WEDDINGS

It is truly an honor to be invited to a wedding.

To be invited to witness and celebrate the joining of two lives is a real gift.

I don't think I realized this until my wedding. To have all of my friends and all of his friends and both of our families in one place at one time...celebrating us...all enjoying good food and good wine... it was amazing. I didn't want to leave my own reception. I wanted the party to go on forever. Knowing how much I loved my own wedding and appreciated the effort all our friends and family went to to make it and be there for us makes me all the more excited to attend weddings I'm invited to.

We were blessed to end 2009 and begin 2010 with weddings.

On New Year's Ever, our friend Steve married his beautiful (seriously, a true beauty inside and out) wife. They had a small intimate candle-lit evening wedding followed by a reception complete with a three course meal and abundant French wines. It was elegant, intimate, and simply beautiful. D was an usher at the wedding and we had the honor of hosting a pre-rehearsal dinner (more on this, including the menu designed by my husband/personal chef coming) for the groom's family last Tuesday. Spending time with the groom and his family prior to the wedding and then celebrating their marriage, the new year, and the groom's birthday all in a period of 48 hours was one of the highlights of the year for me. To top it off, my good friend, Becky, drove into DC en route to the 2010 wedding and babysat K during the reception for us. It was such a blessing to have a night out with my husband, knowing that K was in such good hands. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Becky L!

On Saturday, January 2, my friend, Angie, was married in Pennsylvania. Her wedding was a 400+ person affair (yes, there were more people at this wedding than there were at Carla's!). The wedding took place in the afternoon with a reception immediately afterwards at the church. It was so different than Steve's wedding, but so Angie. She and her now-husband had friends and family from all over the world at their wedding. They successfully managed to include all seven of Angie's nieces and nephews in the wedding party. They even had a performance from the Youth Praise Band at our church, which Angie founded and leads. It was a extravagant celebration! And no one was left out.

Unfortunately, due to ushering responsibilities and a one year old daughter who will NOT sit still, D and I did not get to enjoy the wedding ceremonies together. Hopefully we will one day get to sit together hand-in-hand at a wedding. Hopefully...

But for now, we continue to celebrate (in spirit) with our newlywed friends, who are off honeymooning in southern Mexico and Morocco.

Cheers to all!

(Wish we were in the warm weather with you. It is freaking COLD here in DC.)