Garret & Jess greet Keith, Bertus and Lorrie; Chris overlooks
On a cool autumn day in Boston, Jessica Mccaul (Chris Semmelink's daughter) married Garrett Lappin. We as witnesses entered the church and awaited the arrival of the bride. Upon the arrival of the bridal party (it was indeed a party... they had champagne in the limo!) the ceremony started. The groom (Garrett) and his mother (Mrs Lappin) walked up the aisle and on the podium; the grooms mother lit a tall candle. The father of the groom (Mr Lappin) walked the mother of the bride (Ms Joyce Carroll) to the podium where she too lit a tall candle.
Accompanied by the wedding march the ravishing bride marched with her father to the podium. With a parting kiss, the father of the bride gave his daughter to the groom.
It was a traditional Catholic wedding in a church that had seen many popular religions. The pastor, an amuzing and lively character in the middle of the cerimony surprised the wedded couple by stepping out of his agreed role at the head of the podium and into a side room. That sent Jessica & Garrett into stiches! The pastor having retrieved a fallen page from his prayer book returned and explained that his prayer book lost pages on regular occasions.
Oh how we laughed.
Jessica & Garrett exchanged their vows and were then wedded.
Oh how we cried.
A fairy tale union was witnessed by all. The bride and groom lit their candle. (Franny [Willem Semmelink's daughter] later on was rather dissappointed that the bride and groom did not at any point in the ceremony kiss... it seems that that is not strictly part of the traditional Catholic proceedings.) They were snogging as they stepped out of the church.
We excited the church and congratulated the wedding couple and their parents. Someone had raised the temperature at this point (something about a tropical cyclone that we were experiencing...). People then ventured to the reception area about a mile away.
Having arrived at the reception location, the bridal party did a photo shoot. The elegantly dressed groomsmen and beautiful bridesmaids frolicked (thank you Keith) on the grass outside of the reception hall. Many romantic pictures were taken... wow. More tears of joy shed.
There were speaches and a limmerick.
The wedding couple had a last dance with their parents (Jess with father, Garrett with his mother) and then the party was kicked up a notch!!
 Jess's last dance with her dad, Chris |
 Garrett's last dance with his mom |
After much revery ... and someone closed the bar... we all bused ourselves to the Lappins home for the after party. We relaxed, talked politics and religion and generally enjoyed one anothers company. The newly weds finally headed off to their honeymoon adventure! Thank you and good luck to you both!!