Tim & Hilary’s Wedding

[On location in Cumberland, Wisconsin]
Last Friday afternoon I rented a car and drove out from Spokane, heading for my former roommate Tim’s wedding in Yakima. I was glad to get a chance to see some of the countryside in eastern Washington, even though it turned out to be a rather dull drive. And for those who think Washington state is all mountains, you’re very wrong. Interstate 90 between Spokane and the Columbia River Gorge is pretty flat and dry (though at least there are some pine trees near Spokane to break up the landscape), with very few signs of civilization (a town every hour or so, generally). The foothills of the Cascades were finally just ahead of me when I had to turn southeast at Ellensburg on Interstate 84. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to leave a drive through the Cascades for my next visit to Washington.
I got to Yakima about 20 minutes before the wedding rehearsal started. The rehearsal lasted an hour and a half or so, and was somewhat chaotic and at times frustrating when there were obvious misunderstandings of what various people were suggesting or requesting. Maybe they’re always chaotic, or maybe it had something to do with there being eight groomsmen (including myself), eleven bridesmaids, three flower girls and one ring bearer. That was a lot of people on stage, and sure took awhile to figure out how to get everyone positioned. That was the largest wedding party I’ve ever seen or heard of! But when you take into consideration that Hilary has 9 sisters and 2 brothers, and that she naturally has other cousins and good friends too, and that of course you can’t really leave anyone out, you can see why the wedding party was so huge. 🙂 It was fun though, and eventually we got the whole rehearsal thing sorted out.
At the rehearsal dinner (which featured homemade lasagna from the moms, mmmm!) every table had a packet with lyrics to about 20-some hymns. So when we were done with the food, people just shouted out a number and we’d sing that hymn, with accompaniment from a guitar and djembe. We sung about a dozen hymns before we had to clean up and vacate the church for the night. I thought that hymnsing was really cool, and I’m going to file that away in my memory banks for awhile, as I’d like to do the same thing someday when it comes time for me to get married.
One of Hilary’s uncles offered to put up all the groomsmen for the night at his house in Yakima, so that’s where I stayed (two or three of the groomsmen stayed other places though). That’s where we had a rather short and low-key bachelor party for Tim as well, which mostly consisted of us introducing ourselves and how we know Tim, Tim handing out his gifts for us, and then Tim asking for advice from the groomsmen who were already married, about all sorts of things. It was cool to hear. We all (and Tim especially) had to be up fairly early in the morning, so we called it a night pretty early too. It was the first bachelor party I’ve been to, but I’m guessing it was a pretty non-standard one. 🙂
All the wedding photos were taken before the ceremony, so we had to be there quite awhile beforehand. I actually preferred having all the photos taken before the ceremony, instead of right after. It was a gorgeous day though, especially for mid-November in Washington, partly cloudy with temps in the 40s, so most of the photos were able to be taken outdoors. I didn’t have my camera with me while the wedding photographer was taking all our pictures, but I ran back in to grab it when he was done with us, and just needed to take some bride and groom pictures.

We groomsmen were ushers as well, but about 5 minutes before the scheduled start of the ceremony (2pm) we got the hook to go line up. Before everyone lined up though, there was a group prayer for Hilary, then for Tim, then for both of them together, and then we all sung “Doxology” a capella. Everything about their wedding and wedding preparation was extraordinarily God-focused.
So all of us in the wedding party lined up, but then stood there at the back of the church for a long time because the organist kept playing “Be Thou My Vision” (the song to be played as the parents were seated) over and over and over again. And again. And again. And again. The wedding hostesses were trying to flip a light at the organ to signal him to move on to the processional, but he wasn’t getting the hint. So eventually we just started the processional, and about halfway through the organist finally switched to the song for the processional. I suppose nothing ever goes 100% as planned at a wedding. 🙂 The ceremony was really good though, and was about an hour long (a long time to stand still on stage). The homily from the pastor was very Gospel-focused, the two congregational hymns were “O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” and “Holy, Holy, Holy.” While Tim & Hilary were signing the marriage certificate (something that’s required by Washington state law to happen during the ceremony itself), one of Hilary’s sisters sang “I Love You, Lord” as a solo, and while Tim & Hilary took communion as the very first act of their marriage (even before the kiss, which was their first kiss ever), another of Hilary’s sisters sung “What Wondrous Love Is This?” as a solo. Near the end of the wedding, Tim & Hilary’s parents came on stage to pray for them as well. It was a really nice wedding!
The reception was right after the ceremony at the church, and was a big pie and ice cream social. There seemed to be a never-ending supply of pies of all kinds that kept being brought out! Tim & Hilary chose not to have a dinner at the reception, and also chose not to have any alcohol. Instead they had sparkling cider for the toasts. Several people gave toasts to Tim & Hilary, and I gave one as well, partly since I was the only Penn Stater who could make it out to the wedding. The reception wrapped up at about 6pm though, when Tim & Hilary drove off to start their honeymoon (Leavenworth, Washington -> Victoria, British Columbia -> Seattle, Washington). In preparation of their car, some of the other groomsmen decided to pull a couple little pranks — setting the radio at high volume and the windshield wipers so that they’d come on when he turned the car on, a piece of tagboard over the ignition, and then some whipped cream underneath the driver’s door handle. Just a little harmless fun. 🙂

With the reception ending as early as it did, and with the weather still being good (I knew snow was coming the next morning), I decided not to stay in Yakima another night, and instead to head back up to Larry & Marilyn’s house in Spokane. Right before I left I got invited to an impromptu after-party with some of Hilary’s sisters and cousins, but 3.5 hours of night driving in good weather (and then being able to go to church with Jonathan) was far more preferable to me than more hours of daytime driving on icy/snowy roads.
Even though I didn’t know anyone other than Tim & Hilary, I had a great time going out there for their wedding. They’re so happy together, and love each other and love God tremendously. It’s cool to see. 🙂 It was also an honor to be a part of their wedding, and I wish them nothing but the best in their marriage!
More about the rest of my Washington trip in an upcoming post. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!