Weddings are a joyous and festive occasion. In a big family, not a year goes by when someone doesn't get married. Sadly, it has gotten harder and harder to travel to them all. Of course we wouldn't have missed the wedding last Saturday for anything - the groom was my brother!
Being a sister of the groom, I wasn't terribly involved in the planning or ceremony, so I got to hold Tom's hand and cry happy tears as I watched Auggie make and receive the promises of love and life. Michelle, who I look forward to getting to know better, is a sweetheart from high school college days, and by the grace of God their paths crossed once again (and I knew before the rest of the family and didn't blow Auggie's secret - to everyone's surprise but my own). The wedding mass was beautiful - held at Holy Family like the rest of my siblings. Nick and Cole stood up for Auggie, and Miki, Marty, and I were lectors. It was absolutely lovely.
the Ford family: Nick & Jen, Cole & baby Drew -
I was fortunate to get to hold Drew while his mommy helped his older brother behave for pictures. We had a good time feeding, burping, and bouncing around. He was such a sweet guy for me.
The beauty of a wedding at Holy Family is that the Ford house is just a block away, so there was lots of back and forth before and then after the wedding. And the weather was gorgeous September sunshine, so half a dozen cars were parked in the Henderson "parking lot" instead of at church. We got ourselves together after the mass and then drove downtown for the party! The food and music were terrific, and much fun was had, maybe even too much, but those pictures are not included. Everyone in my family went home sweaty from dancing so much, and it's taken nearly a week for my feet to recover from dancing in heels.
Tom, Miki, and Marty - we kept one corner of the dance floor hopping all evening long
I am sure Miki, Mom, and I are whispering about who taught Nick to dance - he gets the wild prize, though Marty always steals the show with his breakdance moves
Miki, Abba, and I had a little rockettes thing going or something
Marty and Miki, such emotive dancers, are hiding Tom and I, or maybe just hiding little ol' me; is she grabbing his tie?
finally, a slow song to gaze up into Tom's eyes and remember when...
The night really was just a blast. Mom, with Tom's tech-spertise, put together a really nice slide show of pictures, including some high school prom and fraternity social pictures. Miki and I put in a request for a sister-groom dance, which was really nice. Goodness knows why Jen was the only one besides the photographer taking pictures, but credit goes to her for all of these shots.
And now the people who the day was all about . . .
Auggie and Michelle Ford!!
We all pranced out into the cool evening, and street-side in downtown Portland made a canopy of sparklers for them to pass under on their way to their first night of wedded bliss. Of course a little snafu getting the bag to take to the hotel meant we got a couple more moments of laughter, hugs, and smiles:
To brothers!
To sisters!
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