Elizabeth's Wedding and Not Going to Baltimore

So David and I were supposed to have driven down to Baltimore, Maryland, Friday afternoon to attend Hi-De-Hon, a lindy exchange weekend. But as it turned out, I needed a weekend off and David had plenty of work that needed to be done, so we decided not to drive to Baltimore.  Instead we are in Cleveland, taking a weekend of not doing much.  David's working a couple of hours each day, and I'm reading and tooling around online while he works, and we're enjoying not doing much else.

The reason for the weekend off is that the last two weeks were VERY full.  We went to New York for Blues Blaze, which, as I've mentioned before, was a little chaotic, and then I was sick for three days, and then Elizabeth Kerr got married last weekend.

Elizabeth and I have known each other since the fifth grade, and we've been close friends since early high school.  (There was a rough period in college when we both needed some space, but we made it through that.)  When Elizabeth and Paul announced their engagement it didn't come as a surprise to me or to any of their close friends or family.  They have a strong, playful relationship; it is a joy to be with them, and I am so honored to have been involved in their wedding.  Because Elizabeth and I have been sewing together for as long as we have been friends, she asked me to help make her wedding gown.  After a handful of very long evenings and days, we completed the most complicated and beautiful project either of us has ever worked on.  An incredible garment in it's own right, the dress looked even more spectacular on the bride, and (a triumph!) she professes to have been comfortable in it all day.

Elizabeth and Paul at the costume-prop photo booth.

In addition to helping with the dress, I got to be part of the weekend festivities: the bachelorette, the set up and decorating, the rehearsal, and the day-of preparations.  I read a beautiful piece that Elizabeth selected from The Little Prince in her ceremony, which was short and sweet and made me cry. Elizabeth and Paul decided on ribs and perogies for their wedding dinner, and they and her family prepared all of the food themselves (Paul prepares some seriously incredible ribs.)  Instead of cake, they elected to have pie served, and Elizabeth's aunt made most of the pies. When I asked how the pies were to be served, Elizabeth told me that they wanted pies put on the tables, and if folks wanted a kind of pie that wasn't at their table, she and Paul wanted them to get up and find the kind they liked at someone else's table and to meet the folks at that table (this was announced when the pies were served).  Everyone seemed to really enjoy the wedding - there were a lot of smiles, and it was a very relaxed, casual atmosphere.

I love that Elizabeth and Paul achieved a traditional wedding that was fun, comfortable for everyone involved, and low-stress and low-budget.  They chose to not subscribe to the big, flashy, expensive wedding that the wedding industry markets as "every girl's dream wedding" (which in reality is an unattainable, stress-inducing, way over-priced nightmare - and come on, who wants that?)  So kudos to Elizabeth and Paul on the wedding, and many blessings on their marriage.