By Brenna Wiegand
One of the wonderful things about a wedding is the many opportunities for personalizing and adding special meaning.
The wedding of my daughter, Valerie Wiegand of Silverton, whose dad is Wade Wiegand; to Justin Brown, son of Mike and Sally Brown of Pleasant Hill, Ore., on Nov. 21, 2009, was a prime example. The wedding took place at Emmanuel Bible Church in Pratum, our family church.
Many hands went into this wondrous day. At the outset, Tom Allenby, Wade’s best friend, volunteered to handle the food. Our church family pitched in loaning décor items, setting up and cleaning up, preparing foods – right down to a few of my dearest friends who arranged and paid for the honeymoon! A female friend of my late son, Geoff, helped me shop for a dress – then paid for it! Blake Tendick, family friend of the Browns and student of the culinary arts, prepared a gourmet rehearsal night feast.
The wedding party was composed of their nearest and dearest, including Val’s brother, Nathan Wiegand, his wife, Samantha; and their son Ethan, 10½ months old, as co-ring bearer with Justin’s nephew Silas, 6½ months old. Along with his parents, Justin’s brother, Erick, and his wife Alisha; sister, Carolyn Brown; and friends, Kari Schrock, Staci Fisher and Sara Brew; completed the bride’s attendants; Justin’s other groomsmen were Michael Tourtellotte, Nathan Blair, Aaron Blair and Jesse Brew.
Pastor Stan Myers, acknowledged our heartache in the midst of joy because we all wished that up there with Val would be her brother, Geoffrey, who died Jan. 24, 2008.
Valerie’s father sang How Deep the Father’s Love for Us as Valerie and Justin took turns washing each other’s feet, symbolizing Christ’s sacrificial love for his church.
Val wore sandals onto which were sewn antique shoe buttons once worn by her maternal great-great-grandmother. A bracelet that had belonged to her maternal great-grandmother was reworked as part of her jewelry. I had the privilege of creating all the jewelry for the bride and bridesmaids.
Early on, Valerie described her vision for the wedding for me by drawing a picture. Wade’s arch, table and bench made from our old barn wood; my somewhat Dr. Seuss-like “trees” and hop vine and lots of candles – came together to make her vision a reality!
Justin’s extended family transformed the Commons area at Silverton High School, the reception site, into a “industrial chic” party venue. Justin’s mom and aunties made 100 huge, tissue paper flowers we suspended from the ceiling. They also baked a couple hundred lemon cupcakes. My cousin volunteered to make her piña colada cake as the couple’s formal wedding cake.
For me, the crème de la crème was the father-daughter dance Val and Wade kept a secret from everyone! See for yourself at Youtube.
The couple lives in Eugene and love being married. Justin is the groundskeeper at his family’s RV park and Valerie’s in a master’s program for education.
