The Wedding Part Three

There were quite a few things that didn't quite go off as originally planned...the Greek Wedding Dance should have had the traditional props to go along with it.  The Gazebo wasn't fully painted or wired or even screened.  The person responsible for making the signs that would point the way to the wedding would forget to do them and we'd have people getting lost and arriving a few minutes late (even though we held off starting for an additional five minutes to try to accommodate this.)

But when making all those initial plans, we hadn't factored in such a thing as a Tornado two weeks before the wedding.  We'd not factored in that the storm would thin out our "covered" property because the topped and thinned trees would allow the sun to shine so brightly into our guests (and the Bride's) faces during the ceremony.  

In the end, the setting was beautiful; the ceremony was moving; the reception was filled with laughter and dancing; in the end, our daughter married the man of her dreams and started her new life.  How could we ask for anything more than that?

In the end, the Tornado is part of the story.  Friends and family members are a larger part of our story than they would have been without that storm.  Nikki and J.C. had their relationship tested in the days before the wedding and learned that together they can weather any storm : )  In the end, just as I whispered to David after he gave our daughter away in marriage....despite all the obstacles that blew into our path...We Did It.

The "We did it" shot taken just after Nikki and J.C. drove away in their taxi!  And just seconds before the sky opened up and showers of blessing rained down upon us!