My garden wedding 20-odd years ago

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:22 pm

DH and I met on an island when I was just 18 (a story for another time) so it stands to reason that we couldn't have anything but the most romantic wedding possible.
We decided on a summer wedding- the end of July, when some of my favorite flowers are at their peak. But where? Our little startup church was still meeting in a rented auction hall, not very romantic. Turns out a friend from that church had a very large backyard- and had always wanted a gazebo! So while I was up in the San Juan Islands, fulfilling my commitment to complete my second season of being a park aide there, my sweetie was busily helping our friend build a gazebo. He would mail me things from time to time, not just letters but a photo of the tuxedos that he and the guys were renting, and a dozen roses sent via ferryboat from San Juan island to Lopez island, where I was working. (I had to walk down the dock in my uniform to pick them up, and everyone on the boat watched me cry!). When I got back, folks were expecting a mad rush- I think there was actually some disappointment when I decided on only the fourth dress I tried on. Why not? It was perfect. And I'd dreamed since I was a little girl of a long flowing veil. So a friend of my moms, a seamstress by hobby, sewed tiny seed pearls all down the flowing length of tulle.
Most of our friends were young and broke, so we put together masses of sandwiches and salads. And another friend, a professional cake baker, gave us a great price on a very complicated cake- big enough that anyone who wanted to could take some home.
I had saved all the petals from all the flowers my sweetie had given me while we were dating, mixed them with the petals from the dozen roses, and a little girl we were very fond of threw those for us.
We were heading up the little youth group at the time, and a very talented young man and his sister performed the music. If you listen to Christian music at all, his name is Darrell Evans and he's a truly gifted guy, several albums out now and his songs often pop up on the list on Sunday morning. Very fun to see.
When we finally tore ourselves away, we left in another friends vintage Cadillac, then drove to the train station to catch a long ride to our honeymoon destination, the very romantic Bay area of California (where DH grew up, but having only once been out of my home state, seemed like another planet to me!)
Yes, the sun shone all day. And it wasn't too hot. And birds sang during the ceremony. Maybe I remember the day through rose-colored glasses, but isn't that how a garden wedding should be?

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