One thing we talked about on our date was my nervousness about having 4 girls and the financial burden that can mean and I am sure would be regardless of our life status! Nathan was so sweet as we prayed and dreamed together and he reminded me in his words, "Clare, I don't know what you are panicking about, you just threw a dream wedding for under $1000 in our own backyard. What makes you think we can't do that again?"
He was totally right and for the moment that put end to it and left me resting and remembering how good the Lord was to us in planning this wedding for Jessica and Epson. I wanted to share some pictures from the night!
So this was our community wedding:
Student's family donated the money for the fabric of the dress and the seamstress made it is 4 days for $40! Another coworker gave the Guayabera shirt to Epson, it is the traditional dress shirt in Panama!
All the kids waiting for their special role in the wedding activities!
Later, after they had all had too many smores we set up a movie on the lawn!
Jessica and her best girls having a roommate moment laugh! A dear friend made her jewelry, a student's mom did Jess' nails, the salon did her hair for free and another student's mom did her make-up!
All the kids waving their ribbons yelling and skipping, "The bride is coming! The bride is coming!" Then they all sat around the back of the tent and played in the rocks!
The beautiful bride! We forgot to give her the bouquet of flowers! Check out the lights! Our small group came the night before and helped us hang all the lights! They were awesome (the lights and our small group!)
Jess is the K5 teacher and we had all her students draw a picture and write what marriage means and that was a part of the table decorations. Almost each kid wrote and drew, "Marriage is kissing!"
Talented friend Vivian played for the ceremony!!
Thankfully we have a professional chef around here as a dear friend, Cresta! She made her first wedding cake and made an awesome cupcake presentation....and half were gluten free!
Our Neighbors let us borrow their iron tent (which the wind blew over the day before and bent in half in several spots...leaving the tent in a heap and me not far behind!) It turned out beautifully!
Our dear friends and neighbors the Almacks were amazing getting 650 ready!
The wedding planning girls! Plus Cheryl our cheerleader!
Getting ready to send them off! We had almost 150 people come!
Sparkler send off! Thankfully found a "chinito" store that sold sparklers, thought we were going to have to sing a send off!
And the couple is off to the Honeymoon suite at the Hotel Rui....a day of the wedding gift from another family!
A few more things of how it came together.
-We had the whole building painted in 10 days LONG OVERDUE paint job!
-The 1st grade class helped donate the drinks for the punch.
-K5 helped with donations for a smore bar.
-CCA Staff provided and prepped all the AMAZING DINNER food! Catering and beyond quality!
-CCA Family who owns a restaurant donated all the kids food, mini cheeseburgers, pizza, fried chicken and mini cake bites! ]
-One CCA family donated the photographer and another guy did the video!
-All the amazing people who kept our kids while we did this and helped us set up the day of!
-The CCA upperclassmen were amazing at serving the food and getting the trash!
-Let me not forget my amazing husband who hung pictures, fixed drywall, hung lights, filled tiki torches, and spent 2 weeks helping me prep and 1 week helping me get back to life! He is a remarkable man! If you don't have a mate and you are reading this.....choose wisely and make sure they are supportive in what you love to do...in my case have people over...LOTS OF PEOPLE!
Such fun! Love our community here and love our community back home in the US that sustains us so we can serve in this capacity! We have seen so much generousity poured out on our behalf and for the love of our Crossroad's community!
