Lori + Zach: The Reception

Finally. Here are the last pictures from Lori and Zach's lovely wedding weekend. After an emotionally and physically exhausting morning, it was finally time to sit around the table with family and enjoy good food and even better company. 

:: Fixing a minor cake mishap ::

:: Waiting for dinner ::

:: Dinner is served ::

:: Time for toasts ::

:: Cutting the cake ::

:: Chowing down ::

:: The Send-off :: 

 
The whole weekend was incredibly beautiful and intimate, from the labors of love that prepared the Barnes' home for such a lovely celebration to the moments when Zach and Lori drove away, destination: honeymoon. There are few things as beautiful as the way families and friends rally around a new couple to welcome them into their new lives together. I love what Wendell Berry has said about marriage:

"[Lovers] say their vows to the community as much as to one another, and the community gathers around them to hear and to wish them well, on their behalf and its own. It gathers around them because it understands how necessary, how joyful, and how fearful this joining is. These lovers, pledging themselves to one another are giving themselves away, and they are joined by this as no law or contract could join them... And so here, at the very heart of community life, we find not something to sell as in the public market but this momentous giving."

I think and I hope that the people and moments and words and sentiments that filled their wedding weekend reminded Zach and Lori to focus on "giving" marriage instead of "getting" married. They were surrounded all weekend by people who understand how necessary and how joyful and yet how fearful giving yourself away can be. But our presence and participation in what will be some of the most momentous events of their lives demonstrates our faith in each of them individually and in them as a new collective, and there is no room for fear where that much faith is found.

Congratulations, Lori and Zach! We are so happy for you guys!