Blogs

Top Hearted Posts

The Groom's Dinner

by ‎05-08-2015 04:18 PM - edited ‎06-26-2015 05:58 PM

Being the parents of the groom made the evening before the wedding our responsibility. I had to have Alice's help ahead of time since we had never been to London and yet arrangements needed to be made.

 

Friday evening was the rehearsal at church and the grooms dinner following it. Walking into an old London church is an experience by itself! It had this arched ceiling with big white columns going down both sides. A large stained glass window was at the front making it look ever so majestic. It reminded me of a movie, like The Sound of Music.

 

 

Bridesmaids

 

 

Alice had a maid of honor, three bridesmaids, two junior bridesmaids (one of which was Elizabeth) and one flower girl. Eric had groomsmen from the US and the UK, since he had made some great friends over there while getting his masters degree at the University College of London. Our second son, Cory, was his Best Man, and our third son, Ryan, was one of the groomsmen. Alice's brother, David, was also one of the groomsmen, and since he and Ryan are the same age, they really got along well!

 

Cory and me

 

 

As soon as Lisa, Alice's Mum, and I saw Alice rehearsing her walk down the aisle with her Dad, and I saw the look on Eric's face of overwhelming joy, we both started crying. Bring out the tissues! The crying has begun! We couldn't help it! Reality had hit us that we had really come to this special moment in our lives! Alice cried a bit at the rehearsal as well, realizing the time had finally come. It turned out though that she didn't cry during the wedding! I guess she got it out the night before!

 

After the rehearsal, we had the groom's dinner at a restaurant in South Kensington called Obica for the wedding party and family members. What was especially exciting for me was that my three sisters, a sister-in-law, husbands and some of their grown children had arrived from the states, so it was wonderful to see them! They are all from MN, so we had not seen them since last summer.

 

My sister, Faith, Eric, my sister-in-law, Charletta and Ian, (a groomsman)

 

 

 

 

One of the most memorable moments of the trip was what we did before dinner that night. We went around the room, and each person introduced themselves and told how they knew Eric or Alice. This was necessary, since some were Brits and some were Americans, and it was their first time to meet. But as people spoke, it was very touching and sometimes emotional as people expressed their love and respect for these two and the impact Eric and Alice had already had on their lives!  It was definitely a "Proud Parent" moment!

 

with my handsome husband, Mark

 

 

After dinner, it was back to the hotels and quick to bed for the big day was coming up next!

 

Me and Elizabeth

 

 

Counting our blessings,

 

Mary Beth Roe