Sarah and Matt's Wedding and Reception

Saturday, the day of Sarah's wedding, we met Joe and Ashley downtown and had a nice brunch at the Twisted Olive. After knocking around Petoskey a while for some last minute shopping we all headed back to our respective hotels to get ready for the 4 p.m. wedding.

The Detroit and Dewitt Stocks traveled to the wedding in the humble Subaru, but Adam joined Graham Austin in the Holiday Inn's limousine for the trip to the Crouse Chapel (in the Bayview Association area).

 

Matt and Sarah's wedding was the first ever non-member wedding in the chapel. Wally must have been very persuasive! The chapel was a comparatively modest structure with lovely stained glass windows. 

The wedding party lingered outside the chapel for a casual reception line. Joe got a special hug for being a reader in the wedding. He read aloud the "Apache Wedding Prayer," a poetic fiction created for the movie Broken Arrow:

"Now you will feel no storms, for each of you will be shelter to the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there is no loneliness, for each of you is companion to the other, You are two persons, but there is one life before you, and one home. Turn together to look at the road you traveled, to reach this---the hour of your happiness. It stretches behind you into the past. Look to the future that lies ahead. A long and winding, adventure-filled road, whose every turn means discovery, new hopes, new joys, new laughter, and a few shared tears. May happiness be your companion, May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead; And through all the years to come. Go this day to your dwelling place and enter into your days together. May your days be good and long upon the earth. Your adventure has just begun."

The reception was only a few miles from the chapel by car, but in a different universe aesthetically. As opposed to the quaint simplicity of the chapel, Bay Harbor is like Disneyworld for the wealthy.

The lake view in front of the Inn was world class, and as they say in the tourism ads, pure Michigan.

Sarah did a great job of getting around to visit folks at the wedding--always a challenge for the couple. Of course, Adam and Joe are easy to visit.

Once the dancing started, Ken and I stayed for a while but finally left Adam to enjoy the company of people his own age and went back to the hotel. He caught the limo for the ride back once the party broke up.

The next day the groom's family hosted a brunch at the Inn. This is done more and more when the wedding is far from home for many of the guests, and that was certainly the case here. Many visitors had traveled from England, and some from South Africa.

After the brunch the Joe Stocks headed back to Detroit and the rest of us made haste for the cottage, where we spent a few hours before Adam and I had to leave for the airport. Adam's flight was a late one, but mercifully, on time, so he arrived in New York at the expected hour and was able to get some sleep before work the next morning.

Great wedding, and for us, a welcome visit with our own kids.

Here is a link to our photos from the weekend on Flickr. And another link with more pictures of the Stock family at the wedding.