Not about soap.

The happy couple, caught stealing a kiss after the ceremony.

This post is not about soap.

My younger daughter was married on Saturday.  The wedding day was absolutely perfect.  I honestly think it was the most perfect day I have ever lived...and I have had some truly wonderful days in my life, but this... Nothing could have prepared me for this day.

I hoped that we could fit the 90 or so close family members into the house and garden for coffee and cakes.  I was confident that the weather would be nice in spite of a rainy forecast.  I knew that it would be nice to grill hamburgers for the immediate family at dinner time, but I have to admit that I had doubts about the party for the couples friends in the evening - I had thought that we would retire and let the kids do their own thing.  But no!  We were there with some family mingling with their friends dancing and talking and laughing and hugging right till the end.  And we had the time of our lives.  What a wonderful group of friends my daughter and son in law have.  They rehearsed a music number that had a goose-bump-start and just got better.  And my older daughter caught it on video, even if we missed the start.  I was in tears and speechless - that doesn't happen often.  But the song was so great.  It's called Home and the original video is just great, both to listen to and to watch.

We didn't have crystal chandeliers, but these flea market finds
were just as good, either rusty or painted. The wheelbarrow
later served as a beer cooler when we grilled hamburgers.

I knew how the wedding would look, sort of.  The physical surroundings we had thought a lot about.  We had to remove furniture from the house and bring in small tables and chairs, still knowing that we couldn't seat everyone.  We had lots of old china, old silver, embroidered table cloths, candle chandeliers, old books and lots and lots and lots of Cow Parsley in vases all over the house and garden.  And a ton of cakes (really handy to have most of the recipes on the blog in one place :), baked by me and a many other women.  And we had pink Aquilegias and of course the Peonies, Honeysuckle and Lady's Mantle for the bouquet.  The dress was her own design and there were several women in the families that worked on it. The whole preparation was like an Amish barn raising.  Everyone seemed to come together to help.

But in spite of all the preparation I don't think that I was prepared for how truly wonderful the day was.  And I think the reason that everyone was smiling and pouring out love was because we could all see how genuine their love for each other is.  Like my husband said at the end of the day:  It was like a dream, the whole day, just like a dream.

And now that the young couple is on their short honeymoon, driving in the country with a tent in the trunk, I can't wait to start soaping again.
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