A Beauty
by Rob

Today Eric Barnes married Miriam Ippel. Everything went beautifully, right down to the weather.

Eric will return to Princeton in the fall for his third and final year of seminary. Miriam just graduated from Western Seminary, here in the Grand Rapids, MI, area. It's amazing what can happen when two seminarians plan the order of worship for a wedding. It was beautiful ceremony, music, vows, Scriptures... the whole thing.

The reception was held at a park where they rented a rustic lodge-type building with a porch on three sides. A three-piece jazz combo played gently through the dinner hour and then sang and played dance tunes after dessert. The food was grilled right outside the building, and the desserts were a "pot-luck" assortment of items that were brought by many of their friends and family. The "traditional" aspects of the reception were limited to a couple of toasts and a prayer. The rest of the time was casual and unplanned. It was one of the best receptions that I can remember. I love being able to take our kids to these sorts of weddings, where they can see that an event like this doesn't have to follow a set format.

The photos posted here are by Kim and Abbie, but they were taking while the photographer was at work. He's a very energetic and entertaining man, who, along with his two assistants, must have taken a couple thousand photos during the day.