Wedding Daze

Bride and Groom Cut the Cake

     Yesterday was a great wedding day for youngest daughter Victoria and her groom Matt.    Both Nancy and I are still in a daze from the glory of the day both in the ceremony and reception.  We celebrated well into the evening in word, song, dance, eating,  drinking and mega socializing.    We were blessed with the presence of family and friends of both the bride and groom from an extraordinary mix of faith, culture and geographic location backgrounds.

     Nancy presided over an interfaith ceremony honoring both Jewish and Christian faith callings and traditions.   As mother of the bride Nancy had multiple roles in the event and with grace and creativity provided a moving set of remarks for Matt and Victoria. The gathering witnessed the personalized vows by the bride and groom being solemnized under the chuppah with its own symbolism in the Jewish faith and in many ways representing the tent of God that embraces all of us the greater sense.   It was a special gift to have the extended family of uncles aunts, cousins and long time friends of the groom's family present.   All of them had a special connection to Matt from the time he was born to the present.   In Victoria's case she is a child with six half siblings who were all present to share her special day along with the ten nieces and nephews ranging age from one to 24.     Although Nancy and I no longer have living family of the groom's family generation, we do have pseudo family in the form of people in Nancy's former churches who have been a part of Victoria's growing up.   We delighted in seeing them and in turn they were honored to be a part of celebrating this new union for our family.

Grandpa Gerry and Flower Girl Emma

    The bride and groom are both Cornell graduates and met as participants in the Big Red Marching Band.   There was a vast crowd of their band mates and classmates in attendance.   There was a special recognition of Cornellians with photo and cheers en mass on the dance floor.  There must have been fifty of us in the group picture.

    For many of the metropolitan area guests it was their first time in rural upstate New York.  They were amazed by out beautiful surroundings.   Irene, who teaches 5th graders was fascinated by our silos and soon I will be giving her background on these storage units that she can use with her class.

   As I write this I have flashes of replay of the entire wedding day that are difficult to express in words.  Perhaps my geezer senses have been on overload.   I am so happy that I lived long enough to walk all my brides who I have parented down the aisle.  The memories of this event will be lasting and precious in a special way just as the previous ones have been.   God bless this union.   Mazel Tov!