Hunter's Gatherer Blog

Blake and Kristen's Wedding

And now a post from my lovely wife Jody:

Here are some pictures from Blake’s, Phil's brother's,
wedding that took place on Sunday of Memorial weekend.
Phil stood up for him and PJ was the ring bearer.

To celebrate their heritages, the wedding had Scottish
and Irish influences -- Scottish for the name Hunter
(although Phil's family is really more Norwegian than
anything else) and Irish for Kristen’s, the bride's
family, the O'Herron's.

The men in the wedding party wore kilts -- the groom,
Phil, their brother Brett, their friend Scott, the
bride's brother Sean, and PJ. Phil and his brothers wore
the Hunter plaid fabric (tartan), PJ wore the
"Blackwatch" tartan, the bride's brother wore the
ancient Irish plaid called “All Ireland Blue” and
Scott wore the more recent Irish plaid called “Irish National.”
There was a bagpiper who played during the ceremony dressed
in his own national fabric.

The men were also decked out with all of the
accessories too -- including the little "purse-like"
bag called a sporran (Phil doesn’t like me calling it a purse).
Blake and Kristen made PJ a sporran out of a coin purse with a lion’s
face and glued ribbon on it so it could hang around his
waist. They had the little colored flag elastic
things to go around their legs to hold up their socks.
They had a large pin to hold the kilts together at the hemline.
And all (except PJ) had a fake knife tucked
into their socks.

Kristen, the bride (smart, funny and creative—a sewer,
photographer, scrapbooker!!) wore a vintage-looking gown and
her hair was worn in a 40s-inspired “Up-Do”. She had a scarve, made out
of the same Irish national tartan as her brother wore, pinned to her wedding dress.
As you can see from the photos, she carried herself with elegance
and appeared as if she stepped out of a wedding photo from another era.

PJ did a great job of ringbearing given his age. He
did proceed walking by himself while holding onto Phil's
hand. But as you could sort of see in one of the
pictures he appeared as if he wanted to bury his head
in his arm. He was a total Daddy's boy that weekend,
so he didn't sit with me, but wanted to stand up on
the steps with Phil. He was a little distracting
throughout the ceremony as he played the up-down game
-- repeatedly standing up and sitting down on the
steps and laughing. For a while he stood on the step
right below Blake and dinked around. Several people
said afterwards they weren't sure if he was going to
reach up and pull on Blake's kilt. When people
clapped at the end of the ceremony he got a big smile
and clapped too. He probably thought the applause was
for him.

The flower girl was Kristen's niece Miaraed (pronounced
like Parade). She wore a fairy outfit to represent
the whimsy of Irish/Scottish culture. PJ, with his
name of Philip John, the sixth Philip in the Hunter
family, represented the past and future of family (they
had a lot of neat details in the ceremony like this).
Miaraed is adorable and smart way beyond her years. She
was a little girl, but at the same time reminded me of
a wise old woman - one of those people with a very old
soul born into their bodies. She went and sat with
her Grandmother during the service, otherwise I think
she would have performed an interpretive dance
throughout the ceremony with the two roses she was
holding.

That's about it. We had a great time. There was a
brunch afterwards with great food and desserts (including
Scottish shortbread cookies). I am really lucky
with the sister and brother-in-laws I have.

--Jody

PJ's friend Faith loves "Danny Boy" (inside joke) (sorry Bob)
--Philip

And now a bunch o' pics!:

PJ had a special song sung just for him! (He liked the guitar playing - he played better than Dad!)

Why yes that is a flask of Glenfiddich, thank you very much! And yes, it really does make the perfect Father's Day gift...

Boyz in Da Kilts - The Lady's seem to dig it...

and now....here he is...PJ!

Whew! Oh and you can call me sporran a purse all ye want Misses! I can fit a diaper in there...

Posted by hunte046 at June 8, 2005 08:42 PM