I lived with Hannah for four years at APU. We got paired randomly, along with Malia, freshman year, and then lived together all four years of their college careers. The summer between freshman and sophomore year, Hannah met Caleb (again), and they started dating. They had a long distance relationship (with Hannah in California and Caleb in Rhode Island) for the next three-ish years, dating and getting engaged the Christmas of junior year. This summer they got married!
(Just a warning, this will be a photo-heavy post. I took about 760, and I obviously can't post all of those.)
Let's begin at the beginning of the wedding celebrations: the bachelorette! We did a wine tasting at Newport Vineyards, and then drove over to a restaurant in Newport, Rhode Island that was quite close to the water front. Here is the group of ladies that was there!
The APU friends group, with the bride-to-be!
A wine tasting includes an explanation of the various processes that the winery uses to grow, make, age, and bottle wine.
So that was two days before the wedding. The next day was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and it poured all day long because of Hurricane Arthur, which was hitting North Carolina and moving up the coast about that time. The best part about that (besides it raining all day, of course)? Because it rained all day the day before the wedding, the humidity was cleared up and the day of the wedding boasted beautiful weather.
Ok. Wedding day: July 5.
Hannah, her bridesmaids, and friends got ready at the church where the wedding was. When the time came, her sisters laced her into her dress:
Almost ready, with her bridesmaids around her.
After this, two of her friends from nursing school and I bowed out and went to find our seats.
Caleb's father, who is the minister of the church where Hannah and Caleb got married, performed the wedding.
Finally a married couple!
Because Caleb has such a huge family, there was a small reception at the church immediately after the wedding for the entire church to attend, and then a separate reception at a different location for family and close friends.
Hannah's dance with her dad, Russ:
They danced to Brown-Eyed Girl, which was lovely.
Caleb and his mom danced to Another One Bites the Dust, because Caleb is the youngest of seven kids, and is the last to get married.
The wedding was beautiful, and the reception was lovely, but the best part was by far seeing a dear friend marry her best friend and the love of her life. Their relationship encourages me, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for them!
There were five other friends of Hannah's from APU that came to the wedding. They left for New York the following morning, and I stayed in Rhode Island for a couple more days. The day after the wedding, I got to spend some time with Gab and Ashley, A couple of Hannah's childhood friends. We went to various places around Wakefield, and I got to see more of the beautiful state of Rhode Island. We went to Point Judith Lighthouse and sat on the rocks for a while, enjoying the waves crashing on the rocks.
It was a beautiful, perfect day. After that we went to an Irish pub and had a late lunch. The pub was right on the water, and we got to sit upstairs on the deck with the sea-breeze cooling us off. So lovely.
After that, they took me to a place called The Umbrella Factory, which has quite a variety of things going on. There are a couple of greenhouses where you can buy various plants, several shops with local art and other fun things. I bought a lovely tree necklace, which I can't wear enough. They also have a goat, emus, chickens, and ducks that you can feed and pet. They also have a café where you can get lunch and other café-type things. We didn't go in there, so I can't speak for that so much.
Obviously, greenhouses mean lots of beautiful flowers to take photos of:
After that, we went to a place called Daddy's Bread, which is is bread shop that operates entirely on the honor system. Ashley's family owns it, and she bakes the bread that is sold. It is a small shop that you walk into, and there is no one there to take your money. The bread is on the shelves, and you leave money in a box for the bread you take. It's pretty cool that it actually works as well as it does; Ashley's grandfather started the shop and it has been in operation since 1975.
There are slips of paper for people to leave notes for the shop - these are just some of them. There are also big binders full of letters and people signing in to say they were there if they want.
Just a few of the favorite notes that have been left.
Ashley's aunt lives behind the bread shop and keeps a horse and chickens, so we went to hang out with the horse for a little while.
I flew home a couple of days later, on the day of the FIFA World Cup final. I got to watch the Germany v. France game with the Kraines' on the day of the wedding rehearsal. We rooted for Germany, obviously. I was disappointed that my flight home was during the final, because I wanted to watch the game so badly. The game started while I was en route to Washington DC for my connecting flight to Las Vegas, which was several hours later. When I landed, the game was 30 minutes underway, and the score was already Germany 5, Brazil 0. I was amazed. I really thought Brazil would put up more of a flight than that, but watching the recap, it was clear they did not.
My trip to Rhode Island was lovely. I really like the East Coast. Everything is so green! I suppose if I am unable to move back to Europe when I graduate, the East Coast could be an option over Los Angeles.
Grace and Peace,
Suz :)
No comments:
Post a Comment