Where was I? Oh yes, there was this wedding!

On Saturday June 14th I gathered with friends and family, both new and old, to witness the marriage of Elvira and Jason.



Jason is my cousin Linda's son, and my parents and sister attended the wedding retreat at the Audubon Center in Sandstone MN.



We arrived Friday afternoon, moved our stuff into our room and sat in some lawnchairs outside to wait for dinner. Dinner was proceeded with a game of "Mix it up bingo" where we had a clue on each square and had to move around the room and talk to the other attendees to see if they had "Attended Virginia Tech", or "Pee'd in the woods that week", for example. You wrote their names on the square and when you had a line filled in you yelled BINGO! Considering the bride's family was from the East Coast, the groom's family was ALL from MN, and their friend's were from the West Coast, it was a great way to get to know each other. After dinner, which was vegetarian tacos, we moved out to the fire pit for s'mores.

The bride's grandmother was roasting a marshmallow, possibly for the first time ever, and I leaned over to see if she would like a s'more.

Rose: "Well how about I start with this and I'll let you know."
Me: "No, Rose, do you want a s'more?"
Rose: "I may have some more after this."
Me: "Rose, let me make you a s'more. Katheryn, set her up! There you go."
Rose: "Oh, what is this?"
Me: "More sugar than you will ever need."

The whole weekend was a fun east meets west in the middle.

Saturday morning we woke and had breakfast (once again vegetarian) and had an hour of yoga with the bride and groom's yoga instructor, who later officiated the wedding that afternoon. After yoga I headed off to the bride and groom's cabin to help my cousin work on the flowers. The flowers had been gathered from her and her sister's gardens, including some Lily of the Valley that Cindy scored in her woods in WI for the Mother's corsage. We made bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres for the wedding party and family. I think they turned out just lovely!


The lavender was provided by Edina Floral (I think that was the name) and it was an adventure. There wasn't a bunch of lavender to be had in the entire Twin Cities area and my cousin called Edina Floral, who found a bunch on a truck on it's way to Fargo. She stopped the truck in St. Cloud, had the drivers take a lunch, and drove up to meet it. My cousin couldn't believe she did that and her explanation was simply, "I love weddings!". Well we were all a little verklempt.

After the flowers were done and stowed in the cooler we all went and got ready.





The bride is a knitter and she made the 4 shawls for the bridesmaids and her crown. She also made the bolero, but she must have decided against it at the last minute.





The ceremony was on the shore and it was beautiful weather, even if the breeze was a bit intense. It was hard not to laugh as the grooms' sister attempted to wrestle her sheet music, keep her hair out of her eyes, her skirt closed and seat her cello. The music was provided by the groom's uncle, cousin, sisters and father.



Their friend from San Francisco rounded out the performances with a rap. It was awesome!!!

I think everyone cried during the vows. The whole wedding was so beautiful and personal. During the receiving line we received a fly over by 2 eagles and a hawk. It was amazing!



The evening ended with a reception in the lodge and a Ho Down with live music!!!!


It was such an amazing weekend!!!!!

Saturday night we got to see this guy.



Sunday we had yet another amazing breakfast (the cooks were just wonderful all weekend) and Katherine and I headed back to the Twin Cities. I spent 30 minutes throwing the rest of my and Ilya's stuff in the van and were on the road to Lilies by 1.