Immediately after the wedding we had to set up for the 3rd party of the weekend. Gift opening and Father's Day picnic with my family who was still in town. I was up bright and early Sunday morning (as I always am up early) and got things rearranged.
With all the gifts that arrived by mail/UPS/FedEX we thought there wouldn't be any gifts to open, but alas, the generosity of friends and family has no limits. Galadriel and Celeborn had nothing left on their registry. It is always refreshing to be reminded how generous, kind, good, and loving so many people are.
We gave my dad a talking Trump mug. LOLOL!!! 😂
We found no one had put the cake away from the wedding but Eowyn found it. And no animals or insects had been at it either. I guess everyone and everything was exhausted from our wedding efforts!
We then had a major take down of tables and chairs and loading up of many boxes of supplies.
We gave away many of the flowers at the wedding reception but we still have a nice array of flowers to enjoy.
We spend Sunday evening after my family left with a dear friend. When you are eating leftovers from a wedding reception and drinking fine wine, the wine is to be had in paper cups.
By 10:00 am Monday morning tent, tables, chairs, and everything was gone.
First thing was Galadriel's bed of 20 years was removed and disposed of and rearranging thoughts began.
Eleanor and I attended the funeral of a 24 year old cousin (born a month after Samwise) who was killed in a car accident. Please pray for the repose of the soul of Sammy. We visited with a very special family that day as well.
Lunch with Eleanor at the Pine Cone Restaurant.
That is one giant cookie.
then our chicks arrived. First batch we were called into Madison to pick up at the post office. The rest came to the local post office. The first batch came beautifully and all survived. The 2nd batch about 20 died. We were not able to do a local pick up due to corona messing things up and post office is a bad way to deliver baby chicks. No idea why I forgot to take photos of the chicks.
Storms were a-comin' rollin' in after a lovely visit with dear, dear friends.
Later we discovered the interesting white streaks in the rain was hail.
When we went out to eat for our 25th wedding anniversary with friends/family (and family should always be friends) we saw the remains of the hail that hit a handful of miles away from our house.
Really neat pictures Eleanor took of Merry while waiting for TKD classes on the mats.
And the new abnormal begins.
We went over to Sam's place to help him with some cleaning. I gave him an appropriate house warming gift for the year 2020. 😂 I was highly amused, he was not. I crack me up!
The bride was as calm, cool, and collected as ever.
After nearly 3 weeks of total sunshine and no rain, today was the day it decided to rain. But nothing dampens our spirits and the rain actually was a nice addition to the day. These 2 were pushing rain off the tent roof.
Why not a little nail polish to gussy up a bit for the big, beautiful day!
The flower girl, Marigold, was so excited to be a part of the bridal party.
Even mine got done. I've got about as ugly and stubby of hands as are possible so even nail polish did not add any elegance. 😂
Pinning on the boutonieres
Last photos of the bride as we head out the driveway.
We had 10 beautiful bouquets to decorate the church. 2 on the High Altar, 1 on each of the 2 side Altars (Blessed Mother and St. Joseph), 1 at the Sacred Heart, 1 at the Immaculate Heart, 1 at St. Michael, 1 at the Infant of Prague, and 2 in front of the temporary statue of Our Lady of Fatima.
Rosary and sign of the times, blocked pews
Waiting for the beautiful bride!
The Mass was live-streamed. Video recording below.
We had 12 altar boys to add to the pomp & circumstance
Sorry for the blurry pictures, these are just the ones from my camera. And yes, I did cry all through Rosary. Taking a few snapshots keeps the tears at bay. Oh happy day!
In the Traditional Rite (Extraordinary Form), the wedding ceremony is performed before the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass begins.
The Mass & Music was absolutely beautiful. I cannot thank the quartet and organist enough for their efforts in adding such exquisite beauty to the most important part of the day.
Our beautiful church construction adds some interesting-ness to the day.
Our niece/God daughter (Galadriel's talented cousin) made a gorgeous cake! And delicious, too! I'm not a frosting person, but I even ate the frosting. Very well done!
All 3 of my sisters came out for the wedding. 2 driving from Virginia and 1 flew in from California. 5 of my nieces/nephews also came with one of my sisters. We are so grateful for their desire to celebrate this very special day with us.
What would a covid-19 wedding be without hand sanitizer?! A new photo opportunity for 2020.
We had the intention of having a drive-thru reception since we could only have 100 under the big tent. That isn't many when you had originally planned on about 300 guests. But alas the EZ-up tent was destroyed by torrential rain (even if it looks like a certain child is fleeing from the possibility of being blamed 😂
Several boy and their cousins tried to resurrect the tent but it was hopeless.
The best man was a hoot. He gave a little (unexpected) speech which we thoroughly enjoyed. Wish I had a copy of it! (hint-hint Celeborn)
Best to get a photo of the lovely couple at the drive-thru. As it turned out for the best, we invited these guests in if they so desired, most desired so it was nice to get the chance to celebrate with more people. Those who did not wish to celebrate promptly went home with their to-go boxes.
I never saw so many attempts at throwing the bouquet. So many that there were several roses and a small bouquet in the end.
A lovely rainbow (photo not doing justice) added to the sweetness of the day.
Later that evening we had a handful of lovely fireworks.
Wedding Video
(starts at the 54 minute mark, prior is just set up followed by the Rosary)
You get only a glimpse of the beautiful music, between fans and too many microphones, the video doesn't do the music justice.
