Object Lessons in My Life: The Wedding - Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Krause

We had a wedding on September 16th - and now we have an “official” daughter-in-law -- and a mighty fine one at that, I might add -- who just happens to be the wonderful mommy of our precious grandbabies!

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Krause

If ever I've been aware of God's Goodness and Grace it was two weeks ago during our wedding weekend. Our plan was to leave Bakersfield for Bass Lake on Saturday morning at 9:00, and the blessings started at 8:45 when I received my first phone call of the day from Andrew. He was so excited for the wedding and it both thrilled and tickled me at the same time.
I felt pretty organized, but as I halfway expected, packing for a destination wedding took longer than I planned (dresses, steamer, desserts and all the decorations for the dessert table, the cake table and the guestbook/gift table, etc.) We finally got everything ready and left town at 11:00.
We arrived at Bass Lake in the early afternoon and right off the bat we were faced with a situation that could have seemed a bit catastrophic, but we remained cool, calm and collected -- and the situation ended up being a complete blessing -- beyond what I could have asked for or imagined. You see, the resort overbooked for the weekend and they had already given our little chalet away. They had no available rooms for us. But after about an hour of phone calls between the front desk and management, they decided to put us in "The Lake House".
Now, I knew what they were talking about when they said "The Lake House" and quite honestly, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed -- because I had actually seen The Lake House on their website and thought it would have been the perfect accommodations for the weekend. It would have given us room to host a little gathering of all out-of-town guests on Saturday night and maybe have a family breakfast on Sunday morning before the wedding. But then I saw the price and knew it was not within our means. Unfortunately, it didn't end there for me -- I wrestled with that one for a bit and found myself trying to scheme a way for us to have that Lake House -- until I finally surrendered and asked God to just take the desire away and help me be content with what we could afford.
So when all the commotion settled down and I realized that we would be staying in The Lake House for the entire weekend -- at the price we had paid for our little chalet -- I knew this was a gift from God! We had our little gathering Saturday night on the expansive lakefront deck of the Lake House and we had breakfast on Sunday morning. And then it was time to begin getting ready for the wedding…
Wonderful husband had the honor of performing the marriage ceremony and I can’t quite find the words to describe it – except to say that he delivered a message that beautifully combined a challenge and encouragement from God’s Word with a passion that has come through our family’s journey over the past five years, and it was quite an emotional experience – not only for our family but I think for the other wedding guests, as well. It was a beautiful wedding and I went through the whole night with a lump in my throat, overwhelmed by God’s Grace.
Okay, now for a FEW pictures. I didn’t take any pictures myself – for two reasons: One, I had my hands full with getting two little flower girls ready and then trying to keep them looking neat and clean during the 2-hour photo shoot before the wedding; and two, I wanted to take it all in and enjoy – and decided to rely on the photographer to do her job. Well, that seemed like a great idea at the time, but now I have only the pictures sent to me by friends or snagged off of facebook to share with you. Not to worry – I will certainly post again when we get pictures from Sharon DeLaO Photography. Sharon has given us a few teasers – and I can’t wait to see the whole package! (And if you have pictures, I would love to see them!) These are totally in random order...

These first two are from Sharon DeLaO - the official photographer

Jaclyn always looks beautiful - but even more so as a bride. And the groom was stunningly handsome!

I L.O.V.E. this picture of Andrew and Layne (brother/sister) -- and okay, I'll even keep goofball Matt in the background

Layne and me -- can you tell we cried all our makeup off during the wedding?

Shawn (Andrew's cousin), Jamie (Jaclyn's sister), and Mikey (Brother)

Matt (Andrew's friend), Layne (sister), Kris (Andrew's friend)

Andrew and Barbara (Jaclyn's Mom)

Jaclyn and Ronnie (Stepdad)

The original plan was not for us to take Kinsley down with us, but when you have a little one like this in a wedding, you just go with the flow. You can't see her face in this pic, but she was ONE of the cutest flower girls I've ever seen.

Here's the other cutest flower girl I've ever seen...

The ring bearer was Jaclyn's nephew, Tristen. Avery is in LOVE with him!

Okay, and now for the story of that POLE she had in those earlier pics above... The florist told us she could make some really cute little wands for the girls to carry. We thought, 'oh, perfect, they'll love it.' That's not a wand -- it's a weapon! Kinsley's wand was bigger than she was. Speaking of Kinsley...

I told you I had my hands full trying to keep her clean and neat. She discovered that she could open the refrigerator door at The Lake House -- and that little shelf there was the perfect place for her to sit and cool off (or so she thought!)

And here are a few shots of the wonderful Lake House...

This is our view of the wedding site from the deck of the Lake House. The reception was on the deck and the ceremony was on the grass area down below.