When we were preparing for my sister’s wedding last fall, my mother had one of those brilliant last-minute ideas.
She decided we would create a coloring book for the young wedding guests. And I would write a poem for it.
As matron of honor, I had to say yes. And, when we were rained in during Hurricane Sandy, the week before the wedding, I had no excuse. Treasa, the bride, actually assembled the coloring book herself.
After the wedding I revised the poem slightly and made a photo book for the newlyweds.
As we close this Valentine’s week, I thought you might enjoy seeing the poem along with a few more photos from their special day, most of them courtesy of their official photographer, Shane, of Apple Tree Studios.
A is for altar.
B is for bride.
C is for church where they walked side by side.
D is for dancing like Belle and the Beast.
E is for everyone.
F is for feast.
G is for George and for groom, and he’s both.
H is for home, where the heart is, we quoth.
I is for icing and yum, Irish bread.
J is for jigs which they dance now they’re wed.
K’s for kolache,
And L is for love.
M is for marriage, a gift from above.
N is for nosegay, a kind of bouquet.
O is for “Oh, no! You’re here too today?”
P’s for piano,
the priests,
and the pies.
Q is for quiet. At church no one cries.
R is for rings and reception, romance.
S is for stuffing the apron to dance.
T is for Treasa and thirsty, for sure.
U is for uncle, for now there’s one more.
V is for vows…
and for very sleek hair.
W’s wedding cake.
Look! Fred Astaire!
X is for Ricky,
and Y is for yay.
And Z is for zoot suit and zip-a-dee-ay!
That last one is still my favorite picture from the day.
If you missed the couple’s lovely first dance, you can see it here.
Then one day maybe I’ll write a blog explaining why X is for Ricky.
Photo credits: It’s probably obvious which shots are the professional photographer’s, but just to make sure Shane gets credit for his beautiful work, photos 2, 5, 10, 11, 16, 20, and 21 are mine. All the others are by Shane at Apple Tree Studios.