forever.

Scott and Chantel, Ashleigh, April, Natalie, & Gretchen

Photography copyright 2009 Bethany Tiss

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

It’s a beautiful morning, and we’re looking forward to a beautiful wedding this afternoon, with a beautiful bride. Meanwhile we’ve been enjoying sweet fellowship with dear sisters in the Lord…

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

Natalie, Ashleigh, April, Gretchen, Bethany

So… here we are!

Old friends from all over the country, who have never all been together in one place, all here in Washington for Chantel’s wedding. Natalie has met everyone before except Bethany, who has seen everyone but Natalie and Chantel, and the rest of us have at least met face-to-face. (Got that?) But now we’re all here, and feeling a bit like this must be a dream.

Natalie and I arrived late Wednesday night and enjoyed the past two days enjoying the farm life at the Little Pink House. April and Bethany came in this morning, and after running errands and picking up frozen yogurt in the 30-something degree weather (yes, we know–but, hey, we’re girls), tomorrow we’re all loading up in Gretchen and Merritt’s suburban and heading over to the location of the wedding Sunday afternoon.

You can be sure Merritt will be privy to a WHOLE lot of girlish talking on that three hour trip.

But for now, we’re all here, together in one place, taking lots of pictures, enjoying Gretchen’s amazing farmer’s wife cooking, and playing with the little Ruthie girl.

And yes, chatting up a storm.

Stay tuned for more from the wedding front…

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

Speaking from as little a bias as possible, the simple elegance, the romance, the fellowship, the holiness all made the day one of –if not the–best wedding celebrations I have ever attended.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

It will be wonderful to finally have a real life sister.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.