Codename MiEl was underway. In case it hasn’t yet been mentioned elsewhere, this codename has been in general circulation since David F pointed out that taking the first two letters of Michael & Elizabeth’s names gives you the French word for honey (miel).

We started the day even earlier than the day of the rehearsal. The first van load was on route at 7:00 7:10 7:17, with most of the guys aboard. It dawned a beautiful, sunny day, perfect for spirits and photos alike!

Since I wasn’t there, I’m not too clear on what was happening at home, though looking at my mother’s camera gave me a few thousand words-worth about that subject. In any case, if events were following their normal course, chances are that the ladies were a good deal more busy than we were… and that’s saying something!

For some reason (whose purport will be left to the fancy of the reader’s conjectures), I did not take any photos during this period of time. We had some last minute technological setup to do, and after placing the cameras for the live stream, Jonathan checked to ensure that everything was running smoothly. To our utter consternation, the website on which the live stream was to have been hosted was returning a 503. For security purposes, port 22 is not open outside that LAN, meaning that SSH tunneling was utterly impossible at our location.

In short: It wasn’t working.

Elizabeth was one of the only ones left at home at this point, so we called her up and had a good old-fashioned heart to heart talk; Jonathan and I rattling off commands, passwords, and code snippets, she returning output. The funniest part about it (in after sight only!) was probably that while James was taking the groomsmen shots, my phone was inside Jonathan’s suit on speakerphone, and in between smiles and changing positions, he kept on saying what command to type next.

In the end, it was Robert Staddon who resolved the issue, offering to host it on their family blog. Since we were streaming through RTMP to YouTube, this was a matter of minutes to implement. An emergency e-mail was sent out to those who had considered watching the livestream directing them to the new location, and everything went forward.

The ceremony proceeded smoothly, including a time of blessing from both sets of parents, and, as you may have noticed in the post on the rehearsal, they also did the lighting of candles, symbolizing how their old lives have now been united into one inseparable flame. For obvious reasons, I again failed to take pictures, but thankfully, my mother got a few during the ceremony!

The ceremony was hosted at the retirement home where we frequently minister, and one of the blessings was that many of the residents and staff who would have been unable to attend otherwise were easily able to come to the wedding!

Directly after the ceremony, we had another photo session, which was then followed by the marriage supper lunch.

It so happened that the first time that Michael met our family was at the New Hampshire FEW (mentioned very briefly in this post). At that point it was Sincerely Yours who introduced himself to Micheal, having heard that he was knowledgeable in American history and politics. One memory is firmly fixed in both of our memories – sitting on the couch at the S family’s place talking about the American Constitution.

In keeping with these momentous beginnings, after lunch, Michael delivered a wonderful revamp of selected sections of the Constitution which apply to the establishment of a new family.

Obviously, the groom beeing a beekeeper and the bride beeing an expert cake decorator, the cake was made to match…

At the couple’s request, confetti was taboo… but bubbles weren’t! The children (well, maybe older “children” too…) had lots of fun blowing bubbles at the couple as they left the premises – and at each other, depending on the wind direction.

The couple drove away as Mr. W. started off the rousing hymn “To God be the Glory.”

Then followed the cleanup which invariably, though unfortunately, follows the exercise of the nuptial art.

Several of the families who had been at the wedding came back to our place for supper, which, for the extrovert writing this post, was for the most part a relaxing time. After supper, some people had a game of Dutch Blitz outside, while others fellowshipped inside.

Meanwhile, Michael and Elizabeth opened their wedding gifts! I guess this avoided an unfortunate eventuality of the border guards deciding to open them on their behalf.

Michael and Elizabeth, we are thrilled to see how God has led you two together! May your love for Christ and your joy in God grow exponentially as you seek His face together!

The observant reader knows that to date, the most frequent poster on our blog has been Elizabeth. And some have perhaps wondered whether our blog will now wither into oblivion or whether some other courageous person, though perhaps less skilled, would attempt to fill her shoes.

Though I can make no guarantees going into the future, I at least thought it appropriate to make a post concerning the rehearsal and another, later to come, which will treat the marriage itself. I apologize in advance for the diminished quality of some of the photos; many of them are simply snapshots from my phone. But if a picture is worth a thousand words, and the quality of the pictures has declined by 50%… I guess my pictures will at least be worth 500. 🙂

After a time in the Word and prayer over breakfast, most of us left for the premises where the wedding was to take place. Upon arrival, we all became as busy as bees. William and a couple of the Staddons immediately set to work setting up tables, while David set up the chairs.

There was also a crew creatively redecorating the pool table, since we had been requested that it not be moved.

Meanwhile, Nathanael & Jonathan were working on setting up the technological equipment for amplification and live streaming respectively. Though there were a few bumps along the way, including a computer that refused to start, the trial run of the live streaming system went so beautifully that it almost seemed too good to be true! (More about that in the next post…)

Sarah, along with a most willing helper, was working on the dessert table. (Hmm, I wonder how large a commission he charged?)

Time flew. But we were grateful that everything went quite smoothly (thanks to the ladies’ great planning!), and although lunch was a bit late (I remember), we were pretty much ready right on time for the rehearsal. We did three dry runs of the wedding, though Yours Truly skipped out on the last two to go get the pizza for supper. Don’t worry, the couple to be married was not wearing the same costumes on the day of the wedding, and her real bouquet looked significantly better than the makeshift prop!

Would you guess that this is a pool table? 🙂

Supper time at last! Imagine the feeling of frustration driving 20 minutes with the smell of 18 hot pizzas wafting from the back seat of the car… Good thing they didn’t count them when they arrived!

We were all so grateful to see the hand of God working so providentially to make everything come together! In spite of multiple transportation issues with our American friends and some technological issues, it was thrilling to see how closely everything went to what was planned!