I might be biased - OK! Yes I am! - but I think I just went to the best wedding ever! 😃 And it was the wedding of my oldest daughter!

Angus and Ale(xandra) tied the knot on Saturday last in a packed out ceremony in a wee church in the countryside of Antrim (N. Ireland), and then moved a mile and a half up the road for a fabulous reception “do” on the (building) site of their future home.

We had prayed for the LORD to be present throughout, and all obstacles to be overcome, and He was and they were. We asked Him to send us the weather we needed for the day, and, owing to the nature of the six-pinnacled marquee in the garden, most people would have cooked in there if we had experienced the sun of the week prior. The LORD sent us cloud cover, a perfect temperature and great lighting for the photos of the happy couple and wedding party.

Canon Andrew White battled against Covid (seventeen weeks in hospital and near death) to come over to Ireland for this event, and then, on the very morning of the wedding, he fought back an unexpected health snag to hold off going to hospital until right after the wedding ceremony, where he spoke in what many have told us was the best sermon they ever heard at a wedding service! We were reminded as he spoke that there were THREE people in this marriage, because “Angus and Ale love Jesus” and therefore He too is present with them and “and a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes iv 12), and Canon Andrew gave an invitation to all who did not know Him to come join His family through faith in Jesus. And many commented on the LORD’s presence in the church as Rev. Jeremy Mould led the service and Canon Andrew spoke.

A ram’s horn (shofar) was played briefly as Angus and Ale joined right hands with the minister, covering their three hands together with his stole, the sound to announce the marriage of these two and to declare the victory and anointing of Jesus over their lives.

👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼 Press the play button to hear the couple piped into the reception 👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼

Ale had numerous details put into the wedding ceremony to remember different absent family during this special day of all days. For the grandfather she never knew she had a piper from his regiment come to pipe them out of the church, and again, into the reception. Her bouquet also had a blue thread round a piece of parchment from her great grandfather’s Bible, placed there by her sister Jessica (who now owns the Bible). And Ale took the bouquet across the country (on the day after her wedding) to the graveside where her granny is buried. She had hoped that “Granny” would live to see her marry and also see their first child, but, Granny could not stay and so Ale wanted to give away her bouquet in this way.

The family was very much involved in the wedding. With her mother caring for a multitude of details (like hand making over one hundred thank-you cards for Ale to use post-wedding), her youngest sister (Vania) making her gorgeous dress, her middle sister (Jessica) playing the harp during the ceremony, both sisters being among the bridesmaids. And then the incredible efforts of Angus and his family creating a gorgeous reception location out of a building site with all the overwhelming tasks involved in that.

Her Dad did the lighter work of ‘giving Ale away’ at the ceremony, and we heard of at least one dad who “lost it” when the veil was lifted and a kiss was placed on her forehead. There was the roasting, I mean, speech, that came in the reception, and Dad did not embarrass himself too much, nor let the side down by dancing with his gifted dancer-daughter.

With 80 “chump” steaks cooked on the barbecue alongside salmon for those who do not like meat, some great catering service from Angus and Ale’s friends in the hospitality world, at least one hundred and twenty people were fed and well watered. In his speech one of the groomsmen even asked, “I don’t know who has been to a wedding where the first course was steak?”

With the aid of an outstanding céili band - click link below to hear the audio - reflecting both Irish and Scottish cultural music the night continued to be bright for the young at heart who managed to stay and celebrate some more through into the “wee hours” of the morning!