The hall was decorated really nice. Lots of lights, candles, lanterns, and greenery. There was beautiful music playing too; I later learned the album is called “Celtic Wedding.”

Two bridesmaids; two groomsmen. One of the bridesmaids sang I song a really like, “Bless the Broken Road.”

The sermon:

The kiss:

The cake (decorated with rose petals):

A special presentation in honor of the mothers (it was Mothers Day):

Happily ever after:

Congratulations, Adam and Gabriela! May you have a happy future and a wonderful adventure serving God as husband and wife.

Adam awaits Gabriela’s arrival before the wedding shower.

They’re all smiles after the wedding:

You can find many more photos from their wedding here (this is a link to their wedding photo blog).

* * *

Two special guests that came to the wedding were Valerie and Linda Crosier. Valerie is a longtime friend of mine from college, and was instrumental in Adam’s coming to 3ABN. Linda has been a mom to me, as well as being the mother of two of my most loyal friends, Valerie and her sister Nicole.

This was their first time to 3ABN, and I enjoyed showing them around.

Unfortunately, for many brides- and grooms-to-be, it is also a burdensome expense. Sending custom cards to hundreds of potential attendees, as well as to those you full well know will not attend but would be mad if you didn’t invite them, can cost no small sum. This started me thinking about alternatives. Not that I would use these myself (honest!), but perhaps someone will find a lifesaver here.

Aside from the obvious but in-law displeasing option of not sending cards, the clearest choice seems to be making use of the internet. One could send an HTML-formatted email, with links to a custom website designed with all kinds of glitter and glow, for nothing. For those lacking time and talent, a plain old text message could suffice. Black on white is popular for printed cards, after all.

But if we’re wanting to use the latest technology, why not skip email and websites altogether, and go straight to the summit: Cell phones. That’s right, you can send text messages instantly to all your kin. Many cell phones support multiple recipients and groups, so you could hit all your family and friends in one wireless whack. Of course, many service providers charge for this service. You can skirt that issue by using any of the various free software or website applications that let you send text messages for free. But even if you have to pay for it, a few cents a message is a lot less than the cost of postage, especially with the postage rate hikes expected this very next month.

Of course, choosing the mode of communication is only half the battle. You also have to decide what to say. With a cell phone you can’t be long winded and wordy. No one is going to have patience with your text message, “The families of Jon Dough and Jayne Smith wish the pleasure of your presence….” It’s already off the screen, and no one likes to scroll.

The trend with cell phone text messages is to be short and concise. They just need the facts: who, what, when, where. And it helps to know the lingo. Use letters to stand in for words when possible: “RU” for “Are you.” Drop vowels and unimportant letters in common words. Don’t spell out the obvious. Everyone knows JD is Jon Dough. So how could you do it? Behold the wedding invitation of the future:

JD+JS 6/24@TVILLE CH. UR CMNG? Y/N