marilyn and bo: october 8, 2011
We did it. Thanks so much to everyone who helped make it happen.
I wore my mom's wedding dress; it was so perfect for the day, it was like my mom knew at 20-something that she should pick a dress beautiful enough to carry a church wedding in the afternoon and a backyard wedding on the marsh 30-some years later at the house where she grew up.
The beautiful hat I wore belonged to Bo's great-grandmother, and the pearl necklace I wore once belonged to my own great-grandmother. There was so much timelessness throughout the day; I felt a really special connection to the past that seemed to have brought us neatly to that very moment. The wedding rings I now wear were my grandmother's. The pool that Bo is standing on in the picture below was built by my great-grandfather.
I told a group of friends later at dinner that my dad had made the cool tree swing for me. I then had to clarify -- "Oh, no... not when I was little. Just in the last month, he made it for me."
My mom and I painted the labels onto these slats of wood and my dad and I screwed them into the fencepost. It's almost two weeks later and so far, it's still there, according to my mom. We may have to get them a permanent photo booth for the garage, though I'm not sure what a permanent ceremony in their yard would entail.
The favors were jars of jams and pickles I preserved throughout the colorful progression of spring to summer to fall. When a very sweet family friend heard that I had only been able to make enough to offer one for every couple, she just showed up a week later with 48 jars of her amazing homemade barbeque sauce so that everyone at the party could have a favor of their own.
Instead of a traditional guest book, we asked everyone to sign in on the date of their birthday in a 2012 calendar. I found one with pictures of Wormsloe Historic Site and Skidaway Island State Park in it, one less than a mile from where we were, the other not more than a few.
Huge thank yous to all the family that trusted me to borrow their treasured old wedding photos, and to Elisabeth and Ashley for amazingly putting them up at the last moment so beautifully.
A few months before the wedding, I asked my brother whether he'd play a song at the wedding. I didn't have a particular one in mind, I said, and he said that he had already thought about it, and that a John Denver song, Autograph, should be the one. I listened to it and was so touched by how thoughtfully Slade had considered it, because it did suit Bo and me well. Bo's sister Rebecca joined him for it and graced us all with her voice. All the music was just beautiful, honestly. Slade, Bo's father Carl, and his cousin Jimmy played guitar in instrumental versions of Stardust, Moon River, and, when my father and I walked down the aisle, Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
The cupcakes were from Back in the Day Bakery, but every single pie -- all the other amazing desserts -- were made by a family we've been friends with since before I was born. They did so much to help that my heart is still swelling with gratitude. And happiness that we had the love and support of so many incredible people.
For some of these pictures and few others, with music, here's a video compiled by the lovely Bonnie Heath.
The photobooth pictures are here!
Credits:
Photography: Bonnie Heath, Elena Gorelik, and Martin Brown
Florist: A to Zinnias
Catering: Earth to Table Catering
Bartenders: Paul and Johnnie Ganem
Band: Big C and the Ringers
Invitations: Laura Dengler at Praxium Press
Coordinator and all-around superhero: Emie Heisey
Officiant: Jayne Bedingfield, my new mother-in-law
Being the greatest: my mom, my dad, and my new husband.