July 18 Stephen & Kendra

Saturday:  I was glad to be invited to Nigel and Angela's son's wedding--not that I know Stephen all that well AND I'd never met Kendra before ever; but Nigel and Angela are very special to me. For almost a dozen years, Nigel taught our LOGOS class at Calvary Church. The folk in the class all went their separate ways, for many different reasons, about five years ago now. And just in the last year, Nigel and Angela felt God leading them to be part of a new church forming in Ada (which is where they live). I don't see them on Sundays anymore and I miss them. 

 I only knew a handful of people attending the wedding--I would estimate there were maybe 150 guests--the ones I recognized and "kind of" knew were all from Calvary. Pastor Tom did the wedding ceremony.

The above picture is the wedding program. The front was the order of the wedding ceremony, and the reverse side listed all who stood up with Stephen and Kendra. I thought it was very interesting that both mom's names are ANGELA. I found Kendra's folks to be very welcoming. Somehow they already knew my name, and I had never met them before--Kendra, too--she called me by name in the greeting line after the ceremony. 

The wedding took place outdoors at the ALASKA HAUS venue, a little beyond Caledonia. It was very HOT, but not as hot as it had been earlier in the week.

The Ceremony:

The wedding began promptly at 4pm. Kendra had a matron of honor (her only sister), a maid of honor (her best friend), and two others. Two of the girls wore a deep purple/wine colored gown, and the other two wore lilac. The dresses were really pretty.

Kendra and her father have now appeared and are walking towards Stephen and Pastor Tom ...

I thought Kendra's dress was super pretty. The sleeves were detachable (which she removed at the reception). Her dad was a very enjoyable person to listen to and to meet.

They wrote their own vows and repeated them to each other.

Pastor Tom gave the "wedding address", and a few other things were performed, and then Stephen and Kendra were pronounced husband and wife.

The Reception:

There was about a 30-minute wait after the ceremony before the reception began--probably because photographers (they had THREE) were taking pictures of the wedding party.

I found my "place" (there was a note card with each guest's name printed), and I was seated right next to Angela and Nigel! We had such a wonderful time catching up during the reception. I love these two so much--it was so refreshing to be with them. Nigel's brother, Alistair, flew over from Edinburg, Scotland, for this occasion. He and Nigel look so much alike!

Here is Ben (Stephen's older brother) giving a tribute to Stephen ...

Ben could barely get through his written "speech" without tears ...

Here is the bride and groom with the first dance ... I did NOT get any good pictures of him spinning her around, etc. I just wasn't situated in a very good place to get a decent photo, and I certainly did not want to be in the way of the photographers.

Here is Stephen and his mom dancing ...

And then everyone joined in the celebration with crazy dancing, a disc jockey, funny light-up glasses, etc.

The Venue:

I took a few pictures of Alaska Haus prior to the wedding. I thought this was just the right size room. Three rows of tables, two aisles nicely spaced, and decorated beautifully.

This is the wedding party table ...

This is outside where the wedding ceremony was held.

Just a few more inside the venue ...

I read on their website that this building used to be a church. These stained-glass windows are original to the building.

Can you see the upstairs where the glass wall is? That's where the bride and groom had the first dance.

A very pretty place! I was honored to be invited, and so happy to be able to talk to Nigel and Angela for such a long time. I also got better acquainted with our Mission's pastor wife--Nancy--she was just down a few seats from where I was sitting.

The next upcoming wedding is Christopher and Ella!