The rain stayed away, a beautiful blue sky with a smattering of white clouds filled the sky, and the wind swirled things around. This was what the weather was like on September 19th, the day my son Ryan married his love...Alyssa Waters ("Ally" to him). The setting for the wedding was the absolutely gorgeous yard of Alyssa's mom and stepdad, Susan and Kent Couch in Bend, Oregon. It was like something out of a storybook...waterfalls, flowers, a pond with a rope bridge, and a barn and windmill in the background.
Ryan and Alyssa chose not to see each other before the moment she walked down the flower-strewn aisle. The look on his face as he saw his beautiful bride come down the aisle for the first time (to Brandon Heath's "Love Never Fails") was one I will always remember. It brought the waterworks on for many people! Ben Bryson, my cousin-in-law and pastor of Court Street Christian Church in Salem where the couple attends, was the pastor. He spoke such a personal, sweet message and likened Ryan to the younger brother he never had. While John Snell, Ryan's former youth pastor and good friend, sang "Your Love is Extravagant", Ryan and Alyssa poured 2 colored sands into one vase as a sign of their unity. They each wrote their own vows...WOW - very touching and romantic.
The couple's first dance was to "their song" - Josh Groban's "When You Say You Love Me." The father-daughter dance was to Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World". I didn't know until the song had started, that Ryan was going to take me up and continue as a mother-son dance. It made me very emotional!
Reflecting on both of my children's weddings - they were each so different, yet perfect for them. That's what I liked. But most important, each was centered on Christ's role in their marriages.
No comments:
Post a Comment