Reflections From a Wedding....

"Travis Loves Ashley"

Since my last installment, the family loaded up and went to the wedding of Ashley, the daughter of my cousins Paul and Becky! I have to say I am really feeling my age now, having attended this function. Ashley was the flower girl in my first wedding, and she was just shy of two when she did that, if my feeble memory serves me right. That has been 23 years ago.... Ashley is all grown up now!



Ashley in a recent photo

Ashley has always just been the sweetest young lady. That is not surprising, considering how sweet her mother Becky is! When you look at Ashley, the first thing you are struck with is her height! I believe she is about 6'1". Travis, the guy she married, is taller than that! He has to be about 6'5" or something! Ashley looks like a model. They are just a darling couple who look like they were just made for each other.



I understand that Travis proposed to Ashley by taking her up in a small plane and flying her over her family's farmland, where he had cut out the words "Will you marry me?"
in the grass below. Isn't that just sooooo romantic? :)


They did a powerpoint slideshow during the reception (which I thought was neat!) and I really loved their pictures that were made on a beach---they were the engagement pictures. The close-ups revealed their dazzling white smiles and their gorgeous blue eyes---both of them.
They were just the sweetest things! (If you go look at the pics, be sure to biggify them and click the little white arrows to see the next page of pics.) Living in TN, I always perk up when I see a beach, because that is the one thing I wish TN had. Yet, as the last month has shown, being in the center of the country has its advantages too.

Another unique thing that Ashley had at the wedding was "congregational" singing--well at least for one song. They had a song called "The Greatest Commands" that they had the wedding audience sing. It was so beautiful! I had heard about the song before, but I had never been anywhere where it was done. You can hear it here if you like. (This is about the only place on the net I could find the whole song. Sadly, it is linked off the funeral page of a little girl.) There was a good crowd present, and I would bet that at least 90% were Christians, and a lot of us that did not know the song can read music, so we learned a new song!

Paul and Becky, my cousins, with Ashley and little sister Kelsey

The wedding was full of both touching and funny moments. Ashley's little sister, Kelsey, who I understand is about to turn 12 (but who looks like she is 17 or 18) got us all bawling when she saw her dad, Paul, bringing Ashley down the aisle. Paul was crying, and Kelsey said it takes a LOT to make her dad cry, so Kelsey got to crying, and you know how that goes. But we soon got ourselves composed and moved on. Robert Jackson performed the ceremony. If you know him, you know that in these parts, he is rather legendary. I can remember him preaching when I was a little girl. He was one of those evangelists who made an impression on little kids. I imagine the adults were equally as affected by his fiery sermons. I thought he was "old" when I was a little bitty girl, because his hair was white then, and that was 40 years ago! I don't know his exact age, but he is definitely in a disappearing class of preachers. I bet it has been 25 years or more since I heard him preach. He preached a sweet wedding for this pair despite the fact that he has been in very frail health as of late.

The funny things that happened were that after all the groomsmen had come in, we were all facing forward and waiting for the girls to come in. All of the sudden, the groomsmen got the worst expression on their faces, and I realized that a partition in the back of the room, around which all the attendants were coming, was falling forward into the crowd. Fortunately, some people caught it and set it back up before Travis could get a premature view of the bride! Then, they had a little guy who was the "bell ringer." He came forward, rang his little bells, and then tried to take the rope of the white runner for the bride to walk on and pull it to the back of the aisle. He was unable to do it by himself, so one of the groomsmen assisted him, and another wedding tragedy was averted!

Bro. Jackson did something I did not think I had ever seen before. When he asked Paul "Who gives this woman in marriage?" and Paul replied, "Her mother and I," bro. Jackson replied, "Step back!" He did it with such authority that I think it took Paul off-guard, and he stepped right on her dress in his haste to obey that stern command! It was funny at the time. We halfway expected Paul to say, "Sir, yes sir!" Later, I thought to myself how many marriages would benefit if parents did more than symbolically "step back." It is a time to let go of your kids when they wed and cease from interfering in their marriage. If more young people would "leave and cleave," and the parents would be content to let them do just that, everyone would be better off. God said it, I believe it, and that's that. Sorry, I digress, but I just had to throw that in.

Then, during the sermon, brother Jackson was having Ashley say her vows, and he told her to say, ...And I promise to be your faithful husband...." Of course, Ashley caught it and made the change in wording! Then, when he was doing the "ring speech" he told Ashley to say, "I take you Travis, to be my wedded wife...." Again, they had a few giggles out of that!

Another strange thing that happened at the wedding was that while I was getting punch, I felt a hand on my arm, and a voice called me by my first name! It was one of the bridesmaids. I felt like I knew that face, but I did not know her. She asked if I knew who she was. Of course, I did not. She said she was Kayleen, the middle child of some friends we have known all of our adult years. We first met her parents out in New Mexico, and worshipped with them. Now, they all reside in Texas. Kayleen was probably 9 or 10 the last time I saw her. Now, she is all grown up with a two-month old baby! Unbelievable! I asked her how she recognized me, and she said that she just looked out in the audience and saw me and said, "That's Dana!"
She is really good, because I know I have aged a bunch! She said when she was little, she always thought I looked like Snow White! Of course, that comment sent my brothers into hysterics, because I "sure ain't Snow White now!" Happily, some aged people there also thought my brother Doug was Fred Thompson! (You know, the actor, Law and Order...the senator, the actor, you know him, right?) I told Doug, "Yeah, if you are Fred Thompson, I am Snow White!"

Yes, the wedding was quite fun. I got to see my long lost cousins Mary Ann, Lisa (with Keith, her husband), Amy, Beth (with Murray, her husband), and Laura and lots of their kids! I saw people I have attended church with through the years. No one could believe that I had big ole boys and little baby girls! Hopefully, soon, I will have some pictures from the wedding to post!

Of course, we wish Travis and Ashley a wonderful life together. I hope and pray that they will always be as happy together as they seemed to be on Saturday! One of my favorite things in life is to see two people who are truly in love look at each other. I saw it Saturday, and I pray that it abides forever!