Wedding Report

Taking a step away from some great blog discussion, I herein offer my first-hand report of the weekend Ivany/Burr wedding (from a father of the bride's point of view).

Where do you begin?! I could write my longest blog ever if I tried to include all my thoughts and experiences from the past weekend! Let's see . . . there's all the things that happened, there's my thoughts of giving away my little girl, there's seeing family and friends, there's my experiences with God throughout the weekend, etc. I guess no one needs a running diary, so I will try to express the four most important things as I see them (Heather asked me what I thought my 3 highlights were going to be over the weekend and I could only come up with 2 at that moment).

4) I was very impressed with the whole event (not just the wedding) which took place over the weekend. Jenn & Josh had planned more than a few hours- they organized a few days for people special to them to experience family and community. It wasn't an up tight kind of time, rather very relaxed and informal. Trying to be as "unprejudiced" as possible, I enjoyed this wedding more than any other I can remember. Well, maybe my own, but I was so tense, I don't remember much of it (good thing we taped the ceremony)!

It was also one of the longest I can remember (the whole day's event, not the ceremony), but because Jenn & Josh were a part of it from start to finish (they didn't leave until it was all over), it was a wonderful celebration of friendship, love and covenant-commitment.

3) I loved seeing so many friends and family all in one place! Since the wedding was a bit of a distance outside of our country, only people who really wanted to be there were able to make it. I was worried things would be a little lopsided with all these "Canadian/Ivany" friends and not many "Burr/US" friends there. But I was surprised at how few people I did not know. I am blessed to know most of Jenn's good friends as my own friends. Because of this, I was especially pleased to see Jenn celebrate with these trusted people. God has truly given me a larger family than I ever imagined!

2) After the ceremony and the reception, we adjourned back into the chapel for a time of worship and "speeches." It was awesome to worship God at such a time! Jenn & Josh have certainly based their relationship firmly in God's hands; he is the foundation. How blessed I was to witness the truth of this foundation and KNOW God has such a prominent place in their lives. It is awesome to see God's promise to me fulfilled:

My Spirit who is on you and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever," says Yahweh. - Isaiah 59:21

Hallelujah!

1) People call me Doug, Major, Mr. Burr and a few other things (maybe not fit to print). But on the day of Jennifer Lauren's wedding, as the above picture shows, the title I was most proud of was: "Father of the Bride!"

Without a doubt, that was #1 for me.