Wedding day reflections - Maturing Well

In mulling over some wedding day reflections, I realise I could almost write a book! Instead just a few bullet points below on the recent wedding of my eldest daughter Becky to David. Here goes:

Just by way of background, David and Becky are both committed Christians and met as students while at Exeter University. Both were doing a Maths degree but David was a year ahead. The wedding was at our church in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

We had 113 invited guests, give or take a couple. Plus there were a few more who came for the service and cake reception only, plus perhaps a few who keep an eye for a “good wedding” and aren’t connected to us in any way(!).
With all these guests, it was lovely seeing all the chatter and laughter going on. I was hoping there would be good interactions between the different “groups” and I tried to mingle as much as I could, although I probably didn’t do very well.
In many ways this was a “dream come true” wedding for Becky and actually for all of us. Everything seemed to go okay on the day, even the weather was much improved on the heavy rain on the previous day and the grim forecast.
It has been lovely having both girls back with us for the last few weeks and of course Becky was getting so excited in the last few days! It has been such a tender time, perhaps even poignant at times.
Becky’s friend Cesca came to stay with us on the Wednesday before the wedding and stayed until the day after. She was like a breath of fresh air and lightened things for us. Cesca had been one of Becky’s housemates for the last two years; consequently they have become good friends and one of the five bridesmaids. She fitted in very well and was very tolerant of the different sleeping arrangements! This included being brave and sleeping in the garden shed for a few nights (Hannah had turned it into a very cosy and comfortable retreat)
I was struck at the huge number of young men and women, presumably all known to Becky and David, who just turned up at our home, or the church, or the reception to just roll their sleeves up and work really well in getting things ready. It was all done with such good cheer. Anyone who is negative about the “youth of today” needs to meet this bunch.
As we left in the car for the church, I sat in the back with Becky and some neighbours came with their cameras and waved us off. It is only a short drive and we got to the church in no time. Pretty much everyone was already seated as we pulled in spot on time. James (family) was there filming our entrance.
Walking slowly up the aisle we followed the bridesmaids. I felt so proud of Becky and I can tell you I had a huge lump in my throat. I don’t think I showed in any way that I was quite emotional. I carried on feeling so emotional as we sang the first hymn “Oh Lord my God when I in awesome wonder….”. I was almost choked up for a few seconds; by coincidence we had this hymn at our own wedding.
Hearing Becky and David make their vows reminded me of when Rachel and I were married, back in 1996. This is about loving each other as Christ loved the church (think of sacrificial love) and this applies through all of the ups and downs of life. There is something so special about being married for life, through all of the different seasons and stages of life.
For me as Becky’s father, I was so aware of this being part of the natural pattern of life and how beautiful that is. I remember her being born, all the stages of growing up, going to school, university etc. Seeing her married, even at the tender age of 21, was such a joy.

I could ramble on forever about the marriage but I think I’ll leave it there. Thank you for reading this far, I just wanted to jot down a few thoughts while they were fresh in my mind. Below are some photos from the day (thank you to Jamie and Herman for some of these).