Nearly six years ago, I cast Andrea Peck and Ian MacLurg as boyfriend and girlfriend in “You Can’t Take It with You”.

They were awkward and combative, quibbled frequently and just couldn’t seem to get the romantic scenes right…and today they got married.  And yes, I do take full credit for the miracle I witnessed this afternoon!

 

It was an exceptionally beautiful wedding, and not only because the bride is exceptionally beautiful!

   

As they disappeared into the frigid night at the end of the reception, “The Wedding Week” came to an end…  What a ride it has been!  There’s been Starbucks, mostly because it’s a federal law that all MKs and missionaries celebrating big events must make the short drive to Basel to indulge in sinfully delicious white chocolate cheesecake. 

Then there were the requisite hairstyle experiments (this particular contraption allowed the bride to receive signals from satellites circling the earth) and late-night Riedlingen parties with the Drea and Squeedgie, positively the cutest bridesmaid who ever lived.

And then…then there was the wedding, complete with langorous kisses, romantic horse-drawn carriages, and enough warm smiles to contribute to the melting of polar ice.  The bride and groom looked just a tad happy.  And by “tad” I mean “insanely and exuberantly”!

As I was seated at the head table (an honor by which I’m duly humbled!), I had a first row seat on all the hanky panky going on…

Not that Squeedgie or I minded!  We just sat back and basked in the aura of (insert preacher from The Princess Bride) “Love, twue love”.

I kept doing mental pinches on myself during the festivities to make sure I was truly awake and witnessing the union of two actors who had been painfully uncomfortable at the beginning of their thespian experience…but had recovered fast enough that sparks had flown onstage and off.  And here they were saying their I do’s–two adults sure of themselves and of their love.  How honored I am to have been a witness to it all!

The two most moving moments of the evening for me came on the dance floor.  Andrea and Ian danced with the kind of intimate grace that hushed the room.  Then Andrea and her dad took to the floor, both of them in tears, and I joined them because it’s just selfish to let people cry alone! 

After a beautiful, whimsical and profound day celebrating the love of two of my favorite students, it was with deep joy and a sense of completion that I watched them pass under a canopy of sparklers held by their guests to drive off into their new life together.  My prayer is that the rest of their marriage will be as peaceful, intimate, and God-centered as this occasion was.  They are truly blessed to have found each other.


Comments

Comments(22)

  1. I was going to write and ask what you were doing up in the middle of the night and then I got to your site and saw what’s been keeping you busy the last few hours.  Thanks for posting these shots so quickly.  What an absolutely gorgeous wedding it was (no surprise there!).  Glad you got to be front and center to the whole sheebang.

  2. Beautiful couple.

    RYC: Thanks for adding to the discussion! In hindsight, I did not make this clear enough in my conclusion, but according to Mises, Rand, and Say, the source of human livelihood is the mind. Humans have no fur, no claws, and are relatively weak in the animal kingdom–without the ingenuity of our minds, we would have never survived. Every single human action–whether acquiring money or affecting the lives of those around us in other ways–is rooted in the mind. Also, even for those who value “non-material” pursuits–such as charity and asceticism–the forces of physical reality require that humans acquire material possessions in order to survive. Food, for example, is a material requirement for human existence, and humans fulfill their material needs through the functioning of their minds rather than instinct, like lower animals.

  3. Thanks for doing this, Michele. It means a lot to me to see the pictures so soon after the wedding happened. I was there in spirit.

  4. awww… weddings are fun.

    isn’t it cool when you see people who are so obviously in love that they can’t even stand it?  it makes me all fuzzy inside.

    taelyrpan

  5. aww michele I’m almost in tears! what a beatiful entry for a beautfil occasion!!! as everyone else has said, thank you for posting the pics so soon!!! it’s always so exciting seeing wedding pictures whether we know the couple alot or not 🙂 I knew Andrea a tiny bit I guess with being in the play with her….but wow…..they look so great together! and the photo’s are just gorgeous! did they pay you to be the photographer 😉 I’m so excited to get married and seeing pictures of weddings just makes me more excited!!!

    I love you! and thanks so much again!!!

  6. so i keep forgetting to get yahoo downloaded sorry about that..so seems like you had a blast! now you won’t be as busy..hmm wish i was there for all the times you will be going to the golden gates or how about cheese cake??!!!

  7. michele my mouth is watering right now because of you! so mean..but yes i look forward to that wonderful cheesecake and i’ll be so kind and help you make it..now that i know how to cook..oh by the way i’m downloading yahoo right this moment..thinking of you..enjoy your egnog!

  8. Great post! Talk about life’s ironies. It made us all wish we were there. Happy New Year!

  9. michele, thanks SO much for the photos. i will never forget “You Can’t Take it With You” and andrew h’s decrepit dramatization. who knew the play wouldn’t really be over until six and a half years later?
    hope you’re having a wonderful new years in germany!

  10. Beautiful Pictures! They look happy! anyways, Happy New Year!

  11. THankyou MIchelle for posting the pics.  I am the mother of Allison, Austin, and Adam.  I almost cried when I saw them.  Nancy G.

  12. SO lovely. but mich, i can’t believe you passed on your chance to dance. how EVER did you resist? dancing is good for you. its been scientifically and theologicaly proven… its even better than wogging you know. and don’t you worry about me, i got my share in full this past week. (um.. of dancing, that is :))

  13. Hi Michele,
    My internship at Zondervan will be working with genre fiction editors. Would you be willing to send me a copy of your newest book for me to read and do some practice editing? Then I could somehow drop in conversation that I’ve been doing some editing on a friend’s book and…(c:
    Let me know! ~Alli

  14. Michele,  such lovely pictures and it was such a lovely wedding of two precious perseverers in life and love!  I just soaked it all in and I must admit, I teared up too at the Father/daughter dance…sniff.  I looked at Steve and Tab across the room from each other and imagined a similiar dance about six months away…sigh.  I was thinking about you today and wondering what you were up to this week?  We do need to catch up…do you realize we leave in only four months!  And there may be a wedding date sooner than we originally thought…hugs, Renee

  15. well you know me- i’m no writer.. i’ll give you a call soon. 😉

  16. What a fun read! I came by way of MaryEllen’s site and read through several posts.  If you haven’t written a book, you should!  You look barely older than your students, and the joy you obviously take in loving and teaching them must be so gratifying to their parents. Keep up the good work!

  17. wow.. great pictures…you’re so good~

    I’m sorry about the other call, I can’t keep track of all these countries and states’ time difference.. hope I didn’t wake you up.. ^^ I’ll try again sometime…

    I love you and happy new year!

  18. note to self……….next time i have some half baked-ciber-inferiority-complex…….and am in desperate need of tons of comments, all I have to do is get myself (or someone near me) hitched

    anyways………………….on to my point (or in fact three) [mrs storrs would kill me for having a three part thesis…so its a good thing she wont read this][and even if she did read it, she would be so concerned about being mentioned that she will forget about my literary taboo]………..well now that thats cleared up

    (youll have to forgive me………it seems break has left me with way too much time in which to creat my comments)

    anyways….Ill just paraphrase my points

    I’ve already watched ESOTSM

    I am off sugar

    in good faith I will leave the planning of the party to you>

     I have an appiontment with a physician early tomarow after noon, a shift at connexion from 7-10 on saturday, church on sunday, and school starts in about a week.

    dont  die

  19. crap….my bad

    (you can immagine Wesley saying that)

  20. you know………es ist mir egal

    hmm……….. wellelyse is at camp de cimes…….corrie……………..merritt?……………..

    what i find a more important basic though is when

  21. michele…well…I am actually back in the states now..I left Wednedsay morning and after being up for almost 24 hours…I am home!  You will just have to take the rat to lunch at the resturant that I have never been to! 😉  Sorry to miss you…next year?!  😉 

  22. alright…………………..tonight it is………………

    what time?

    and yes…..not just be a (way over rated) social no no

    who should we invite then?………hmm……perhaps I’ll call when i return from my date with the phasician

    dont die

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