Memories of a Wedding

Dave Faust and I were exchanging e-mails last week, and he told me, "The wedding days of my daughters were the most exhilarating and exhausting of my life." The two words come close to my experience yesterday. But all the memories of the day will be positive.
Miles rode home with me from the reception, and he said, "I think my favorite part of the ceremony was the vows."
"Really. Why was that your favorite?"
"Well, they were so meaningful."
He's right. In addition to the traditional vows Jennifer and Matt exchanged, Matt and Miles and Nina had brainstormed together a list of family vows they would make to Jennifer.  They included promises to try everything she cooked, to be quiet in the morning and not bother Jen till she'd had her first cup of coffee. They spoke of their anticipation of their life together: concerts and ball games and graduations and grandchildren.
And Jennifer wrote her own vows to the family she was joining. One line sticks in the memory: "Miles and Nina, I wasn't there to see your first steps, but I will be with you for every future step in our life together."
Jennifer's quivering lip as she read her vows, and as our "adopted daughter," Wendy Wagoner, read the Scripture ("Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!") and the big tears rolling down sweet Nina's cheek at the end of the ceremony--those were moments that touched everyone's heartstrings.
Afterwards, I pondered what we all know, that marriage is not to be entered lightly, and tears are appropriate for a commitment as big as all of them were making. But so was the laughter that punctuated lighter moments in the ceremony and the happy banter--the mood of celebration--that echoed through the rooms of Memorial Hall during our happy reception.
There will be much better pictures than mine posted here. I imagine some have popped up on Facebook already, and believe me, the photographer captured every moment 15 times. But here are a few more I snapped for this diary/blog. Each is simply a reminder of a day whose memories will be exhilarating for the rest of our lives.