With this ring I marry you and join my life to yours.

So my mom had a wedding she was invited to and Dad didn't want to go (big surprise), so she asked me.  I think I've mentioned previously that I love weddings and as much as I tore the last one apart, I have to tell you I only had two minor complaints about this one.

 

The venue was Bridal Veil Lakes up in the Columbia River Gorge and it was beautiful!  In all of our years of hiking in the Gorge, I never knew this place existed.  I loved the place where we were married, but this place was just wonderful.  Since it was about 30 miles away, we decided to take the "shuttle" from Portland to the venue. Complaint No. 1: The shuttle turned out to be an old school bus.  Since the weather was warm, half the windows were open and, needless to say, all of the nicely done hairdos were wiped out by the time we got there. 

I wish I were a better photographer.  The place was spectacular. 

Rental of the venue includes four canoes and eight life vests.  I saw several couples out canoeing during the reception. 

It was at this point, that I would have loved to have walked down the aisle, but seeing as I knew no one there, I didn't feel it would be appropriate. One of the things I noticed throughout this ceremony was the similarity between their vows and ours.  There was a section where the guests had to say something about agreeing with the marriage and supprting the new couple.  We changed that a bit and just had The Boy and The Girl agree to our wedding.  But, in their ring ceremony, they said "With this ring I marry you and join my life to yours".  EXACTLY the same thing we said.

I had never met this couple.  The bride is a friend of my Mom, and from where we were sitting, I could see her perfectly.  She was right on the verge of crying the whole time.  She's so pretty. 

 Simple, lovely cake.  It was delicious too.  The artwork to the left was done by the bride's aunt and it was included on the invitations, the rsvp cards, the program, etc.

Late afternoon, looking out at the Gorge.  They had bocce, croquet, and volleyball if anyone was interested. 

Mom and me with windswept hair.  I think now, that I wore that same top at the last wedding... 

Are you kidding me? This dress is BEAUTIFUL.  So, I thought I was pretty darn crafty at my own wedding, but this bride made all of the bridesmaid's dresses, the flower girl's dress, and her mother's dress.  She and he mother GREW all of the flowers and made all of the arrangements too. 

 Sunset in The Columbia River Gorge.

Complaint No. 2 is that there was too much good alcohol at this wedding.  I know, this isn't really a complaint.  The bride and groom brew their own beer (of course) and they each had one style there to try.  The caterer has two signature cocktails, and the bride's aunt and uncle own a vineyard so they had their wine there too.  So, a bourbon cocktail, red wine, white wine, 2 types of beer and a champagne toast later, I'm posing with the bridesmaid's bouquets.  It was all I could do to keep from taking one.