The Wedding

OK, enough depressing stuff with the 9/11 post. It's time to tell you about my sister's wedding!

I really struggled with the whole idea of Danielle getting married. I was frustrated with myself for even feeling this way! Why was I making it all about me instead of being focused on her and how happy I am she is getting married? For some reason, the whole wedding made me feel like the final chapter of my childhood was being slammed shut. It doesn't matter that I'm almost 29 years old, with a husband, two kids and a house. My baby sister is getting married and I now feel like a real, genuine adult. And it's not like she's too young to get married. She's 24, and I was married with 2 kids at that age! It just feels like my childhood is officially over.

Oy, I tell ya, I'm crazy. Our trip was bittersweet. I really am happy for Danielle (and Sam). It's just that everything is changing from here on out, and I'd rather be stubborn about it and plug my ears, close my eyes and sing la-la-la-la. Yes, I'm so mature.

Instead of doing long, multiple posts, I've decided to do it all in one post. I don't think anyone cares to read a series and I do that too often as it is. It means showing you less pictures, (there are still a lot, but it is still less than if I were to break it up into several posts!) but if you're a friend of mine on Facebook, you can see more there.

It was so good to see my family again. The afternoon we arrived, we were already thrown into busy plans. April was hosting a bachelorette party at her house for Danielle that night. It was planned so that I could attend.

The three sisters, together again!

Most of our trip was wedding related. The three of us had a sister day, we got our nails done, went to Starbucks, and saw a movie.
I think this was the third time I've ever had a manicure! I love pretty nails... I wonder if my husband would let us fit in regular manicures in the budget. I'm thinking no. ;)

But we did make time to have fun and spent every second we had with Danielle before the wedding occurred. Danielle was hoping we could go to a splash park and so we did.

Blake ran around with his orange bucket.
Isn't he cute?! He has grown so much since Christmas!

Danielle was so nice and let Raymond throw a bucket of water on her. Brave girl!



Before we knew it, it was time to make the four hour drive to Middle of Nowhere, Wisconsin for the wedding. I was absolutely amazed at the green pastures everywhere. Raymond and I wanted to move there.

This is the view from the highway as we drove. It looked like this the whole way, except we'd see cornfields and lots and lots of red barns. It was amazing!
Danielle had gone up to Wisconsin the day before so I was excited to see her again and check out the wedding site!

That church? It isn't a church anymore. It is Sam's aunt and uncle's house. A 100+ year old house was about to be demolished and his aunt couldn't bear to see that happen, so they bought it and had it moved a few miles and converted it into a house! It was stunningly beautiful. I was speechless looking around!

The foyer of the church/house had photographs and newspaper articles framed and hung on the walls to give the history of the building.

The actual move!

Here is the foyer. Everyone was reading and looking at the photos.

I gasped with delight when I saw the staircase. Children's books lined the banister. Could I live here, please? I love the idea! Granted, the family's children are older so there isn't the problem of the kids throwing books down the stairs and making a mess of it.
I made Jonah pose. It was too cute!
There were so many amazing rooms just on the main level. We didn't even get to see the basement or the upstairs!
Above the fireplace was this-
Walking into the kitchen was just as delightful.
Buckets and vases of fresh flowers were everywhere!

Danielle had completely forgotten about having flowers for the wedding. Sam's aunt took it on, asking friends and neighbors to bring any flowers they had growing in their gardens that they were willing to contribute to the wedding festivities. And boy did they come through! There was a group of people working together, cutting and arranging flowers.

I want that fireplace with the blue and white tiles around it! So gorgeous!

The only purchased flowers were the red roses for Danielle's bouquet. Two dozen roses from Walmart.

See pictures on FB for more photos from the house.

People were barbecuing for the picnic-style rehearsal dinner, that's why there is smoke blowing.

I took a ton of pictures. It was impossible not to. It seemed surreal. What a gorgeous and peaceful setting! Everywhere you turned, there was literally 360 degrees of green hills and pastures around us. You couldn't see anything but greenery and wildflowers. Farms lay out here and there in the distance.




A beautiful garden and playhouse. It was so charming!


Pretty as a postcard! And the color of the sky is breathtaking. I've lived in dusty, smoggy Central California for too long. The sky didn't seem real!
1895 is the year the church was built!

Photo op! Danielle's last night as a single lady.

When Danielle had tried to tell me about the farm and the wedding there, it was really hard to picture it. You really had to see it in person to fully appreciate it. Sam's aunt and uncle are simply amazing to offer their home as a wedding location. It was a HUGE job but it all really worked out so nicely. I told his aunt there was no way I'd want to do have all of those people at my house!

The day of the wedding arrived. My sisters and I had one last hurrah together getting our hair done at a local salon. Here's my after:

I wanted a classic updo. It was HOT, the Midwest was experiencing a heat wave and I didn't want my hair plastered against my neck during the ceremony. I had really hoped for a break from California heat during our vacation but alas that was not the case.

We rushed over from the salon to the farm. It was time to get dressed and ready for the 11 o'clock wedding!
I have to show you the original hardwood floor! Can you imagine living in this house/church and all of the history it holds? The baptisms, funerals, and worship services? Sooo cool!

Before I knew it, the ceremony was starting. I gave my camera to some close family friends from Maryland and asked them to take pictures for me.
My mom and Sam.
The programs were also fans to try to help people cool off under the hot sun. Cute idea!

Our bouquets of hydrangeas came from someone's garden!

My sweet little Nathan was the ring bearer! He looked so cute and handsome! Jonah had been the ring bearer in my sister April's wedding when he was just two years old.

Danielle was such a beautiful bride!

A dear friend of the family interpreted all 3 of our weddings! Chuck has worked with my dad for years, interpreting various events and conferences. It meant a lot to us that he was at each of our weddings, especially since they were in 3 different states! Sam's pastor officiated.

Keeping with tradition, my dad performed the marriage vows in sign language. He did this at mine and April's weddings, too.
My dad is signing "Sam" in the photo above.
Sam practiced for months so that he could sign his vows. He knew it would mean so much to Danielle and our family. He did a great job! I'm so proud of him!



After the wedding was over, Sam and Danielle walked back up the aisle to dismiss the guests and give hugs. :)


Photo shoot time!
Just to show you it was a real farm. :) Ha ha!
My family. It is unbelievable how much we've expanded over the years!
Sadly, none of our extended family came to the wedding. All of my grandparents have long been gone and even though my dad has two siblings and my mom has seven, none of them were able to make it. We've never really been close to any of them so it really didn't matter. And yet, I was still a little disappointed. We had some dear friends there who are just like family and it meant so much to us that they came from Maryland to be at the wedding. I wish I had a copy of their family photo with the bride and groom to show you! You can bet I'm going to be sure my kids don't take for granted all of the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and other relatives from my husband's side that we have living near us.

The bride has two sisters and the groom has two brothers. Perfect!
The wedding party.
I was scolded by the photographer for talking, hence the face I'm making in the above picture! ha ha

The whole wedding party. Raymond and James (April's husband) were the ushers for the wedding.
Sam's parents.
My boys and me. They are just so handsome!
I love this little guy.

At the end of the day, no matter the distance or the changes in our lives, we'll always be sisters and best friends.
You can't even tell April is pregnant, can you? Those dresses were very figure flattering!

Taking the farm theme seriously!
During the reception my energy fizzled out and I just didn't care if I took pictures. I knew I'd regret it but all I wanted to do was sit down and try to get even slightly cool. The reception was held inside a huge shed on the farm property. It was soooo hot, but it did feel better to be under shade.

April and I each gave a speech at the reception. I tried to keep it light and funny and not break down sobbing during it. I choked up at one point, but I held it together and made it through! Whew!

Sam was really sweet, he asked the girl who caught the bouquet if he could take 2 roses out of it. He and Danielle were going to drive to a cemetery just a couple of miles down the road and lay the roses on his grandparents' graves. Sam's mom gave him the idea and wanted him to do it but I still think it was nice of him to do so.
We were all so hot and sweaty. My legs started pouring sweat as soon as the wedding ceremony started. All of those layers of satin and tulle were miserable! I'm glad you can't tell that any of us are super hot in the pictures. During the reception, I desperately wanted to hike up my dress and cool my legs off, but that is not very ladylike, is it? I tried to pull my dress up as much as I could while sitting at the table. Thankfully there was a ton of water bottles and pitchers of water to refill our bottles with. A couple of people commented that even though they were drinking bottle after bottle of water all day, they didn't have to go to the bathroom for hours! Lol. It was true though!

April and baby Blake. Soon Blake will be a big brother to a little brother!
My dad had really hoped to have a son, but now he's reaping a bunch of grandsons to make up for it! :)

Soon it was time for Danielle and Sam to leave. I hated saying goodbye, knowing I wouldn't see her again before we flew home.
Gorgeous barn on their property!
After the wedding, we were so tired and poor Nathan was beet-red from the heat. We were ready to get in the van and make the 4 hour drive back to my parents' house.

A couple of days after the wedding, we went to a water park and April and James came too. I was excited to go on water slides.
Who is that handsome man?

Oy, even though I tried to get a slight tan during the weeks before our trip, I still look pasty white! And this is even "tan" for me!

It was a gray and overcast day but it was still hot and humid enough to enjoy the water park.


So all of the water slides were pitch-black tunnels pretty much the whole way down. The slides were really, really fast, too. I hate roller coasters. Aaaand I ended up hating the water slides! My kids, to my surprise, loved them. I was sure Nathan would be terrified but he wasn't! I went on a few and finally had had enough. Raymond and my dad really liked it too. April obviously couldn't go on any slides due to her pregnancy, and James ended up not liking the pitch-black darkness of each slide.

Before I knew it, it was time to go home.
We got some last minute pictures with Papa and Nana.


It was hard to leave because we're not sure when we'll be able to come back. Things will be different without Danielle living there with my parents. Now she lives 2 hours away up in Madison, Wisconsin. She has her own life and responsibilities now. She won't be able to just up and fly to California to visit me anymore. My parents might be moving to a different, smaller home. Life at "home" won't be the same. Whenever we do go back, it'll be so quiet at my parents' house. Yes, April will come over and visit during the day, and I'm sure Danielle would drive down to visit with us. But she might not be able to stay the whole time we're there, and April has to go home to her own husband in the evenings. It'll just be my parents there at night.

I teared up a lot during the course of this trip. It was hard not to cry as we said goodbye.

Even though I hated to go home, we had to. I love my family so much and I do wish we could live closer. Maybe someday we will. But if not, we're going to have our own block in heaven, our houses all lined up in a row. It'll be the Saavalainen sisters block. :)

When we arrived at LAX, I took 1 last picture while in the bathroom.

Thank goodness for hiny hiders! Hee hee!