More Wedding and Reception Photos

 Joseph's youngest sister, Amanda, holds the basket of silver bells to ring for the bride and groom instead of throwing rice as they emerged from the church.

 Almost everyone had tiny silver sparkles on their face and through their hair for quite a while afterward!

 Above are pictured the Hatfield/Atwell clan with the bride and groom.

Below is the Hatfield family, who had been family to Mariah during her teenage years.

Sorry I couldn't get really good photos. I couldn't take pictures when the photographer was snapping hers so someone is always looking aside or eyes closed, or something.

 Below is my brother Hoshea's family who work in the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota: L-R Andrew, Katie, bride and groom, little Amanda, Laurie and Hoshea.

 Parents with bride and groom

 Four of us Morley siblings were there at the wedding with our families--Hoshea, Elon, Kezia, and I.

Fain's four oldest children drove down from PA, too. Joella's family had planned to come, but ended up with three litters of puppies due that week, and of course, Joella herself is due in just a matter of weeks, so Ezra and I took lots of pictures to share with those who couldn't make the trip. Our family was missing Timmy and Danny who had decided they weren't interested in long travel days and a wedding where no cousins their age would be. They preferred to stay with some nearby friends and do the chores each day.

 I asked Nathan Troyer to take a few snaps of our group, and he had to be careful to stay out of the photographer's way, so we didn't get a perfect picture at all. But you get the idea.

The young lady in the dark jacket and light green skirt to the far left beside our Rose in the pink

is Renae Parks, Joseph's cousin on Laurie's side.

 I hadn't been able to get another picture of the bridal party, so tried to get a snap while the photographer was positioning everyone. There were twelve altogether in the bridal party:

Maids of honor: Nicole Brown (Joshua Bradford's fiancee, front right below), and Sarah Watts (friend of bride and pictured to the left of the bride in pic below)

Bridesmaids: Leanna and Alissa Hatfield (bride's sisters), Moriah Meenach, Katie Morley

Best Men: Josh Bradford (front right) and Tommy Bowman (groom's friends)

Groomsmen: Anthony Atwell, Caleb Dragoo, Douglas Strawn, Nathan Troyer (behind Josh)

Miniature Bride: Elizabeth Jackman (groom's cousin)  Miniature Groom: Chase Stuart (bride's cousin

Flower Girl: Becca Hatfield (bride's sister), Bible Bearer: Weston Bowman 

Pianist: Dwight Hatfield (bride's uncle) Vocalists: Linches (bride's uncle and aunt) and Austin Atwell (cousin of bride)

Ushers pictured below: Archie and Austin Atwell (There must be at least three generations of Archie Atwells).

Cousins Hannah and Elizabeth amused themselves by carrying each other around while the looong photography session was going on.

My sister Kezia's little Lydia is such a dearie.

 Hannah loves to be with her little cousins.

 The candlelit reception was at the camp dining hall. Very unique. It was comforting to have the lights low so my poor dizzy self could feel like I was sort of hiding--except when I was running around snapping pictures of the lovely decorations. A lot of love and work went into this. Different folk pitched in to help Mariah with expenses including a professional photographer. Bless them all!

 Mariah had chosen winter colors, and she and whoever helped had done such a lovely job. The caketop was a snowflake, and there were silver pinecones and snowflakes and blue petals on the cakes.

 Someone had done an outstanding job on the cake. The icing is a woven pattern. I can't imagine how much time that took! It was a masterpiece.

 Table decor.

 I don't usually eat much candy, but these were the most delicate, charmingly irresistible candies I'd ever seen, light blue and white, mixed with nuts. A totally winter-wedding-favor.

 The wedding party could finally sit down and eat. We were all STARVED by 8:00. 

The reception was simple but sufficient. I really appreciated the hot slices of delicious ham of some sort on the sandwich buns (so much nicer than cold cuts esp. on a cold winter evening!), pickled beans, macaroni salad, chips and pickles. There must have been around 150-200 people served.

 The hot drink table was beautifully lit with these floating candles. (I think they are floating in gel of some kind, not water.)

 In different spots on the wall were blue letters telling what was where.

 These huge snowflakes with tiny blue bell centers were hanging from the ceiling.

 Even the cake was blue!!!

 Bride and groom served each other cake--with the bride smearing Joseph's face really good--much to everyone's amusement! I guess she's got some spunk! He better watch out!

Below, they are saying goodbyes and picking up the "mailbox" of cards, leaving the gifts to be opened later.

 I managed to get this photo of Sarah Watts (far right), the daughter of Eric Watts, with whom I went to college at Penn View about 25 years ago. Hard to believe we both have daughters college age now.

 I caught another snap of our beautiful new niece before they went out the door.

 Josh Bradford and Jed Morley had done up Joseph's truck--

writing his phone number on the back-- much to his consternation!

Below the girls are gathering around to see what the boys wrote on the back of the truck. 

 A few pictures of the wedding decor inside the church, including two wreaths on the front doors with the initials "J" and "M."

 Hoshea and Laurie said they'd found these blue candles on clearance after Christmas, and there were snowflakes hanging above them.

 The front of the church before the wedding. Sorry I couldn't get the whole scene. I was sitting way over to the right.

We pray God's rich blessings on Joseph and Mariah as they begin their life together in North Dakota.

Joseph had bought a little house in town which Hoshea and he are remodeling.

Joseph has always been a hard worker, in recent years working ten and twelve hour days and longer on nearby North Dakota ranches, driving combines, tractors, and semi-trucks. We don't doubt that he will be a good provider.

May God bless them both--

and may each of us remember our own vows to our own dear spouses, even though it be twenty or thirty or fifty years later--

to love, cherish, and honor till death do us part.

My Nephew Joseph Morley's Wedding

The last weekend of January, we made a quick trip to Dixon, Missouri, to attend the wedding of my nephew, Joseph Morley. His family has been missionaries to the native American Indians in South Dakota and then North Dakota for a number of years. A little over a year or so ago, Joseph had made a trip to South Carolina to visit his best friend, and there met the girl he married on January 30th, Mariah.

Here Joseph's mom, Laurie, is lighting one set of candles.

Debbie Hatfield, who had been mom to Mariah since she was 13,  lit the other candles.

Mariah had dreamed of a winter wedding, and her dream came true. 

Jon and Rachel Linch, from South Carolina, sang two of the special songs. We had met Rachel here in Colorado a couple years ago, and we had worked with Jon's father, Tim Linch, at Fort Myers Rescue Mission two years ago as well. It was great to meet and see them again.

 This first song was called "A Parents' Prayer," which they sang as the mothers were escorted down the aisle by Joseph.

"Help us to let go of them,

so the two can become one."

Joseph escorts his mother, Laurie, to her seat.

I wasn't able to get pictures of each of the bridesmaids and groomsmen, as I couldn't use flash, I was seated way over on the side of the church, and the lighting was dim. 

I am grateful that my nephew Ezra Morley sent some pictures to relatives via email so I could download them and use them on my blog. 

My sister Kezia's little Elizabeth was the miniature bride, and she is hanging onto Mariah's little cousin

as if for dear life!

And then here came the real bride!

What a beautiful, modest bride!

We so appreciate modesty in weddings.

Mr. Hatfield stepped in as Mariah's father. We really liked Mr. Hatfield, who got to talking to Jonathan afterward, both of them remodelers. 

Elizabeth and the little miniature groom managed to make it through the whole proceeding.

       

 When Rev. Atwell asked who was giving the bride away, Mr. Hatfield took some time to regain his composure. He shared how the Lord had brought Mariah into their home at age 13. 

Almost everyone was in tears--including the bride and groom!

God had redeemed her life from a difficult situation, and she has become a beautiful young woman,

a radiant bride whose eyes just simply shone.

   

 

I was so pleasantly surprised to find out that the pastor of the Hepzibah Holiness Church where the wedding took place was Don Pietro, a pastor my family knew back when I was growing up in the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist circles. In fact, my family sang at his church many years ago. His wife is the sister of Helen Reiff (Glen Reiff's wife, Spanish missionaries). This Italian minister, Don Pietro, had recently battled throat cancer, losing his voice just after coming to this church to pastor, but God has amazingly healed him and he gave a brief and poignant wedding message.

 

 Rev. Archie Atwell read the vow ceremony. My brother Hoshea is the minister on the right.

 Lighting the unity candle

My brother prayed the wedding prayer, a deeply meaningful prayer.

He thanked God for redeeming the life of a precious girl,

and asked Him to help them both to love and honor one another. 

In the picture above, the bridesmaid furthest left is Katie, Joseph's sister. Standing next to her is Nathan Troyer, whose family (Andy and Shirleen and six children) has been long time friends of ours. I did not know many of the others. The other boy to the right of Nathan is Doug Strawn. I believe it was his parents that I went to college with at AWC.
All smiles!

Mr. and Mrs. Morley!

And so the first of the going-on-fifty Morley grandchildren became a husband to a precious, beautiful, godly young lady! May the Lord bless and guide this young couple as they try to follow Him! We couldn't ask for a  lovelier and sweeter girl to join the clan.

The bride and groom dismissed the guests pew by pew. 

We all gathered outside then, in the brisk cold, to wait for the bride and groom to come out. Here my little niece, Lydia, is being given a little silver bell to ring, which she promptly dropped!

I will try to hopefully add more pictures tomorrow.