Evergreen Wedding

I'm still catching up with everything. These are a few pictures of the wedding on April 18. It was in the Evergreen Methodist Church - Because Ellie was the flowergirl, and because Ann had to have help with Andrew, I was able to tag along for the behind the scenes stuff. We were at the rehearsal and at the church early for pictures. Again, so many memories flooding back. The last time I was at a wedding rehearsal in that church was for my own wedding. And of all things, the girl who played for my wedding, Connie Gunter Kilpatrick, was the same who played for this wedding, only she's 61 now. She was 31 when she played for my wedding. The reason I know that is because she was my neighbor on Williams St. and I know that she is 3 years older than I.

She's fun and funny and we were laughing about all the years that have zoomed by. I've actually written about her in my blog, in other posts. The reason I'm taking up so much space about the organist is that in my Evergreen world, that is such a big deal. Mary, my aunt, who is the grandmother of this bride, is the organist at this church - but of course she had to be seated for her granddaughter's wedding - Mary was the organist at Ann and Steve's wedding - at my wedding Connie was the organist because I wanted Mary, my aunt, to be seated for my ceremony.

This is pre wedding stuff. That's Ellie in her dress. I think she thought she was as big a player in the whole thing as the bride. It was a dream come true for her to wear that long white dress. That's Ann in the black dress, my aunt Mary in the turquoise blue.

My aunt, Mary, and uncle, John Law. In my family we just say first names. We don't say, Aunt Mary or Uncle John Law. Had to clarify that.
Ellie posing for me in front of the flowers.

The photographer getting a picture of Mary Hamilton and Ellie, and I'm getting a picture of that.

Left to right.

Melissa, mother of the bride, Bride, Mary, John Law.

Melissa is my first cousin, of course.

Left to Right.

Edward (Mary's youngest), Melissa, Mary, and Mary Claire, (Mary's middle child).

I have to say that Mary's oldest is John, Jr. who died suddenly in 2004. I've written about that.

His 2 grandsons were bell ringers in the wedding and so adorable. They came in ahead of Ellie.

They are Jay and William. At the reception Ellie would not let go of Jay, dancing with him to exhaustion. Mary & John Law also had a child, Jim, who died at age 4 - They've suffered that kind of grief twice in their life and I have to say that as believers they both only cling closer and with trials they are even more "changed into His likeness".

The reception was at the Evergreen Depot, which is in walking distance, around the corner from the church. It was beautiful and I saw so many people, cousins and friends, extended family in every direction - people who not only knew my parents but also my grandparents. That's called roots - and I am wired for that.

There are a lot of things I could write about regarding that week. Things we did leading up to the wedding. Ann and I travelled down with the children on Wednesday - had Thursday to relax - and then a luncheon on Friday, Rehearsal on Friday night, and Brunch, Wedding, and Reception on Saturday. That's a lot of activity and "getting dressed" with 2 preschool aged children and one infant. We were tired, but it was fun. We didn't travel back until Monday due to bad weather. And with that, Kate was in Auburn with an awful virus - so we swung by Auburn, putting about 4 extra hours on the trip - and I drove her back to S'boro in her car, behind Ann in the van.

Who loves family? I do. I talked with my cousin Rusty - seems he ran across my blog when he was searching for something. Imagine his surprise when he saw that I was blogging. I have another cousin, Michael Cook, who mentioned my blog to me. I saw him at the wedding. I know that Rachel has seen it. Susan Cook, who is married to my cousin, Bert, is the only cousin I actually told about it - oops! I did tell Martha, who married my cousin John. So - if there are any cousins or cousins in law who are reading this - Hello and I wish you would blog also so I could read what you write. Please let me know if you do. I love and miss all of my cousins. Those on earth and those in heaven.