Outside the Church

See what a beautiful day it was? When the wedding ceremony was over, everyone filed out of the church and waited in the churchyard for the bride and groom to come out.

Mom with Annie, Bob and Jill behind them.

BIL Bob with Mom.

Emily and Sebastian, newly married, emerge from the church. Emily's dress was made by my mom for her own wedding in 1950. Ann wore it for her wedding to Ketil in 1985, and now a third generation shows its timelessness.

And kiss. Birdseed and bubble-blowers were provided as we went out.

Emily with her cousin Annie.

Emily with her mormor.

Wedding!

Finally it was Saturday, August 6th, and the day of the wedding. And it was a beautiful day. Ann's family got dressed in their wedding finery early to go take pictures with the wedding party.

This was outside the bed & breakfast where they were staying.

Sebbe and Emily come into the church, followed by David and Lina, best man and maid of honor.

I didn't take any pictures during the actual wedding ceremony. When it was done, and time to walk down the aisle in the recessional, Emily was surprised to see more musicians come out, led by Sebbe's friend David Lindvall.

Then Sebbe serenaded Emily with the song Flowers in the Window. His younger siblings and cousins provided backup. There's a video here.

W-Day -1

The day before the wedding, a lot of people were supposed to come to the site of the wedding reception and help set things up. Unfortunately, when we got there at 9, no one had the key - the people who had had a party the day before hadn't turned it in. Anneli made a number of phone calls and finally located someone who had a spare. So we got into the place around 10. But many hands make light work and things started coming together. My main task was splitting 16 yards of sage green burlap (hand-carried from Iowa by Bob) into thirds lengthwise, and then stay-stitching the edges to prevent ravelling.

The tables were set into 5 long rows plus the head table. White tablecloths, sage burlap runners, plum napkins. Christmas tree lights were hung between the regular lights, and origami birds were suspended from those, as well as from the curtain rods on the side windows.

Candles, glassware, and table decorations started to make it look festive.

Ann made the concrete hearts used for place cards (130 of them!). She also made the centerpieces, concrete oval bowls planted with sedums and decorative stones.

The hearts were tied with raffia, and the place-cards (hand-lettered by Jill) were tied to them.

W-Day - 2

In other words, Wedding Day minus 2. On Thursday, some of us went over to the Thylanders to get acquainted and to help with some wedding preparations. A most pressing issue was the seating chart for the dinner/reception following the wedding.

Sebbe and Emily discuss the seating arrangements.

Felix looks on as discussions continue.

The mothers have their lists out. From left: Lina Andersson (maid of honor), Samuel Thylander (brother of the groom), Anneli Thylander (mother of the groom), Linda Persson (girlfriend of the best man), Ann Turner (mother of the bride).

Enjoying the shade: Ketil, Mom, Jan Thylander (father of the groom).

Felicia, sister of the groom, was in the kitchen working on the wedding cake. She made a marvelous multi-tiered cake with fillings and marzipan topping.

That night, relatives on both sides went out to dinner at Lammet och Grisen (literally, The Lamb and The Pig). This well-known local restaurant features all-you-can-eat carveries, with abundant side dishes. The evening winds down with a classic Swedish sing-along, and the bridal couple was honored with a song and a solo dance.