Oh, the Bliss of a June Bride
Friday, June 2, 2006
Friday – the eve of Judah and Evangeline’s wedding. Seeing as their wedding program was as long as the church bulletin and required stapling, Collette knew that she would be in for the long haul that night, and decided to bring her trusty leather journal and various writing materials.
Later that morning, Rosemary had her whole crew in the office as she prepared materials for Vacation Bible School. All four gals and Oholibamah Expialidocious talked about how they just got good tickets to the Fox to see Phantom of the Opera and about the National Spelling Bee which was broadcast the night before and employed both Hawaiian and German words, and of the one young man who fainted under the stress… Later still, Collette heard the bulletin ladies chatting over flooded landscaping and Chinese medicine.
The rehearsal dinner itself was good. Joe the Elder and Angelina were back. Collette was greeted with the usual So, when are you due? from Elder and:
“Hey, Collette! I stole a highlighter from your desk; it is still your desk, right? And, hey, what about those tattoos your husband has?”
Later, he nearly started reading the funeral introductions instead of the wedding introductions.
Meanwhile, Judah and Evangeline were dressed rather smart – Judah in khakis and a collared blue shirt and Liz in a bubblegum pink dress. It was brought to their attention, their wardrobe, because they were wearing the same outfits they had worn a year ago to the rehearsal dinner of their friend, which was where the sparks began to fly. Judah had gone over to another friend’s house at one o’clock in the morning after the dinner and expressed his interest in Evangeline again, and how he was distraught that she was bringing another guy to the wedding the next day, etc. Collette remembered the weekend he had left the June before, and returned with news of himself and Evangeline.
During the rehearsal, Addicus brought in the kneeler which he had just finished constructing. And the air-socks in the ceiling puffed in and out with the going on and off of the air conditioner, much like the billowing of ship’s sails. There was a grand total of four wedding coordinators! on the floor that evening – Oluva Cross, Skagen Pinks, Merry Scot, and Madge Wheels.
OLeif, Collette, and Molly waited in the back of the sanctuary and observed the activity.
“Oh, man,” Molly almost groaned, “I just spent, like, twelve hours, arranging cheese on trays for the reception. And there’s weird cheese too – like goat cheese with rosemary in it…”
“Ha ha,” Collette laughed, “Now, you have to admit that even that is worse than what you had to do at our wedding. I know you were on your feet for fifteen hours, but that has to be better than arranging cheese all day.”
Molly still liked to show people the battle scars she had on her feet from helping set up OLeif’s and Collette’s wedding reception all day long, the day of their wedding.
After two hours of working out the details in the sanctuary, they headed over to the barn for Kevin Van der Perrin lasagna (which took him two days to prepare), bread, salad, and desserts. OLeif and Collette sat with Elder and Angelina and caught up on Stonebridge Church, while OLeif and Elder discussed the youth, ministry, ideas and concerns in the church, etc. Judah and Evangeline were all sunshine through the rain, and were enjoying themselves immensely. What an international couple they were – Judah having worked in Tanzania with Swahili, Evangeline in Peru, her sister in Costa Rica, another very Wheaton-esque friend in Bolivia, friends who pastored a church in Honduras, a soft-spoken gentlemanly friend of Judah’s who studied physics and wore all black, snaps, and rivets, and whose family had taken Judah on their vacations around the world, including England, Evangeline’s grandparents, 91 and 94.
Judah and Evangeline were beaming.