Aaand They're Married!

Hello, loves! I know I have been remiss at getting back in the game here and particularly in telling you all about the wedding…which was now over a week ago. Perhaps I could blame it on the fact that I don’t really know how to go about properly summing up something that was so all-consuming in our lives for a while -- and then happened, and is now over. Or perhaps I could blame it on the fact that I left for Washington, DC the morning after the wedding (where two grandparents, four aunts, two uncles and four cousins (aged 9 - 12) and I meandered the city for three days and it took us an hour to get ourselves anywhere on the metro) and then came back to Harry Potter at midnight and four days of work, and am now only just having a little break from it all…

Either way, it was a beautiful time, following an insane weekend. Linnea’s best friend from our high school in Ethiopia, Marcia, came with her husband from Holland, and Linnea’s best friend from her high school in Germany, Corrie, came from Arkansas, and my best friend from middle school, Danielle (who was boarding sisters with Marcia back in the Ethiopia days) all came early and we ran errands and put together programs and attended many pre-wedding events. We had adventures that included getting incredibly lost driving around Richmond in the dark and pouring rain (and paying to do so. I hate tollroads.) as we absolutely had to be at our destination BEFORE 9 o’clock. (We didn’t make it.) Then there was the internal dilemma of whether or not I should paint Beta Bridge for Linnea, as I had been planning to do for months, even though I saw people painting a birthday message to their friend Bill on it about two hours before we planned to. (We did anyway. Sorry, Bill.) 

But the day itself was wonderful and went off without a hitch*. Linnea was beautiful, the ceremony was lovely, and there were all sorts of friends and family to talk and dance with at the reception. It was especially fun to see the Hales, Kyle Davidson and Anne McClary (and Danielle and Marcia, of course!) – all friends from Ethiopia!

I can’t wait until we get the official photos taken by the talented and delightful Elisa B which I will definitely share with you (because I know everyone likes to stalk wedding pictures. No shame.), but in the meantime we’ll have to make due with a few of ours:

Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Walker!

First Dance to this song

Father-Daughter dance to this song

Ethiopia friends!

...and UVA friends :]

Now I’m actually off to Crozet to see the newlyweds, freshly returned from their honeymoon, before they head off to their new home in Rockville, Maryland. Funnily enough, I haven’t talked to Linnea since the wedding (or even hardly at all at the reception, really) so it will be interesting to hear her thoughts on everything -- and just to hang out with my sister and her husband!

[Photos 1, 2, 5 and 11 taken by the amazing Arley Arrington]

*Except that we soon discovered that the material of the bridesmaids’ dresses showed every tearstain and sweatstain…attractive. Oh, and it took FOURTEEN individual ties to bustle Linnea's dress. And I forgot my toast that I had written at the church. But these were all minor concerns, of course :]