You are not going to believe this. I have not even one photo of daughter Josie and her husband Ryan from their wedding. I don’t even have any photos of Josie in her wedding dress. It seems that whenever it was time to take a photo I was either doing something or preparing to do something or listening so I didn’t miss anything. So we will have to suffice with the wedding cake topper which was hand-painted in their likeness.
I am working on getting a few images to share here from the professional wedding photographers that captured the moment for us. So we will see. In the mean time, I do have another interesting image of the Josie’s bouquet.
Josie’s shoes
and accessories.
Also, close to where I sitting at dinner was a sweet little girl who was resting in a bit of a tired daze on her dad’s lap.
This was one of the special things about Josie and Ryan’s wedding that was different from any I can remember from say 20 years ago. There were fifteen or so children at the wedding. Some of them were tiny babies of three months. Many of their parents had flown with them from as far away as Montreal or drove for 14 hours down the province of British Columbia. Not to ignore the participation of many grandparents and aunts and uncles who also supported in childcare at the wedding, but what was most amazing and pleasant was the active, relaxed and confident parenting of many of the children’s fathers. When I would be out scouting coffee at 6:30 or 7:00 am, there would be three or four fathers feeding small children and babies or taking them for an early morning walk so their mom’s could sleep. All day long and way into the evening there were dad’s packing children around, taking them to the bathroom and helping them solve problems while the mom’s were busy visiting or doing wedding things.
I commented on my observations to Josie and she said that the dads really wanted their wives to be able to enjoy themselves since they had come so far and it was their friend’s wedding and they didn’t want them to be all exhausted and stressed out trying to do all the parenting on top of everything else. And Josie and Ryan for their part had organized babysitters for evenings so both parents could relax. Now how wonderful is all that? And a welcomed change in general parenting practices from what I observed when my children were small.
It was a beautiful relaxing, fun wedding in the most amazing ocean-side setting at Brentwood College. The weather was fantastic, the 140 family and friends had a marvelous time and the bride and groom’s wedding day was perfect.
Sprout Question: Have you ever been so focused in the present that you completely miss a creative moment?
© 2010 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.
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From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada
Creative Potager 
Already Josie and Ryan’s friends are adding links to photos on their facebook wall. Here are some great shots by Brad De Preez of the dance http://www.gofetching.com/josieryanwed
Terrill – These shots are spectacular, especially of Josie’s shoes; that’s my absolute favorite. I particularly enjoyed reading your observations of the hands-on fathers who attended the wedding — What wonderful news to hear. The link to Brentwood College was great to poke around in. The location is breathtakingly beautiful.
Sprout Question: Have you ever been so focused in the present that you completely miss a creative moment?
The other day we were on an extremely long bicycle ride and a fawn ran out onto the path and boldly stood his ground while he appraised Len. I had the camera slung right over my shoulder so I wouldn’t miss any photo opportunities. I was soooooo entranced with the little fellow’s bravery that I completely forgot about taking a picture!
Thanks Laurie and I was just over reading about your bike ride and enjoying the slide show. You must have some excellent trips planned for the summer. This is the second long ride that I am aware of in the last few weeks.
Awwwwe! The photos here are Beautiful though! I Love the wedding top.. super cute! Congratulations and Blessings to the couple
Missing an opportunity? Yes, there were tuscans yesterday in the tree tops just outside the retreat center I was staying at and I missed the photo op.. they were Lovely to witness though *smile*
Thanks Antonia… you must still be in Costa Rica then? Yes? I have been enjoying your blog.
Yes, Terrill, all the time! I get so swept up in enjoying the moment I forget to go find the camera. It’s nice to see the photos from the wedding. Thank you for posting them.
You are welcome Jessica. As I get more links from others I will add them to the comment section.
What a great shot of the cute wedding cake topper! Weddings are great.
We just were at family reunion this past weekend… and were in charge of getting “official photos” of all the families and various groups. The food was awesome, but when I got home realized I did not take a single photo of the impressive spread of food that we had on three different occasions.
We all realize we “missed it” after the fact once in a while.
It was fun to catch an bald eagle swopping to pick up a fish… it is on my blog. Fuzzy, but he was really cruising.
Sherwin your blog is a powerful journey both for the family reunion with the eagle and your hike of Edith Point. Dear readers, you have traveled many times with me on the Edith Point trail but please go have a look at Sherwin’s “Hiking Edith Point”
I find it is always fun to look at how different people can see and capture different things on the same location. One time many years ago my son and I went on a photo shoot of arbutus trees in East Sooke Park. We walked side-by-side most of the day taking photos of arbutus trees from various angles. The we went to one hour photo and got our results… it was almost like we had been on a different hike.
What a beautiful swath of photos, all defining the glories of the summer, and that most special occasion. The cake tooper is wonderful, and the flowers are so ravishing, you practically want to eat them. What a delightful and life-affirming recollection of the many babies/children in attendance and of the role of the fathers.
One always takes things for granted (not always consciously of course) and the sparks of beauty and creativity that might inform what seems to be a normal progression of events. Only after the fact does this realization take hold, but it’s always possible to put the pieces together.
Thank you Sam and yes we will be able to put the pieces together. The wedding photographer will have lots of photos available in a few weeks. I will be able to do a special post and share some of them here.