Wedded bliss

My sister Rachel got married on Saturday to the love of her life: James Bond.  

The priest made copious 007 jokes during his homily.

It was a glorious wedding.  I did a great deal of the photography, which was easy.  Shooting beautiful pictures of my sister and her groom was a bit like shooting fish in a barrel.

Now that the bride and groom have a disc of proofs, the mother of the bride has seen the pics, and the mother of the groom has a disc of pics on the way to her, I feel free to share a few with you lovely people.

Rachel and James are two of the most prayer filled people I know.  They worked hard to fill their wedding with prayer and thanksgiving, meaning, and beauty.  They succeeded marvelously.

I'm just a little bit proud of Rachel's bouquet, since I made it and got it to cascade every bit as much as she'd been hoping for. Here's a closer picture:

Around the ribbon, we put a rosary and a medal of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of marriages.  There was another St. Nicholas medal inserted into James's boutteniere. The medals were a gift from Tammy Hemmerle, who also did a smashing job with the choral solos.

Rachel had 19 different musicians and singers singing parts and/or playing piano, violin, flute, bohdran, and bagpipes.  I hope I'm not forgetting an instrument.  It was beautiful, despite several of the musicians having just met each other that morning for practice.

Rachel had a small horde of flower girls.  Half of them helped with her chapel length veil, and the other half scattered rose petals before her.  However, their main task was to look ridiculously adorable.

They did this with enthusiasm and panache.

My favorite part of this picture is the little flower girl who is hugging Rachel's train.  She's keeping it from getting dirty trailing on the ground, but you can tell how much she adores it.  The little girls loved Rachel's outfit, particularly the veil which I think they regarded as a particularly beautiful toy.

A couple more pictures of flower girl cuteness:

She's listening attentively to Rachel and James singing a duet.  They sang "Set Me As a Seal" to each other, and to dedicate their marriage to the Holy Family.  I cried behind my camera.  It was just so beautiful.  It was James's idea, which is a little surprising, as it's such a Rachel-ish thing to do.

I love it when guys are so in love, they simply can't hold their beloved's hand with just one hand.  Only holding with both hands will do.

The wedding party looked pretty smashing too.

and, of course, a good time was had by all.