I ran both of the wedding rehearsals last night and they went very well actually!
The first rehearsal was for the biggest wedding! There are 8 little children in this wedding as well as 16 adults in the bridal party. The mother of the bride is very organized and meticulous – so naturally I was expecting this rehearsal to be a big pain! But it was just the opposite. Folks on both sides were very gracious and kind and I bonded with the group immediately! The little children were very well behaved and I am not at all worried about anyone not making it down the aisle.
But what really impressed me about this couple is that they really do seem to be taking the spiritual aspect of this marriage seriously. When Father came out to greet the party, the bride asked him to hear her confession first which he did. And then the groom went in! In five years of doing this, I have never EVER had the couple make their confessions first and I was just very impressed that they took the step to enter their marriage with a spiritually clean slate! The rest of the rehearsal, although long, went off without a hitch.
The second bridal party was very different, but very cool in their own way. The groom came up and gave me a big hug as soon as he saw me. He remembered my talk from Pre-Cana and told me how much he enjoyed it and how much he got out of it. That was very gratifying. It’s nice to know that those yearly efforts do make a difference to some! This group was much smaller. They had biker jackets, earrings, tattoos, and there were step-parents and grandparents to deal with in this group, but they were all very down to earth and supportive of this couple. I think they have a good chance at a great marriage as well.
When I saw that I had two weddings on one day, I joked that the church couldn’t get any busier that day unless there was a funeral too – and unfortunately one was added to the schedule! A mom of 9 passed away this week and her funeral is at 10:00. The first wedding is at 12 and then the other at 2. This is all sandwiched between the 8 a.m mass and the 4:30 p.m. mass. Father is going to be ready for an early bedtime when this is all over!
Mr. Pete’s day is pretty busy too. He has two soccer games this morning with the kids. Then he has to take Izzy and Noah over to a “fishing” birthday party. This is literally a fishing birthday party! They will be going to a pond to fish until around 4! That should be fun. I hope Izzy likes it?!
At 3:30 Calvin and his girlfriend will be stopping by the house for prom pictures. There was a bit of controversy about this. Calvin’s “prom weekend extravaganza” included pictures, dinner, prom, after prom, sleep over with a group of kids, a trip to an amusement park, another sleep over, but no mass. When I point that out to Calvin he didn’t see how he was going to have time to go. I was not very happy about that and Mr. Pete and I even had an argument about it! But after getting some input from the ladies over at the 4RealLearning Forum, I researched mass times in some of the local churches and found several that he could attend. Calvin tells me he is packing his alarm clock and he is planning to go to a 7 a.m. mass before he boards the buss for the amusement park. Everyone is happy.
So that’s how the day is shaping up. Hopefully I will have some pictures to show and some stories to share at the end of it!
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