Normally I would write a little bit about a couple and what makes them special but for this couple their parents did such a nice job that I will let you hear what is special from them.  The wedding was held at Little River Golf Club and it was a great event with tons of family and fun.  I wish that the mother of the Groom could be at all my weddings!  Enjoy.

Elle and Chris are not the typical 20-something couple. They’ve both lived through a lot in their short lives – between Chris’ successful battles with cancer and Elle’s time in Iraq and subsequent health issues, they know more than they should what it means to say “for better, for worse…in sickness and in health”. The wedding was a celebration of all that life has to offer.

The thing that meant the most to us about the wedding was seeing people travel from far and wide – Michigan, Canada, Texas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia, Florida … -to celebrate and support Elle and Chris. They were amazed and overwhelmed by such a display of love. Having all these folks there for the entire weekend to let loose, party hard and get a real feel for who Elle and Chris are and where they come from was wonderful.

And as for what was most meaningful about the wedding itself – We would have to say that that there wasn’t anything that was chosen or done just for the sake of doing it. Being a military family, it was always important to us to give our kids a connection to their families and a sense of tradition. So pick any aspect of the wedding – Ellen wore pieces of jewelry that belonged to the women of our family – food and beverage selections were tributes to their heritages and family traditions – using their baptismal candles to light the unity candles – the table names with photos of many of the places they’ve lived as military kids – the farewell prayers – readings – music – flowers – colors – even the football jerseys (we’re talking deep rooted sports fanaticism for their hometown teams) – you name it – there was a reason for it all.

In the end it was a better weekend than we could have hoped for – it was the perfect mix of an incredibly fun time that was also amazingly moving and meaningful.