The wedding

Family weddings are a good place to look back on your life and where you came from.

Mine is country on my mother's side and this wedding reflected that from beginning to end.

The bride wore an underskirt worn by so many generations of her family that no one can remember how old it is, but I would guess maybe the 1890s. There were bales of hay flanking the altar and the theme was Autumn in all its glory everywhere you looked.

The bride and groom poured sand into one container to symbolize the joining of their families and the bride's mother made a very intricate and beautiful wedding cake that was absolutely delicious! The bottom layer was brownie, the next layer was strawberry and the top they say was white. It looked like a tree complete with bark, boots, leaves and a small sign that said, Mr. and Mrs. Prehn. The toast was made in champagne glasses shaped like cowboy boots and there were tiny boots full of bubbles with tiny preserves jars full of bird seed to throw. The tables were decorated with candles in mason jars sitting on slices of small logs and each jar was covered in a beautiful hand crocheted cover made by the bride's grandma.

There were candles everywhere, even flanking the white runner strewn with leaves and glitter hearts for the bride. Unfortunately no one considered the width of her gown, so she swept them away whenever she walked on it to pin flowers on mothers and make her entrance. Thank goodness most of the candles were battery powered or the wedding would have been truly a flaming success. There was one near mishap at the head table when one of the real candles was knocked over and rolled out onto the table cloth.

It was a festive night with good music and humorous incidents like when the best man skipped back up the aisle with his partner for pictures. It was also the most somber experience I've ever had as the bride called for absolute silence while they played a song for her deceased father and she stood on the stage sobbing.

The toasts were sweet, the food nice, the company great. Everyone was glad to connect with family many hadn't seen in years, so pictures were taken by the hundreds.

All in all it was a grand, but very long day.