now the party...

The reception area at the church was made so fantastically beautiful and drastically different by Rachael's mom, Jill, and her good friend Theresa (along with Dave, Rachael's dad and several others). Jill is officially my hero--I can't believe the amount of planning and organization she put into this affair for her daughter. I would say she is the consumate party planner but I know that the reason she put so much into this is because of how much she loves her daughter. And most party planners do not make every decoration themselves and then cook all the food and bake all the cakes! I am simply in awe of her.





The reception "theme" was a tea party. Rachael loves tea. They collected vintage tea cups for the last several months and the guests were invited to select a cup to take home with them and a tea to enjoy before dinner.



The little cookies (made by Jill) were delcious herb cookies shaped like tea bags. SO cute.

soooo many kinds of delcious foods

the most delicious of all.

 I have no pictures of the cakes! Or of them cutting. Or of the beautiful lanterns hanging along the walls. Hopefully when the official photographs come out....

the introduction of Mr. and Mrs. Jarrett Gercken

first dance

Rachael and her dad dancing to a sweet song he chose

Evan Duncan, a good friend of Jarrett's from way back in our Germany days, flew from Texas with his sweet girfriend Brittany to be there for Jarrett. So touching. What a wonderful man he has grown into and Brittany is a doll.

I love her.

One of my dearest friends....Jan and I have grown our families up together. Almost surreal that they're starting to get married now.

My sister, my mom, and me. Webster girls.

Nancy is our cool cousin. She got an MP escort to our house for the rehearsal dinner (she's proud of that), is a politician's wife, and rocks an immobilization boot with a dress and one heel like no one else.

Bubbles for the bride and groom

sweet smiles

And there they go, off to their future.

I think I'm almost finished processing all these events. Occasionally, if I sit still for a little while, a new emotion creeps in, but mostly this just feels normal already. They are married. They love each other and they love God and I am so completely and decidedly happy for them.