Sunday, October 2, 2011

Danielle and Garret get hitched!

One of my dearest friends, Danielle, married her long time boyfriend and soul-mate, Garret. The wedding was in Salem at the 4H Retreat Center on Saturday, October 1, 2011. It was beautiful.


The plan was to have the ceremony on a dock pond-side. The weather forecast wasn't in agreement to these outdoor plans, but rehearse away we did on Friday evening.

Here comes the bride...

Officiant Fred, Garret, Best Man Henry, Grooms"man" Sierra.
The retreat center was gorgeous, and they had gorgeous neighbors in the form of an orchard.

Decorating with curly willow, mums, and lighted branches. Eric, Garret's sister is working away with Danielle.

Curly willow decorating: DONE! :)

After lots of hours decorating, rehearsing, and more little tasks we went back to Danielle and Garret's to finish things up. Before going to bed I had to take a picture of Dr. Jones, their cat...this is how I felt...

Wedding Day!

Danielle was doing dishes on her wedding day morning. I wonder how many brides can say that? Then she folded laundry. She makes me smile :)


We headed out for manicures and pedicures...

Sierra, Mom-of-the-Bride Vivian, Bridesmaid Alexis

...and then to get our hair done.

At the retreat center we got dressed and makeup on.

I loved my hair!

It took three of us to lace Danielle up in her dress. I stepped back to get this picture of she and her mom.

After not much food, the bride was hungry. And, she didn't spill!

Sierra and Alexis signing the "guest book" (leaves that were signed and then will be placed in the tree in the frame behind Alexis).


Pictures and wedding favors of spring flower bulbs.

Reception hall all set up.



Lanterned walkway.

Canoe full of ice, water, beer!

Family picture time.

The following photos were taken by Megan M Jones.

Head table at the reception.
Bridal Party! One of the docks we stood on was sinking, slowly and we had to stagger ourselves so we wouldn't sink it. This was not that dock...though I'd like to see those pictures.

Alexis, me, Danielle, Garret, Henry and Sierra. We were a good looking group and a fun group. I was so glad I got to meet Alexis and Sierra with all the wedding events. They are all great people!

Yep...the rain had started by this time. You can see the drops in the pond surface.

Back to dry "ground." Alexis and I got to be good friends. She lives in Phoenix, so a large majority of Bridal Shower and Bachelor/Bachelorette Party Planning happened over long phone calls. Then we had lots of in the car travel time to and from the beach for the Bachelor/Bachelorette Party to get to know each other better.

The three girls all in black with our green scarves!


Beautiful Bride and Maid of Honor. And, I was very honored to be in this place.







Danielle was peeking out the window! And the rain kept coming. It was looking like Plan B would become reality.

LOVE her shoes! The ceremony...Fred and the Groom, anxiously awaiting!



Another of Megan's photos...I love this one!



The kiss...

Mr and Mrs!

My bouquet!

Sierra with G's tie on!

The first dance!

Henry dancing with Avery, one of Garret's nieces! They stole the show!

The cake and cupcakes!

Love this picture of Sierra once she had put on her "fancy schmancy saurus" tee shirt on.

dancing and decorations.

Cake cutting. They were nice.

"Get away" car! Henry decided to put "About time" on it...6+ years in the making.

Bye~

Signing of the Marriage Certificate.

After the reception I was taking things down to a cabin that some of us were staying in and almost stepped on this huge slug. Almost as big as my foot!

The reception hall the next morning.

The pond the day after all the rain.

The truck bed filled with empty bottles--it was a party, indeed!

Clean-up time.


It was quite the month leading up to the wedding and it was quite the weekend and when all was said and done I had no concept of time or day, but had seen one of my dearest friends married and made new friends. It was a great celebration!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

It's acting up again...

...my wanderlust, that is...how many of these and these (well for that matter, all of these) do you think I can see in my lifetime?!~ I better get started...




(see decent sized map at: http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/info/parks-map.gif)

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Remembering....10 years later.

I can't believe how time moves. At times, so fast, at times so slow. Ten years later I still remember. At times it seems like an eternity ago, at times, like it was yesterday. At the time of the 8 year anniversary of a day that changed our world, I wrote this. Today, I re-read it. Today, I remember. Today, I find it difficult to watch the still horrifying scenes of that day. But, today, I still find the unity of our country that bubbled to the surface that day and in the weeks to come, amazing. I still find the heros of that day and of the years to follow truly remarkable. Today, my brother is there. He is at Ground Zero. Working and Remembering and I am sure he is being moved more that he ever thought imaginable. Today, I watch the memorial services from NYC, DC and Pennsylvania. I will never forget.




Photo taken by Frank Culbertson from the International Space Station on 9/11/01.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Nine.Ten.Eleven (Ceremony)

Today, my friend Jamie married her soul mate, Alex. They met in school and went to a few dances together and hung out. After graduation they parted ways and then reconnected and now are husband and wife. Jamie is part of one of my girls groups. The Concordia 4. We would get together once a month, or at least that was our goal, and in most cases we were successful. Sadly, one of our Concordia 4 left for a job in Alaska before Jamie and Alex got married. I took lots of pictures so that Rose could see the events of the day. There are two posts, one with the ceremony, one with the fun of the reception. Forgive the blurry pictures...I was taking them without a flash to prevent being a total nusance.


Jamie and Alex got married in The Old Church in Downtown Portland. Beautiful organ. It was also beautifully hot. (Rose you wouldv'e melted). After seeing how warm the church would be at teh rehearsal, Alex's mom got ahold of a bunch of hand held fans that we all could fan ourselves with, and have a momento to boot.

Flower Girls (nieces of the Bride)
Awaiting the beautiful Bride.

Dad walking daughter down the aisle.

Mom and Dad giving the Bride to the Groom.

The message.



The vows.

The Kiss.

The Mr. and Mrs.


Coming out of the church.



Such a beautiful ceremony joining two beautiful people. See the next blog for the reception!