Simple, Natural and a bit like a Fairytale...

Our first child...married.  Lots of emotions went into that big day.  For us, the emotions started several months before...more specifically, when a certain phone call came from a certain young man.  Since he lived three hours south of us, and since he didn't want to have such a life-changing conversation over the phone, he simply called to ask if Nate could meet him at a half-way point near the Lake of the Ozarks, so they could "talk."  We knew immediately what "the talk" was going to be about; we'd been expecting it.  No matter how much we expected it, however, we couldn't hold back those first few tears that evening.

The months leading up to the wedding were quite a roller coaster ride - as most big, parenting milestones tend to be.  There was the fun and excitement of wedding dress shopping, picking bridesmaid dresses, seeing how many decorations we could buy on holiday clearance, etc.  Yet there was the stress of SO much to do (especially since she wanted the wedding and reception to be here at home) and the fact that she was three hours away at college.  She tried her best to be easy-going about all of it, and yet, she had very definite opinions and ideas about how everything would be.  It proved to be quite the balancing act - trying to get her to tell us exactly what she dreamed  her wedding day would look like...and figuring out how to make that physically possible.  (If only Peter Jackson would have created Rivendell on our back 40, then we would have been ready to go!)

With lots of work and creativity from everyone, it finally came together and the big day arrived.  For me personally, the wedding day was a whirlwind...one that I didn't have the chance to savor and cherish like a mother would want to do.  Later, as friends shared photos on Facebook and continued to comment about what a beautiful wedding it was, the savoring began to take hold.  I needed it, so I wouldn't continue feeling so overwhelmed with those "my 1st daughter is married??!!" emotions.  I loved the day when we finally got a look at the photographer's pictures...now I could truly relish!  Then, much to our delight, a neighbor surprised us with a DVD of video footage he had taken at the wedding.  The wedding day was so crazy, I had no idea he was there with a video camera.  How fun it was to re-live the day (at least, about 20 minutes of it) by watching the video.  I missed the music, however.  Rachel and Kyle had done a fantastic job of choosing music for the ceremony - all of it fit so very well with the setting, mood, etc. - the nearly silent video just didn't seem to catch the feeling of the day.

But now...two years later...I've pieced the day together again.  Thanks to some fun and new software and lots of time, I can now cherish and savor that day to my heart's content.  The setting, the people, the live footage, the pictures and yes, even the music.

Now if you'll just turn your thermostat to about 100 degrees - you could truly imagine you were there on that very special day!