Last weekend - Part 2 or Essa's wedding
At the rehearsal dinner Friday night, we were informed by Essa, the bride, that since we are family, we are to sit near the isle in the second pew right behind her brother, who gave her away, her mom and grandmother (Michael's and Essa's mom Denise's mom). Wait, we were planning on sitting in the back behind plants or something. No, you will sit there. The end. You cannot argue with a bride, especially when she is family.
Oh, yeah, we had failed miserably to get to Target before heading up there, so we were unable to get things from the registry. But, we remembered several items that were still available and were able to get like items at the Kmart that is in the Falls. The nearest Target is an hour and a half away so that was out. The mall in Int'l Falls is so sad. Since the population is so small, smaller stores have a really hard time keeping afloat. All there was was a Menards, that looks like it is closing, a hair styling place, H&R Block, a trendy teen girl type clothing store, a bar, a grocery store, a surplus/bargain store, a medical equipment place, a very small furniture place and a dentist. That's it. The Kmart is across the street. I find it sad that economically, the population cannot support much in the way of small business. There is really only the one large employer, Boise-Cascade. The other stores come and go. There are plenty of churches and bars though. Oh, and motels for the fishing and hunting seasons.
So, we got up way to early on Saturday and farted around with breakfast and getting all four of us ready for the wedding which was at four. Karen left for the photo session around 1:30. Even though it was still pretty chilly and the bride and bride's maids were in strapless gowns, the photo shoot was outside. I cannot wait to see if they all had red noses and ears. hee hee. Essa had wanted the fall colors for her background, but winter had come early this year. There might have been some places with the leaves still on the trees, but there sure aren't many left in northern MN.
We headed over to the Lutheran church around 3:30. It is "all the way across town" so it took all of 7-8 minutes to get there. I found the building to be amusing. The chapel, itself, is very tall but not very wide. It is shaped like a triangle. With the top of it about 30-40 feet up. It looks smaller on the outside than on the inside for some reason. Probably because it is so tall and pointy.
We saw the mother of the bride, Denise, first. She looked lovely and nervous. I finally spotted one of the bridesmaids, our niece Rebecca and was able to ascertain exactly what color "latte" was. I had learned the color from an earlier email exchange and was curious. She also looked lovely. The minister (pastor?) wasn't there yet so we wandered around and back outside for a last minute nicotine fix. We met the reverend (preacher?) whilst smoking. He showed up while we were outside. He was nice. Spotted the very nervous looking groom through the windows (on the other part of the building that is attached to the chapel) being escorted by assorted groomsmen. We snickered after he passed from view.
We went in and were seated by the ushers. Family of the bride, we have to sit in the second pew. And we waited. They had a live singer that I didn't care for. We learned during the ceremony that he comes with the church. I don't have my program here, but the songs were about what you would expect. Love songs and such. In came the grandmothers and then the mothers and father of the groom. Then the very nervous groom appeared. Then came all of the attendants. 6 bridesmaids and 6 groomsmen. Wow. Kim, the third daughter of Denise was second from the front, with Rebecca as maid of honor. All the girls looked beautiful in their latte gowns and their updos with the matching jewelry the got as part of their gifts from the bride. Then we had the cute as hell ring bearers one of which is Rebecca's son and our grand-nephew Cohlton. He is 2.5 now. Cohlton walked to the front and then handed off his pillow. He had no interest in sitting after that. He wandered all over the place until well into the ceremony when his other grandmother took him out of the chapel.
The funny part was when the ushers tried to unroll the white, lacy runner that Essa was supposed to walk down. They obviously hadn't practiced that at the rehearsal. The maid of honor and best man came down the stairs and stood on the end while the ushers fought with the roll. There was a rope through the middle that they should have held nearer the ends of the roll so it could unwind, but the both grabbed it near the middle and that made it not want to unroll. Much laughter ensued.
Finally that was unrolled all the way and we were all told to stand by the church officiating dude. I just wish I could remember what Lutheran's call their pastor. Pastor? (That is when I noticed that the chapel was PACKED.) Then there was Essa being escorted by her little 6'2, 220lb little brother Jeremiah. Wow, was she beautiful. Absolutely resplendent in her white gown with all those little beads and the train. Her veil was not over the top, but rather very becoming. She didn't have it down over her face and it looked really neat from the back with the two layers. I cannot wait to get the photos.
The ceremony itself was pretty normal. There was a reading and the pastor (I am going to stick with that now that I am mostly done) told a nice story that they had both told him separately. Essa wobbled a couple of times, but no one fainted. They did all the vows and ring exchange and the unity candle. They were introduced as Mr and Mrs Cory Eide and left to much applause.
I managed not to cry, but I did enjoy the rush of the emotions in the room. They looked at each other with so much love and friendship. Cory looked like he felt like he was the luckiest man in the world to have this stunning blonde woman in love with him. And Essa (short for Ester, which she HATES, BTW) looking thrilled that this big strong man would be her life partner. Wow. I just loved it.
I managed to miss the receiving line when our row was escorted out of the chapel. I was already past the bride and groom before I noticed that the herd of huggers included them. But we waited around long enough that I was able to grab her after the last of the line was done. There were so many people there that it took about a half an hour for everyone to get their hugs and congrats in.
It was a very nice wedding.
Part 3 will be the reception with a new wedding tradition that I learned of.