Oldest Daughter is Getting Married in 6 weeks!!!

[Marilyn]

Just wanted to let you all know one reason I've not been on here much lately. A little over a week ago we learned that our oldest daughter is getting married December 22nd. Her fiance is in the Navy. He's corpsman assigned as a medic with the Marines at Twentynine Palms, California. They've known each other for 2 or 3 years and have been maintaining a long distance relationship for almost a year. She's going to college in San Antonio. He's scheduled to be deployed to Afganistan in April but may go as early as February. They were going to wait until after his first deployment, but have decided not to wait. He has 2 weeks leave beginning Dec. 18th, and they did not want to wait unil the Saturday after Christmas, so are getting married at 6:30 p.m. on the 22nd.

Dec. 22nd is our 36th wedding anniversary, so we won't have any probem remembering theirs. They are getting married in a historic old church building. Supposedly, Stephen F. Austin worshiped there. It's now used as a chapel.

We found her a dress on Saturday. It is absolutely beautiful. It's a soft light ivory with clear jewel accents. The fabric looks antique, and so appropriate for a evening wedding so close to Christmas. We're having about 160 guests, so are very busy booking florist, caterer, planning decorations. There is literally so very much to do and so little time. She ordered the invitations today and they should be here the end of the week or early next.

We don't have time to stress over decisions, so they are being made very quickly. The groom's family is handling the music for the ceremony. His dad is worship leader and in charge of the music at their church. The groom and his dad are both musicians. The music for the wedding will all be recorded, but I'm sure it will be awesome. It will be soft rock, and the wedding march will be some 5 guitar arrangement. This will be very different of us. The music in our church is all accapella. Many of the young people are marrying in chapels or other locations so they can have instruments. There is no problem with intruments at a wedding since it is not a worship service, but most of our church buildings do not allow instrumental music so as not to cause confusion with people's perception of the church and the position on instruments.

After the wedding, our daughter will be moving to Calif and transferring to a college there. I'm a bit concerned about her being way out there alone while he is deployed. She says that she will be home over the summer, and she will have a brother-in-law two hours away in San Diego, should something happen to her husband while he is in Afganistan. This is a real concern for us that he will be injured or worse and we can't get to her, even by plane, for several hours. I'm sure though that the miliary must have a good support network for spouses of deployed soldiers.

Please keep us in your prayers through all of this. She's marrying a fine young man, and they love each other, so we feel pretty good about them. We just pray that all will be well with them through his deployment.

I'll try to check in and see how all of you are doing from time to time.

[Shada]

How exciting! You are going to be a busy lady!
Sounds like she has a wonderful man.
I hope only the best for them, that his time in service will be safe.

Give them my well wishes... congratulations!!

[paula1961]

Wow Marilyn! Sounds exciting! Her dress sounds just gorgeous! 160 guests! That's a BIG wedding. Thank goodness you have lots of help with planning. I think it's just wonderful that they will be married on your anniversary. Very special! I wish them many many years of happiness together.

[Blueyes]

Congratulations Marilyn! How exciting! I'm glad your daughter has found a wonderful man to spend her life with.

[Lindsey]

Wow that's exciting! Good luck with the planning Marilyn! I'm sure it will be a beautiful wedding!

[Janet]

Congratulations to the new bride! Sounds like it will be a lovely wedding.

[DianaB]

I've been wondering where you were at! I thought that work was keeping you busy with the new computer change. How exciting!!! A wedding........a very quick wedding!!!! Since you've found the right dress that's a big decision made already!! The dress sounds beautiful!! The music sounds like it will be wonderful too. I'm sure that nobody will complain about having music when so many other couples have been doing it this way. And it sounds like his family will do tasteful music.....not the blaring stuff that you hear sometimes.

Enjoy your time with your daughter because she is going to be far away....but phone calls and the internet are great ways to keep in touch. Can she not stay where she is until he gets back home? It would probably be easier and safer for her then she can move when he gets back home.

We know that you're going to be very, very busy but drop in once in a while and let us know how you're doing!!! I'm sure that everything will be just beautiful!!! Take lots of pictures for us!!! Hugs!!!

[gja1000]

WOW! No wonder you have been busy. Good luck with everything - in my opinion this is the way to do it - just go for it and there is no need to stress about things for a year or so!

Hope things go well!

[Marilyn]

Originally Posted by DianaB

Can she not stay where she is until he gets back home? It would probably be easier and safer for her then she can move when he gets back home.

Diana, they actually talked about this, but with the uncertainty of when he will be deployed, they don't want to be apart. What's the point of being married if they can't be together. If he is deployed, at the end of the semester, she will take summer off from school and come back to Texas for the summer. He's with the Marines, and their deployments are usually 7 months or less. She could be home 3 of the 7 months. There is so much uncertainty right now with troop levels over there, who knows what will happen.

We're concerned about what effect a deployment will have on him. We've heard some not so good stories about the guys when they return. He's a very nice young man though. Hopefully he will handle things well, or won't be in a position to see too much of the bad things. Being a medic though, it could get rough.

[2tiredmom]

Congrats Marilyn. Enjoy and post lots of picture.

[Gina]

Marilyn I overlooked this post. I am soo happy to read this post.. Wow your daughter is getting married soon. I know that your doing everything that you possibly can to make this wedding so special. Her gown sounds beautiful and the man that she is marrying sounds like a great guy and he is getting a wonderful wife too.

My best to you and your family , God bless and watch over him while he is away. Congratulations and we do expect lots of pictures when the day comes.. Good luck !

[judy]

Congratulations Marilyn! This is so exciting! I'm sure he is a wonderful young man, and that they will be very happy for many, many years to come. I will be praying for his safety during his deployment. I have always admired the Marines. It speaks so well of his character.

What a whirlwind wedding! I'm sure it will be perfect. Enjoy the planning, and post pictures along the way, if you can.

Take a deep breath every now and then, Marilyn!

Love and hugs to you

[DianaB]

Originally Posted by Marilyn

Diana, they actually talked about this, but with the uncertainty of when he will be deployed, they don't want to be apart. What's the point of being married if they can't be together. If he is deployed, at the end of the semester, she will take summer off from school and come back to Texas for the summer. He's with the Marines, and their deployments are usually 7 months or less. She could be home 3 of the 7 months. There is so much uncertainty right now with troop levels over there, who knows what will happen.

We're concerned about what effect a deployment will have on him. We've heard some not so good stories about the guys when they return. He's a very nice young man though. Hopefully he will handle things well, or won't be in a position to see too much of the bad things. Being a medic though, it could get rough.

I was just concerned about Karen being so far from home and mostly alone. I'm sure that they've talked everything over and have planned out the best thing for them. I wish them all the best.

I know that you're worried about his deployment and the effects it could have. Just keep him covered in prayer. My new SIL was over there and did some fighting and he had some problems when he and Dae Lynn first got married but we've prayed for peace and for the nightmares to go away and, praise the Lord, they have gotten so much better. The Fourth of July is really hard on him with the fireworks going off so they usually spend the night out here. I hope that he's in a place where he doesn't have these kinds of problems.

[Marilyn]

Thank you all for your so kind words. Everything so far is falling into place. We interviewed two florists today and they both had very nice ideas to accomplish the look that Karen wants. Her bridesmaids are wearing black and will carry white and ivory flowers, probably roses with some other white accent flowers and touches of light green with black and green ribbon wrapping the stems. Karen will carry a mixture of ivory and pink roses with either white hydrangia or white orchids and white berry accents with light greenery. The stems will be wrapped with antique white ribbon and pearls.

We went to look at the church building at 6:30 this evening to see how it would look at night, and a family was there decorating it for a wedding tomorrow, so we got to see it all lit up and decorated their way. The building, being so old and historic though a very simple design, is decoration in itself. It has an old piano at the front in one corner and a pump organ in the other. The only decorations we are going to use inside are some ivory candle groupings on the piano and organ. Not the tall thin candles, probably ones that are 3" in diameter and at different heights. They had pew bows, an arch and two candelabras, but Karen is more for simple and elegant. Karen will have a matron of honor (Melissa) and 3 bridesmaids, so with the men, there will be 8 people plus the bride and groom at the front. She feels that the people and the flowers they will carry and few candles are decoration enough. We will decorate the railings on the steps and the porch in front. It's not a big porch, so a little greenery, a few ivory silk roses and some ribbon will be enough.

We are also working on the decorations for the hall. To decorate the dining tables, we rented white linen table cloths and for centerpieces we are using old style embossed square metal ceiling tiles that we are painting black. On the tiles we will place a 3" dia., 8" tall ivory candle with a pink or white silk lily laying at the base of the candle with a couple of smooth river rocks. The tables are 8' x 30" so between the centerpiece and each end, there will be some kind of container with the smooth river rocks and some tiny green silk wax flowers. For a table runner under the centerpieces we hope to use ribbon about 3" wide. We will alternate black and light green ribbons on the tables.

For flowers on the cake and punch table, we will use clear glass vases with some ivory and green ribbon tied around them and put the bridal bouquet and bridesmaids flowers in the vases. We did this at Melissa's wedding and it gave the girls a place to put their flowers and saved us buying more flower arrangements.

We're feeling better about everything. God's providence has been so evident in our lives lately that all we can do is pray and have faith that all will be well for our soon to be newlyweds. All Karen wants is a simple but nice wedding with her family and close friends and to be his wife. She has a very strong faith in God that grounds her. What more can we want!?

[Marilyn]

Originally Posted by DianaB

I was just concerned about Karen being so far from home and mostly alone. I'm sure that they've talked everything over and have planned out the best thing for them. I wish them all the best.

Diana, thank you so much for your concern. They want to live in our RV to save money so we are moving it to California for them. There is an RV park on base where we would like for them to be, but right now it is full. They are on the waiting list. The park they will probably live in is one frequented by snowbirds with lots of amenities. It's a little higher than they want to pay, so we are going to subsidize it the amount over what the standard RV park rent is so she will be in a more secure location. She has decided that if he is deployed prior to the end of the Spring semester, that as soon as the semester ends, she will move back home until he returns. We may be moving the RV back and forth a bit, but that's why they are on wheels.