A New England Wedding

 We traveled last week to Massachusetts for the wedding of our son Peter to his bride and best friend, Shani. Peter was one happy boy!

 

That's the beautiful home where we stayed and where the wedding was held.
Here is Shani in her gorgeous wedding gown. She has a smile that lights up a room!

The rehearsal was done outside on Friday evening, but by Saturday rain was threatening, so we moved the ceremony inside the house. Adam conducted the ceremony.

Peter has grown his hair quite long, and it is so beautiful, the kind of hair women pay lots of money for, haha! But it was bothering him during the ceremony, so he pulled it back during the reception. 

The Searcys hosted the reception at a local restaurant with delicious food and helpful staff. It was a very fun day!
Here's the spread our family offered everyone for the rehearsal dinner on Friday -- a chicken taco bar! Adam, Philip, and Kara worked really hard to make it happen.

Just so ya know - that's not Adam's normal smile.

Here's another photo of the house, Chez Linnea. I'll do another post later just on the house.

 Bridesmaids photo -- these are Shani's two sisters and three of her friends from college and childhood.

 Groomsmen:

 Peter with his new father-in-law, James. We really enjoyed getting to know the Searcys. They are friendly, kind, sweet people!

 Julia enjoyed hanging around with an older crowd of young people :)

 Shani is just delightful. She has an infectious laugh. She loves to dance! And isn't that a great dress?

 Julia painted a picture of the Blue Ridge Mountains for the wedding. Everyone signed it as the "guest book," and Peter and Shani will keep it, because they met and fell in love in those mountains.

 They ordered the cake from a local bakery. It is so much easier to get a cake for 25 people, rather than 300!

 Peter and Shani, after long thought and discussion, decided to have what's called a "destination wedding" -- everyone travels to a beautiful location (in this case, Great Barrington in the Berkshires) and stays together for several days celebrating the new couple, holding the ceremony during that time. In this case, only the immediate family, wedding party, and a couple of other close friends attended.

 

 It was so good to see Philip and Kara again! And here are a few more pics from the wedding weekend, if you haven't seen enough :)

Julia lounged her brother to death!

The "first look" photo, when Peter saw Shani in her wedding dress for the first time.

Champagne with the cake!

 Bride and attendants outside with their umbrellas.
Shani's dress stood up to the rain quite well.

 Friday was beautiful and sunny. We enjoyed soaking up rays on the porch.

 

And of course, Beau went along. We felt he was very well behaved under the circumstances. But now he is very happy to be home on his own couch with his own food bowl, as are we.

 These two fellows hit it off! They are so much alike.

 Congratulations to Peter and Shani, and may God's blessings fall on you as you begin your new life together in Boston! We love you!