we had a wedding!
We arrived at the ranch just in time to outrun a thunderstorm and make it to the sunporch of the house. Matthew conferred with Joy, the wedding director, and timelines got shifted a bit.
Coty and I took a few minutes to go upstairs and see Kailie.
Meanwhile, the rain and hail were pounding down.
Rivulets were running. We waited ...
and took lots of Clara pictures ...
with my mom, her great-grandmother,
with Joel, who claims she declared him the "favorite uncle"
with Matthew,
and with the other three generations of Elizabeths.
Matthew and the grandparents present.
And then, as quickly as it came, the storm passed over the sun shone...
Just time for a few groomsmen and family pics ...
And then we had a wedding!
(I took no photos during the ceremony so I could enjoy it fully).
Then just as the ceremony was nearing the end, the clouds began to roll in a again. Thunder was rumbling. The wedding party, facing the storm, watched lightning streak across the sky. The wedding director was getting worried and signaled to Coty to speed things up. Coty leaned over to Matthew during a prayer and asked about leaving out the last song. Matthew said to sing first and last verses. It was perfect timing. We sang, Matthew and Kailie were pronounced husband and wife, they kissed, and the drops started to fall.
We hustled ourselves to the barn and the bottom dropped out of the clouds. Rain, wind, thunder, lightning, but no more hail. In Colorado fashion, this storm, too, was brief and ended up being the last one of the day. The reception carried on in the barn, with forays out to the food tent for taco fixings and the meadow for more picture taking, and a wagon ride for the kiddos.
Kandyce made all the cakes, plain and lime mini-cheesecakes and some amazing cupcakes with Earl Grey frosting. She transported them unadorned and our gang all pitched in at the start of the reception to arrange them on the tables and add dollops of strawberry and blackberry sauce and frosting. What a team!
Baby Levi, chillest almost five month old on the planet, got passed all around ...
with Great-aunt Laura
with Aunt Kandyce
with Uncle Andrew
Of course, Clara got lots of uncle attention
Matthew got his requested groomsmen football line-up photos
There was cake and toasts, dancing and improv jokes, more dancing, crowd surfing, square dancing, the flower toss, good-byes, and a send-off with glow sticks.
What a wedding! We left feeling full-up and warm, tired and happy, and grateful for all those that helped to make it such a special day.
Even now, as I post these pictures, I marvel at the infinite goodness of God. May he increase Matthew and Kailie's joy in Himself and in each other, grow their unity, and grant them sweet days ahead ...
