A country wedding for Dustin and Camelia

I've been hearing from many friends asking 'where are the wedding pics? where's the blog?' So here is a quick synopsis.

Camelia and Dustin's wedding was fantastic, perfect, lovely. It turned into a three day event because friends and family started arriving on Thursday and left Monday. Dylan arrived from Berkeley, Cami's sister and brother in law flew in from France, Beth arrived from Australia, Rennie and Anne from California, Walt and Tencha from Colorado, Evelyn from Boston, the list goes on. We rented a neighbor's five bedroom lake house for out of town guest so they would be within easy walking distance of our cottage. We had a big traditional country barbeque one night, including roasting the corn on the cob. We took lake tours on our pontoon boat, we napped and read on the dock. And then Dustin and Camelia got married.

We successfully dodged the rain all day. We set up tables for dinner on the side yard. Just as everyone sat down to eat, the rain decided to return. So this incredibly flexible crowd simply lifted up their tables, plates and all, and moved them under the wedding tents. Then back to eating and swilling champagne.

The whole event was a community effort. My cousins and my friend Beth Tucker cooked all the food, my cousin Roger brought out the classic cadillac to deliver Cami to the wedding from the San Felice and take Dustin and Cami for a 'victory lap' around Hector to let everyone know they were married. And later in the evening we sat around the campfire and listened to cousin Brett Beardslee and my brother David play music. My mother's good friend, Tom Fassett, generously agreed to officiate the ceremony and brought us all to tears, especially with a tribute to my mother, who was there in spirit. She was the gardener who had created the greenery and flowers that surrounded us that day.

The grand finale was the fireworks and the incredible sunset, following a day of light rain.

Because of all the help from friends and family, I was able to just relax and enjoy the wedding. And I did. Tears, laughter, joy, a fair share of local champagne. It was perfect.

This morning we're all huddled up by the fireplace and the heater because the temperature has dropped like a stone --- I think it was in 40s last night. And the rains came too. So today we're going to enjoy the peace and quiet, enjoy the excuse to take naps and do nothing until the weekend when the weather forecaster says it might be boating weather again.

No photo captions --- but a quick summary. It's Cami's sister Irina, as maid of honor. Her husband Federico walked Cami down the 'aisle'. Rennie is in front of the San Felice, the house for out of town guests. A photo of Uncle David and Uncle Dan with Dustin and Camelia. Anne and Beth with Dustin. The sunset while we sat by the campfire in front of the cottage.