Happy October 3rd and happy eve of our 3rd anniversary to us.
{photo taken of a university elevator floor number on a recent visit}
I looked back and realized that I never posted about our "rehearsal dinner" for our wedding so I thought I'd do that now. (I'm also retro-publishing part of this post back in it's chronological order as well.)
The venue where we got married had a lot of different events all the time so you didn't get to book it for an entire weekend or anything. Basically we got it for the day of our wedding and that's it. I think there was a high school homecoming dance there the night before our wedding.
We didn't have attendants and since our family members who took part in our wedding doing music, readings, etc. are all polished speakers, performers, etc. and our preacher is very accomplished at doing weddings and we certainly weren't his first, we decided that a formal "rehearsal" in the space was not important to us.
(Sidenote: our wedding ended up starting about an hour late because the deejay we hired did not have all the equipment he needed unfortunately. I guess if we'd done a rehearsal with him then the delay wouldn't have happened but it just wasn't practical given all of the logistics in play and it was fine in the end.)
So back to the night before the wedding . . .
We decided that we what was really important to us was actually getting to spend time with all of the wonderful friends and family who were coming to our wedding, particularly the many, many people who came from out of town and who we don't get to see just every day.
My old youth minister, Greg, once said that there are two times in your life when everyone you know and love is going to gather in one place. One of those is your wedding and the other is your funeral. Obviously, you only get to enjoy those people at one of those events. His point was to soak up that time with the people you love and who love you at your wedding rather than getting overly focused on details and things.
So . . .
we went a different route than the norm and had a big social at a park and invited everyone who was invited to the wedding to come the night before and hang out.
We made it simple by getting sandwiches, chips, soft drinks, etc., nothing fancy, and everything was just serve yourself.
That meant we got to enjoy
family
old and new friends
big hugs from people we hadn't seen in a while
beginning to be hospitable together as a couple
sweet conversations
watching our friends and family from both sides join together and pitch in to set out food, etc.
This was actually one of my favorite parts just watching all of the people that we love individually meeting each other, smiling, laughing, talking, working, eating and playing alongside each other. It was neat.
We talked and caught up on each other's lives.
People came from Alaska, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, other parts of Texas and even overseas. I may even be missing a place or two.
It was so very special to us!
We had simple decorations.
Many handmade by friends.
There was laughter,
football
hugs
and smiles!
I think it was absolutely perfect for us and I'm so glad we did it.
What a wonderful night that in some ways seems like so many more than three years ago.
Kelly
3 comments:
It was such a blessing to be there. I am so glad I was there. Such a special time!
OK, here is an honest comment. This was the one part of your wedding planning that your mama worried about. I just didn't know how it was going to work out. You know me, the traditionalist in many ways. Well, as you so aptly put it in this post, it was one of the most joyful parts of the wedding weekend. And the pictures are delightful. I love so many of them like the one of Sweetie and Adrian's grandmother, but I didn't realize that the very last picture, the one of Poppy and Jeremy was from your rehearsal. That has become one of my favorite pics of all time. Thank you for sharing this retrospective. And thank you for not always trusting your mama's instincts. Love you.
I love this idea! I don't remember ever talking about it with you :) Jason's wedding was such a fun day for me because of what you said - all our family plus many mutual friends. And since I wasn't in the wedding, I had no pressure. That Sun morning we did our own "church" service with family and Jason's attendants and it was so special. So having a party and time to sing sounds like the perfect rehearsal to me. Thanks for sharing.
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