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Friday, August 1, 2014

Wedding Bells!

Last Saturday we travelled to Bellevue, Iowa for my cousin Breanna's wedding at St. John's Lutheran Church.  After a long ride and an adventure in Dubuque, we followed our directions into town until we saw a beautiful steeple.  Our search over, we parked, surprised at how many cars were there already and worried we were late.  We thought the wedding was scheduled for 2 p.m., but at only 1:30 we were nearly the last ones hurrying into the church!
The sanctuary (pictured above) was beautiful; it's lovely white arches looked like a splendid setting for the wedding.  As we took our seats I smiled at another red-headed lady seated; we didn't expect to recognize many of our relatives since we don't see this part of our family often, but at least our rutilistic genes are strong!  

What really surprised us though as we looked around the room (and I shot a few photos) was that we didn't recognize anyone at all, not even the beaming groom (whom I had seen photos of but never met in person).  Another puzzle to us were all the statutes along the wall, which didn't seem quite in the Lutheran tradition.

Curiosity and alarm got the best of us, and just as the groomsmen and bridesmaids were about to march in I asked a photographer beside me, "Is this Breanna's wedding?"  He gave me a confused look.  "Is this the Lutheran church?" Papa asked.  "No!" he replied.  It was Amanda and Clint's wedding!  We jumped out of our seats and scurried out a side door!  We were wedding crashers!
We hurried to find St. John's (above).  It had an even more impressive spire, and the interior of the church was decorated with beautiful stained glass windows.  Inside the church I recognized the right groom (Travis) whom I had seen in photos, the bride's brother and parents (Uncle Jack and Aunt Diane), and Aunt Linda the family genealogist who adds spice to everyone's lives.

The parents of the groom, a glowing Aunt Diane, the bridesmaids, and the groomsmen marched in, followed by Uncle Jack with my cousin Breanna who was smiling radiantly.  Portions of the Bible were read, the wedding vows were said, and then the pastor took a rope and had them literally tie the knot around their outstretched wrists.  The pastor then demonstrated how the rope can come untied, and each time it does they would need to tie it again.  Travis decided to solve the problem once and for all by tying a double-knot.

A soloist sang a beautiful rendition of "May the Lord Bless You and Keep You," and soon everyone left the sanctuary.  We were handed bubble-blowers and prepared an ambush of bubbles to meet the bride and groom on their departure.  
Four planes flew over the church in formation several times, which was very special since Travis is a pilot and Breanna is studying for her pilot's license.  Congratulations Breanna and Travis!  We pray the Lord will bless you with every happiness in Him.  Saturday, July 26th, was a day of weddings I will never forget!

18 comments:

  1. Oh dear, how funny to have arrived at the wrong wedding first. I must say that I am giggling just a wee bit :)

    But I will say that I am very thankful you made it safely to your cousins wedding and all went well. How very special to have the planes flying over the church.

    Thank you for sharing with us and have a spectacular weekend!

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  2. Oh that's hilarious that you wnet to the wrong wedding. That sounds like wedding bombing if there is such a thing:) I'm glad you finally found the right place to be:)

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  3. Oh my gracious, what a story! That is quite funny, I must say. ;)

    I am glad that the wedding went well for you all. It sounds like it was a special time. And what a sweet addition to have the planes fly over the church!

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  4. Oops! At least you have a funny story to look back on, as well as some good church photos. ;)
    I'm glad you enjoyed you enjoyed Breanna's wedding! I like your shot of the church with the planes.

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  5. Thanks Stephanie, Elanee, Cryslyn, and Paige! Glad you found the tale of our wedding crashing entertaining ;) ...I'm still not sure how it happened to us *gasp*, but it definitely helped make the special day very memorable! And yes, the planes were a delightful addition!

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  6. you saw two beautiful churches anyway! the insides of each church are beautiful. glad you got to the right one in the end! and thank you for visiting my blog.

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  7. I was very glad as well! ;) Thanks for commenting; you have a beautiful blog!

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  8. That church is absolutely stunning! Gorgeous! Arriving at the wrong wedding seems humorous (probably only because it has already happened ;D), but I must say I am glad that has never happened to me.

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  9. Oh how awkwardly hilarious! You did get to see two amazing old churches and have a funny story to tell so i guess it worked out well in the end. How neat that the wedding ended with airplanes. Thats so cool!
    -Abigail

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  10. Thanks Ashley and Abigail! It was rather shockingly humorous to us at the time... and I guess everything worked out fine in the end.

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  11. i would have never taken YoU, for a wedding crasher!!!

    i am glad your story had a happy ending....it's a beautiful church!!!

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  12. I would never have suspected myself--wedding crashing wasn't on my bucket list! ;) Yes! Both were very lovely churches.

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  13. It means you are blessed by visiting two churches and attending two weddings in same day (almost same time):))

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  14. hehe...very true! :) Always best to look on the bright side!

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  15. Okay, that's hilarious! Thanks for sharing the story!

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  16. I seriously loved everything. Specially the chruch.

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