The Reception

I'm sure you all are thinking this is the longest series of blogs about a single wedding ever.

It is .

Luke and Brianne's wedding was fun and Italian and patriotic.

The bride and groom walked in under the saber arch. I didn't get a good shot of it during the ceremony, so here goes.

At the head table, Luke paid tribute to his friend, Paul, with a photo, candle and tipped chair. Luke served with Paul, who was also a Captain in the Army. Paul was from San Antonio. He was an Eagle Scout and a West Point graduate. He died in Afghanistan in January, after committing to be a groomsman in Luke's wedding. Dave and I had breakfast with Paul and his mother when we visited Alaska in 2008, so we can personally say that this seemed to us to be a very nice young man and a true loss for his family and our country. Luke didn't want to replace him in the wedding party. So, this was how Paul stood by Luke on his special day. Luke gave a brief toast to his fellow service members and to his friend that was truly the most moving part of the entire day.





Other fun highlights....

Brianne is also called Sunshine by those of us who know her best. Why? because for years she's been a professional clown and if you know Bri, you know she takes this very seriously. She's been to clown college. She doesn't break character when she's in her clown attire. AND she's so popular she doesn't even advertise and stays as busy as she wants to be. At one local festival, I think she takes pride in the fact her line stays longer than Santa Claus. To sum up Sunshine, she gets joy out of making people happy.
The wedding singer called Brianne to the floor, had her put on her nose and clown shoes for a special dance. Brianne was wise to all of this, and she had a special nose for Luke to wear. He played along. Then, her family trumped all by coming out to the dance floor in clown noses. This was really fun and cute.My dance with my brother:

My dance with Brianne's dad, who was a constant on the dance floor. He likes to dance with the ladies, and he got everyone on the dance floor. He is an excellent host.


One special moment also came with the Last Couple Standing. My Grandfather wasn't feeling the greatest, and he was going to sit the night out. I persuaded him to get out to the dance floor by pleading, "C'mn Pop, this is a game you might win. And you always play the games you are going to win."

They will be married 61 years in November, so they won this competition easily.

Luke and Bri cut the wedding cake with a saber and the grooms cake with a bayonet. The couple made a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project as a wedding favor in honor of their guests. The night ended with a nice rendition of America the Beautiful. In the years to come, I'll remember the event as a beautiful, yet thoughtful and meaningful memory to mark Memorial Day weekend.... as a day not only to remember some of America's best and brightest, but a time my brother married a wonderful girl.

PS... Jack slept through the entire reception.

The Ceremony

I was Catholic once. At least that's what a poster said.

I forgot about this until I was looking through my Syracuse pictures looking for pictures of Brianne and me for the previous entry. And there it was....One of our graduate friends was very involved in the Catholic Student Association on campus. When the sign up list for a group outing to tour the Wine Region of Central New York came up short, she asked the class if anyone wanted to go fill some slots. Go drink? Sure, why not? Several of us non-Catholics signed right up and had a fantastic time on gray Saturday. We posed for a few pictures and thought nothing of it.

Until later that year when someone spotted a brochure in the student union.
There we were.... a baptist, a methodist, a jew, and an agnostic or two... posing as the poster children on the brochure for the Catholic Grad Student Association. We had a good laugh about this.

If I had remembered I'd been Catholic once, maybe I wouldn't have been so nervous as a reader in a Catholic church at my brother's wedding. I had to walk in front of people...which makes me incredibly nervous. I fell in front of everyone at my senior prom, but that's another post. Anyway. Not only did I have to walk in front of everyone, I had to bow going and coming AND do it all twice for two separate readings. My brain went temporarily on the blink because I chose to do all of this in four inch heels. I was way too worked up about all of this.
I did not fall. I did just fine.

My brother's wedding ceremony went beautifully. The bride was stunning and beaming. Parents shed a tear or two. My brother looked happy and handsome.Since it was a military wedding, he and his best man, my brother John, wore their fancy Army uniforms. They spent part of the morning leading up to the ceremony getting their uniforms together. Luke and his bronze star. John and his purple hearts. We are so proud of them both....but anyway...Soldiers marched down the aisle at the end of the ceremony and there was a saber arch. Just before Luke and Brianne walked through the last set of sabers, the soldiers crossed sabers below and wouldn't let them pass until Luke kissed Brianne. He dipped her and when she was back upright, they said "welcome to the Army,

ma'am!" They did a similar thing while entering the reception. There were several cheers.

And the smallest dude in a tuxedo was a very well-behaved Jack. He seemed mesmerized by the colorful stained glass windows and by his Mema who was feeding him a bottle. He did get a little warm, so by the end of the ceremony he was giving a shout out to Risky Business by going pants-less.

Some of the group probably thought I was rude because I was taking and texting pictures frequently to relatives in Arkansas. They got to experience the wedding on an iPhone, and I bet they could still see the happiness of the newlyweds.

Camryn Joy is here!

We are an aunt and uncle again! My sister, Jessica, had her baby girl, Camryn Joy yesterday in Shreveport. Camryn weighed 5 lbs 1 oz and was 18 inches long. She has red hair and Slatton feet. (That's long and skinny feet for you who don't know)

She's exactly 3 months younger than Jack and we can't wait to meet her.

What if?

I still remember the day I found out I got rejected from Columbia's graduate school. Actually, I was wait-listed, but same difference.

I knew from the moment I pulled the envelope out of my campus mailbox that this packet was far too light to be an acceptance letter. I made it back to my dorm room before I started crying.

I know now I was more enamored with having a degree from an Ivy League college rather than getting a solid broadcast journalism foundation. So rather than gamble with a wait-list and then pay off the enormous debt that comes with an Ivy League education, I looked forward to an assistant ship and the challenge that awaited me at my second choice, the Newhouse School at Syracuse University... which is actually quite prestigious in itself.

I never knew on that first day of class that in a small graduate class of 28, I would meet both my future husband AND sister-in-law.

But I did.

It wasn't until after graduation that a chain of events starting linking together. A casual date became a meaningful relationship which only became stronger when Dave and I moved a thousand miles apart. He got a job in Shreveport. We still liked each other. We decided to get married. He asked his cousin to be a groomsman in our wedding which left us one very important bridesmaid short. I asked Brianne who was our good friend from our days at Syracuse. She came to Louisiana and met my brother, who was also in the wedding party. A casual wedding weekend became a meaningful relationship which only became stronger when Luke moved thousands of miles away to Alaska and then to Iraq. He got a job in Utica. They still liked each other. And they decided to get married.

People say 'all things work out for the best', but this is the one instance in my life where I have clearly seen a disappointment play out into the greatest thing ever. By getting that rejection letter, I found two very important people that I can't imagine life without.... which is a heckuva lot better than paying student loans on an Ivy League education.