My sister. Nothing is ever straight-forward or easy for her. And "the happiest day of her life" was no exception. Her dream wedding, since she was a little girl, was a church wedding surrounded by family. Sound easy? It's not. But she fought for it. And, three weeks before the "big day", she FINALLY got permission to get married in Utah's oldest Catholic church. Yippee!!! All would be well! We had rehearsal, a monsignor from Salt Lake would be performing the ceremony, the pianist would be her long-time friend from highschool... it was all coming together. Until we were at tea yesterday. Mind you, AFTER we had already had rehearsal. Elle got a call that "not all the paperwork was in". WHAT? Elle left the tea, did a mad scramble faxing things here and there, calling people all over the western U.S., missed the rest of tea, and remarkably STAYED CALM (for the most part. At least far calmer than I would have been!!!). By the time we arrived home, Rick was told by the Monsignor himself that the wedding was a go at 11 am, on November 22nd. He said "Yes sir!" and hung up the phone before the guy could change his mind. But then, about an hour later, they received
another phone call, saying that one piece of paperwork was missing, and the wedding was off.
We all went to bed having no idea whether there would be a wedding on the 'morrow or not. Early the next morning, I snuck over to my sister's room, to see if she was getting married. She said "I don't know. We're going to get dressed and arrive at the church as IF we were going to get married, and just trust that God will make it happen." So that's what we did. We all showed up, gussied, and waited for the Deacon (Monsignor could no longer make it) to arrive, to find out if we were
really going to be participating in a wedding or not.
Deacon Bob was marvelous, calm, and kind. He announced that there would
be a wedding this day. His opening words of the ceremony were "Let's DO THIS THING!" The "AMEN!!!" from the congregation was resounding, to say the least, despite their being only 21 people in attendance!!!!
The wedding ceremony was absolutely beautiful.... intimate, sincere, Christ-centered. All that Elle and Rick hoped it would be. We may not understand why God tests us, but if we TRUST - it will all work for good.
So, here, for your viewing pleasure..... the wedding of Col. and Mrs. Richard Bartch!!!! It's official!
Reagan's first time in sponge curlers. Mousse + curlers + curling iron + hairspray = straight hair. Poor girl. She got her mother's hair.
Reagan, doing Daddy's hair before the wedding.
Little girls, looking up to the "princess" on her big day.
Reagan was NOT cooperative in the flower girl department. She squiggled for photos, whined constantly, and insisted on being held by this bridesmaid for the duration of the service. Within about 15 minutes, her little bouquet was decapitated and had only stems. Ahhh, three year olds.
Grandma was bribing the grandkids into good behavior during the wedding and reception. Greenbacks were passing hands like nobody's business. As you can see above, this technique kept things under only
minimal control. After the reception, all 10 kids (minus Reagan) up and left the restaurant with a vague indication of going to a "chocolate factory" to spend their ill-gotten gains. It took us parents awhile to notice the quiet, and then figure out that our children were
wandering Park City by themselves!!! Warning! Warning! Warning! A trip in the car to the "Chocolate Factory" did in fact reveal that the children had made it there unscathed, and were filling their bellies with all sorts of candy that they had bought with Grandma's money, sans parental supervision. Quite the sight, seeing 10 kids in wedding clothes, overtaking a candy store.
