Wedding day...part 5...Celebration Time...Come on!

             

                                             

    We had made it through the ceremony and actually got the photography (www.elisabphotography.com) (all the family pictures) done. The wind was still raging but the rain had held off until our guests had all made it into the Freight Shed to be seated at the tables, or to the bar that was set up in back of the tent. Our tent was quickly changed over from ceremony set up to dance floor, DJ and bar set up with the dance floor in the middle. By the time we finished with the photographers the cocktail hour was in full swing...the drinks were flowing and the appetizers being passed. There was a sense of having survived something ...as the weather continued to deteriorate! We were no longer checking on the storm as we felt we had overcome the most important obstacle...that was probably  a mistake! The caterer Alex and her mom had chosen (http://www.sweetwatercuisine.com/) set out a beautiful appetizer spread that flowed seamlessly into a scrumptious dinner buffet. Everyone seemed happy and busy getting to know their neighbors. Van and I both went from table to table welcoming guests and meeting those we had not yet met. It was a festive mood. The room was lovely and all seemed happy young and old!

    Matt stood as dinner was coming to an end and welcomed all and gave an amazing tribute to his family and to Alex's family especially her dad Brad Hardy who had passed away when Alex was in her second year of UVA. After hearing him speak there was no doubt that he was no longer my little boy but a man that  stood alone, firmly rooted in his love for Alex. I cried...again! Jake gave his best man toast and once again this mom was so proud! Julia (Alex's sister and maid of honor) gave her toast and made us all cry again. She was beautiful and it was so obvious how much she and Alex loved each other and how much they missed their dad. I know it must have been very hard for Melissa (Alex's mom) to celebrate her daughter's marriage without her husband Brad by her side. She looked beautiful and proud and I wished I could take some of the sadness that should not have been there that day away...but I could not. She carried the burden for herself and her children, and showed my son that he was now her son too... and I was proud of her. Melissa we did it! 

     I forgot to mention a very key  moment that happened during the toasts...right after Jake gave his...the electricity went out! Dark...but amazingly Alex had decided to use colonial lanterns as the focal point of her center pieces and we were now sitting in a candlelit room in colonial Yorktown with a storm raging outside. It was pouring rain, thunder shook the building and lightning illuminated the sky and the wind...the wind was incredible....but it was cozy and romantic and a bit exciting in that darkened room. Everyone just carried on almost as if we had planned this to happen. I heard  people  speak that this is how it was when Yorktown was first established so it just made this wedding historically correct...but there was one major problem....no music!!!
   One of Alex's bridesmaids who was from Yorktown offered to let us borrow a generator from her parents home, so we sent her with a close friend and a pick up truck to get it...and an hour later the DJ had moved inside and hooked up her equipment. The kids had pushed the tables to the sides of the room to make room for a dance floor and we were back in business! or were we? There were waterfalls flowing off the tent...it had a life of it's own  and it was not a safe place to be  any more. At that moment I looked up and over the tent and saw a cloud on the other side of the river (Gloucester) that sent chills through my body. I had lived for 5 years in Oklahoma and I recognized a wall cloud when I saw one! I had my nephew get on his I-phone and pull up the radar....Tornado warning in Gloucester...we were in harms way!

To be continued...Dancing in the Dark!

Pictures will be coming soon...waiting for them...check back!
Thanks for reading!
Lynn