What's a Saturday family wedding without another party on Sunday?! In our case, we decided to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary with a Vow Renewal Ceremony, as led by Rev. Jen and Father Monte Peters (who co-officiated in 1980 in Hudson, Quebec), followed by champagne toasts and a lobster feed for about 60 family and friends! It was wonderful and brought back many memories of that hot day 30 years ago!
Uncle Art leading "the bride" down the breezeway
The Reverend Jen with her opening words
Father Monte and Rev. Jen
The rings were blessed again (Pat is sporting a new one, having outgrown the original!)
Steph led the prayers
Art gave a toast to the bride, reminiscing from his original speech of 1980 and calling Kathie, "the project manager" for the lakehouse construction!
That was a funny story! Father Monte and Julianne
Cheers! To the "bride"!
Half of our original attendants joined us: Beth, Wendy, Kathie, Pat and Francis
30 years later...some of our guests!
That's a lot of carats...Steph, Kathie and Jen!
And that's a lot of white gold...Kathie, Pat, Jen, Ben, Steph and Lou
Cakes baked by Jen, using the original German Pound Cake recipe from 1980 (from June Coldwell, Bathurst, NB)
Pictures by brother, Terry:
Kathie's wedding dress hanging on the clothesline!
Kathie and Wendy, Maid of Honour and long-time friend from Kindergarten!
Brian and McKenzie with renovated and repainted children's Adirondack chairs and table, originally belonging to Kathie, then later Jen and Steph!
The Seamone family: Luke, Ben, Jen, Laura-Lee and Gary
What a lovely day we all enjoyed! Sunshine, a perfect blue sky, good food and the company of our family and long-time friends! Here's to another 30 years!
And now, I'm all caught up! Enjoy the blogs! Hasta luego!
When Steph phoned us last Labour Day weekend at Peter and Georgie's cottage with the happy news of Lou's proposal in Audobon Park, New Orleans, she said right then and there she wanted to have the reception at "the house"! "What house?", I inquired (having recently left Malaysia, not yet settled in Spain and being "homeless"). "The lakehouse", she exclaimed. "Ah", I replied, "the one that's not yet been built, not even under construction?" "But it will be", she assured me. And so it was...
From the tent rental company in Sussex, NB, to the flowers from The Co-op in Fredericton, the amazing cake lady in Hanwell, NB, the DJ from the radio stations in town, the busses to transport our guests from the hotel to the lakehouse and back, the Ready-John and Jane port-a-potties, the local caterer and her gang along with the BBQing crew, not to mention the decorations planned and organized by Lou, Steph, Jen and the girls (did I miss anyone?!?), it all came together, thanks to The Bank of Dad and a lot of hard work throughout the summer! What a party!
The round tables had simple burlap runners, tea lights, a blue hydrangea in a galvanized bucket and pictures of the bride and groom growing up!
The bride and groom arrive after pictures with Julie, their photographer.
Michael, Janice, Beth.Claudia, Anne, Mike and Eleanor
Jeff and Alicia who made their engagement official soon afterwards while still on holiday in NB! Congratulations!
Alex, T.J., Steph, Greg and Sydney
Shelley and Kathie
McKenzie (our tallest godson!) and Kathie
Karen, Chris and Lori
Joan and Bob
Trevor (our eldest godson!), Eva, Eric and Melanie
Alex, Alicia and Jen
First cousins: Janna, Allison, Erika, Steph, Matthew, Melanie, Jen with Baby Jessica, Lindsay and Brandon
Don't drop the bride, boys! T.J., Lou, Richard and Greg
Jen, Ann and goddaughter, Steph
Steph with godparents: Ann, Sil and Beth
Kathie's family: Uncle Art and Aunt Eleanor, Trevor, Melanie, Jen, Steph, Beth, Kathie and Stephen (Missing are cousins Shep and Stewart)
Steph and Lou...a good story, no doubt!
First dance! "If I Fall Behind" by Bruce Springsteen
Steph and Pat dancing to "Father and Daughter" by Paul Simon
Greg, Steph and Sarah
Brenda and Janna, the Dancing Queen!
Groom's cake (chocolate mousse from The Happy Baker) and bride's cake (white pound with fondant icing by Dorothy Blanchard)...both delicious!
Mamise and Marion
Greg and Deb
The UNB crowd: Peter, Steve, Brian, Greg, Chris (front) Pat, Deb, Ann, Julianne, Kathie and C.D.
The Bad Boys! Ben and Peter
Laura Lee practising for the future!
That's all, folks, but if you're a big fan of weddings, in particular this one, and wish to see more photos, please log onto the following sites: 1. The official wedding photographer's blog: http://www.julieawhitlockblog.com/2010/08/22/steph-and-lou-sneak-peek-phase-1/
2. www.photobucket.com User Name: stephlouwedding Password: august21 http://s1028.photobucket.com/home/stephlouwedding/allalbums
