Wedding Weekend Part 2 (Warning: lots of pictures!)

Dan and I attended our son-in-law's brother's wedding last night. Lucas was the best man and our daughter, Erin, was a bridesmaid. It was held at Ashton Gardens, a lovely facility that I was unaware we had here in Houston. There is a chapel and an adjacent reception facility.

A bagpiper played as we entered the chapel. He also provided the music for the ceremony - "My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose" and "The Wedding March." The bride's family is obviously Scottish. I was fascinated by that Scottish brogue. I'm such a romantic... I immediately thought of "Jamie" in the Diana Galbadon series of books. Ha!

This is the inside of the chapel. It was nice and cool considering the outside temp was hovering around 100.

We sat on the last row right in front of this...

I heard "My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose" and "The Wedding March" loud and clear! Ha!

Lucas escorting his mom down the aisle prior to the start of the service.

Erin and her escort...

The bride and groom at the front of the chapel... Her dress was beautiful. Notice the little ring bearers in the kilts.

Saying their vows... (I don't know why my pictures are so grainy.)

A kiss for the photographer...

This was probably the shortest wedding ceremony I have ever attended. I was raised Southern Baptist and have continued to belong to the Baptist church. We never have a wedding without a sermonette and several prayers. I have also attended weddings of other denominations and they usually are similar to the ones I'm used to. After all, marriage is a holy sacrament designed by God. It is a covenant between God and the couple and that's serious business.  Sometimes I think that we have our focus too much on the trappings of the wedding and the party afterwards and not enough on the substance of the wedding which is the consecration of the union of the two individuals. I don't remember hearing "the two shall become one" or "what God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." The only scripture was a paraphrased version of I Corinthians 13. The thought that ran through my mind was that someone forgot to ask God to the ceremony. Everything was in place - beautiful bride in love with a handsome groom, family and friends in attendance to share the joy, but absence of the Creator. This made me sad, especially since I know that the groom is a believer. That was my sermon for the day.

The cake was beautiful and scrumptious...

The groom's cake...It was chocolate mint, I think.

I took this picture of our table's centerpiece because I thought it was clever the way they put apples in the vase. She used limelight hydrangeas and coral roses.

My lovely daughter and handsome son-in-law...

Lucas' grandparents... They were my Sunday School and Training Union (I know, I'm really getting old... It has been a very long time since there was such a thing as "Training Union") teachers when I was a little girl. The little girl is their great-granddaughter, Lucas' cousin's daughter. Lucas' grandfather also served as a deacon along with my dad in our church.

Cutting the cake... We were seated in a front-row seat.

Lucas' parents, nephew, and cousin...

Mother and daughter...

Dad and daughter...

Thank you, Lord, for my family!