Wedding Follow-Up
Hello all! After much delay I am FINALLY posting this blog entry about our wedding. For pictures please follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14784&l=d8a13&id=577090131
We had a wonderful time on our wedding day and wanted to say a huge thanks to everyone who was able to make it. We really missed those of you who were busy but we understand how busy life can get.
The wedding was held at Dominion Brook Park in Sidney (across from the Panorama Leisure Centre) on Saturday, May 19th 2007. It was a beautiful day full of much strange weather. When I arrived at the park (only 15 minutes late despite what everyone else may say ;) it was raining. By the time I made my way down the hill the rain had stopped and the wind died down a little. The Wiccan priest and priestess started the ceremony with myself and Colin both hidden from view behind a tree.
First the HP (High Priest - not the steak sauce) and the HPS (High Priestess) consecrated our marriage circle, calling on the elements to bless it. While the HPS was pacing out the circle, Maggie (our flower girl) was following her, scattering flowers to mark the circle Then they called forth Colin as the groom and his attendants (Andrea, Andrew, Connie and Ryan). They annointed their foreheads and called them into the circle. Next they called me (as the bride... duh!) and my attendants (Kim, Michael, Stephanie and Tristan) forward and did the same thing with the annointing of the foreheads. The rest is a little blurry in my memory as I all seem to remember is staring into Colin's eyes after I came around the tree and saw him looking INCREDIBLY handsome in his kilt and plaid ensemble.
Next the HP and HPS had us recite our eternally binding vows and had us exchange rings. Then they lit the bride candle (white) and the groom candle (yellow) and had us take these to light the red candle to represent our love. (This was a little tricky with the slightly windy conditions but all the candles stayed lit throughout the ceremony which I figure is a good sign).
The came the braiding of the handfasting cord. The HP and HPS took three cords (white, yellow and red again) and tied a knot in one end. The cords were about 15 feet long and a 1/4 inch wide. The HP held the tied end while the HPS held the red strand, I held the white one and Colin held the yellow one. The HPS told our friends and family that we three would start the braiding of the handfasting cord and that once we had begun it anyone who wanted to could join in by taking one of the strands and doing the over-under-over maypole-style weaving of the cord.
It was really great to see so many of our friends and family participate in this part. The cutest part was when there were three little kids all braiding together.
When the braid was complete the HP and HPS took it and tied three knots in it to symbolize faith, trust, and love. Then they put my right hand in Colin's left and tied them together with the fourth knot symbolizing unity.
They then brought forth the athame (a knife) to represent the God and a chalice (cup of mead) to represent the Goddess and had me hold the athame and Colin hold the chalice while kneeling before me. I then dipped the point of the athame into the chalice and we spoke words talking about the union of the Goddess and the God. Then we each had a sip of the mead and kissed.
The HPS then banished the elements and opened the circle.
THEN we had to sign the wedding register (which is a LOT trickier than normal as my right hand was tied to Colin's left). While we were doing this Stephanie sang "Rise Up my Love" and "Till There was You" which were both absolutely gorgeous.
Then we were finally presented as the newly-wed couple. We had an informal greeting time where everyone came up and offered congratulations to us. It was so heart-warming to see so many of the people we care about gathered in one place to be there with us.
Once people had finished offering congratulations to us we had an informal photography session in the park with Mike and Jessica. We are still waiting on photos from a couple of people but I will post some of the ones we have recieved so far.
The reception was wonderful. It was at the home of John and Marjorie Tate (Colin's parents) and was catered by the "Mom's" (my mom, Nancy and Colin's mom) and their kitchen helpers.
We would like to say some BIIIIG thank yous to people who helped out (and if I have forgotten someone please forgive me... as I say I was a little distracted that day):
Thank you to my Mom and Step-dad, Nancy Quist and Dave Laughlin, for making our wedding party brunch and the Captain's Deck in Sidney a possibility, for bringing down turkey and roast beef and salad and vegetarian chili and other tasty treats for the reception, for making sure I had a beautiful bouquet of flowers and our families had corsages, boutinieres and Maggie, the flower girl, had a lovely wreath for her hair, for finding out information about having a wedding in a park in Sidney and for all the support you offered throughout the process.
Thank you to my Dad, Will Wolff, for saving us from the rain with a couple of well-timed umbrellas and for looking so perfectly dashing as father-of-the-bride.
Thank you to Mom-in-law and Dad-in-law, Marjorie and John Tate, for helping out with SO many details: from which park to have the wedding at, to hosting the reception, paying for the wedding cake, getting that beautiful old car for us to ride to and from the wedding in, and keeping things running smoothly the day of.
Thank you to Joanne (my new sister-in-law) for coming and hanging out during the wedding prep time.
Thank you to Maggie, our wonderful flower girl and her mom, Ruth, for participating in the ceremony and for making the lovely ring pillow (bedecked in MANY ribbons).
Thank you to our attendants: Andrea, Andrew, Connie, Kim, Michael, Ryan, Stephanie and Tristan for keeping us sane, making us pretty, helping with set up and getting us to the right place at the right time.
Thank you to Major Dave Letson and his wife Tad for being our official wedding filmographers and spending so much time after the wedding piecing together a wonderful wedding DVD for us to remember the day by.
Thank you to everyone who helped with details like helping in the kitchen, driving us to and from the ceremony, setting up and tearing down the big pavilions (which we were especially grateful for when the rain occasionally drifted by), to those who took photos and sent them to us: Mrs. Ens, Terry and Robin Lam, Steve, Sarah, and many, many more.
As I mentioned my memories are a little hazy so I will be adding names to this thank you list as I think of it.
And a BIG thank you to everyone who trekked in from far and wide to join us on the best day of our lives (at least until December when our first baby will be born). We had many friends and family come over from the mainland, people came down from up-island, we had people in the wedding party who came from as far away as Red Deer, Alberta and Hawaii (Connie wins longest distance travelled for the wedding). Thank you to for everyone local who showed up (some of whom only found out about the wedding the previous night from me at the Loreena McKennitt concert.
Thank you most of all to my husband Colin: for being so kind and funny and sweet and strong and responsible and wonderful with kids and for loving me so much. I never would have done this without you, my soulmate. I am so proud that I have the chance to tell everyone the only truth that I know:
Colin, you are my everything.
We had a wonderful time on our wedding day and wanted to say a huge thanks to everyone who was able to make it. We really missed those of you who were busy but we understand how busy life can get.
The wedding was held at Dominion Brook Park in Sidney (across from the Panorama Leisure Centre) on Saturday, May 19th 2007. It was a beautiful day full of much strange weather. When I arrived at the park (only 15 minutes late despite what everyone else may say ;) it was raining. By the time I made my way down the hill the rain had stopped and the wind died down a little. The Wiccan priest and priestess started the ceremony with myself and Colin both hidden from view behind a tree.
First the HP (High Priest - not the steak sauce) and the HPS (High Priestess) consecrated our marriage circle, calling on the elements to bless it. While the HPS was pacing out the circle, Maggie (our flower girl) was following her, scattering flowers to mark the circle Then they called forth Colin as the groom and his attendants (Andrea, Andrew, Connie and Ryan). They annointed their foreheads and called them into the circle. Next they called me (as the bride... duh!) and my attendants (Kim, Michael, Stephanie and Tristan) forward and did the same thing with the annointing of the foreheads. The rest is a little blurry in my memory as I all seem to remember is staring into Colin's eyes after I came around the tree and saw him looking INCREDIBLY handsome in his kilt and plaid ensemble.
Next the HP and HPS had us recite our eternally binding vows and had us exchange rings. Then they lit the bride candle (white) and the groom candle (yellow) and had us take these to light the red candle to represent our love. (This was a little tricky with the slightly windy conditions but all the candles stayed lit throughout the ceremony which I figure is a good sign).
The came the braiding of the handfasting cord. The HP and HPS took three cords (white, yellow and red again) and tied a knot in one end. The cords were about 15 feet long and a 1/4 inch wide. The HP held the tied end while the HPS held the red strand, I held the white one and Colin held the yellow one. The HPS told our friends and family that we three would start the braiding of the handfasting cord and that once we had begun it anyone who wanted to could join in by taking one of the strands and doing the over-under-over maypole-style weaving of the cord.
It was really great to see so many of our friends and family participate in this part. The cutest part was when there were three little kids all braiding together.
When the braid was complete the HP and HPS took it and tied three knots in it to symbolize faith, trust, and love. Then they put my right hand in Colin's left and tied them together with the fourth knot symbolizing unity.
They then brought forth the athame (a knife) to represent the God and a chalice (cup of mead) to represent the Goddess and had me hold the athame and Colin hold the chalice while kneeling before me. I then dipped the point of the athame into the chalice and we spoke words talking about the union of the Goddess and the God. Then we each had a sip of the mead and kissed.
The HPS then banished the elements and opened the circle.
THEN we had to sign the wedding register (which is a LOT trickier than normal as my right hand was tied to Colin's left). While we were doing this Stephanie sang "Rise Up my Love" and "Till There was You" which were both absolutely gorgeous.
Then we were finally presented as the newly-wed couple. We had an informal greeting time where everyone came up and offered congratulations to us. It was so heart-warming to see so many of the people we care about gathered in one place to be there with us.
Once people had finished offering congratulations to us we had an informal photography session in the park with Mike and Jessica. We are still waiting on photos from a couple of people but I will post some of the ones we have recieved so far.
The reception was wonderful. It was at the home of John and Marjorie Tate (Colin's parents) and was catered by the "Mom's" (my mom, Nancy and Colin's mom) and their kitchen helpers.
We would like to say some BIIIIG thank yous to people who helped out (and if I have forgotten someone please forgive me... as I say I was a little distracted that day):
Thank you to my Mom and Step-dad, Nancy Quist and Dave Laughlin, for making our wedding party brunch and the Captain's Deck in Sidney a possibility, for bringing down turkey and roast beef and salad and vegetarian chili and other tasty treats for the reception, for making sure I had a beautiful bouquet of flowers and our families had corsages, boutinieres and Maggie, the flower girl, had a lovely wreath for her hair, for finding out information about having a wedding in a park in Sidney and for all the support you offered throughout the process.
Thank you to my Dad, Will Wolff, for saving us from the rain with a couple of well-timed umbrellas and for looking so perfectly dashing as father-of-the-bride.
Thank you to Mom-in-law and Dad-in-law, Marjorie and John Tate, for helping out with SO many details: from which park to have the wedding at, to hosting the reception, paying for the wedding cake, getting that beautiful old car for us to ride to and from the wedding in, and keeping things running smoothly the day of.
Thank you to Joanne (my new sister-in-law) for coming and hanging out during the wedding prep time.
Thank you to Maggie, our wonderful flower girl and her mom, Ruth, for participating in the ceremony and for making the lovely ring pillow (bedecked in MANY ribbons).
Thank you to our attendants: Andrea, Andrew, Connie, Kim, Michael, Ryan, Stephanie and Tristan for keeping us sane, making us pretty, helping with set up and getting us to the right place at the right time.
Thank you to Major Dave Letson and his wife Tad for being our official wedding filmographers and spending so much time after the wedding piecing together a wonderful wedding DVD for us to remember the day by.
Thank you to everyone who helped with details like helping in the kitchen, driving us to and from the ceremony, setting up and tearing down the big pavilions (which we were especially grateful for when the rain occasionally drifted by), to those who took photos and sent them to us: Mrs. Ens, Terry and Robin Lam, Steve, Sarah, and many, many more.
As I mentioned my memories are a little hazy so I will be adding names to this thank you list as I think of it.
And a BIG thank you to everyone who trekked in from far and wide to join us on the best day of our lives (at least until December when our first baby will be born). We had many friends and family come over from the mainland, people came down from up-island, we had people in the wedding party who came from as far away as Red Deer, Alberta and Hawaii (Connie wins longest distance travelled for the wedding). Thank you to for everyone local who showed up (some of whom only found out about the wedding the previous night from me at the Loreena McKennitt concert.
Thank you most of all to my husband Colin: for being so kind and funny and sweet and strong and responsible and wonderful with kids and for loving me so much. I never would have done this without you, my soulmate. I am so proud that I have the chance to tell everyone the only truth that I know:
Colin, you are my everything.
posted by Sara at 9:01 AM
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