Ok, so as promised, here are pictures from this past weekend, the wedding of Benjamin and Amanda Bacon.
And the story that was not promised but will be provided nevertheless
Ben and I have known eachother for nearly 7 years. We first met working at summer camp on the Word of Life Ranch back in June 2002. He was 14, I was 16. We became really really close in those eight weeks. When I first met him, he was sporting a thick British accent and told me his name was Monty and that he was from London. I played volleyball with him for two weeks before I discovered he was lying
His older sister happened to be on my floor at the camp and she and I were talking. She brought up her little brother Ben and I told her I hadn't met him. She said, "What do you mean? You hang out with him all the time!" LOL. So, next time I saw him, I said, "Well, hello
BEN!" We get a kick out of it until this day.
He lived in Vermont, I lived in Ohio, so after summer camp, we didn't really see each other again. We emailed back and forth. He had this punk of a girlfriend. She was a mutual friend of ours but I didn't like the idea of 'them.' They are both great people but sometimes great people do not mesh, ya know?
Anyway, I began attending Word of Life Bible Institute in 2004-2005, Ben's last year of high school. He came up for snow camp and we had a blast! We hung out the entire weekend.
The next year he came up for Bible school!! WOOHOO!!! I was far beyond excited. At this point, it is safe to say we were best friends. We talked everyday, ate breakfast together often, and were just enjoying each other's company. We both started hanging out with a young lady named Amanda.
In that fall (2005), Ben finally dumped his former girlfriend. Then, he and I started to drift. We reached a crossroads in our friendship where we either had to let it go altogether or make it something more. We had discussed the 'something more' thing before but usually dismissed the idea, insisting we were just friends. We talked about what to do when our future spouses showed up because we knew that we couldn't stay the way we were while allowing for a relationship. We knew that, when the time came, we would have to step back and allow the other person to take our spot.
Amanda came
It wasn't an easy entrance for her either. They began to hang out alot. A big group of us would hang out together(coincidentally, four other married couples formed from that same group of friends). In Spring 2006, Ben wanted to play a prank on one of our mutual friends Ray (who was a self-proclaimed matchmaker, and was right on all counts-- note again the four other married couples). He had proclaimed that Ben and Amanda would get married. They wanted to teach him a lesson by pretending to like each other and letting him get all cocky and then pulling the rug out from under him. My job was to act very very angry. Not a problem!
So, the plan is put to work and goes on for about a week. At the end of the week, Ben sits me down and says, "Ummm... yeah, so Amanda and I aren't 'breaking up.' We are going to get together." Being very protective of Ben, that was not the easiest thing to hear, and after a few weeks of issues, we finally had a three-part conversation in the middle of the school soccer field when I told Ben that I did not love him in front of Amanda in order to put her mind at ease. When Ben turned to Amanda to tell her that I was one of his oldest friends and that he believed me and trusted me and wanted her and I to get along. We were the two women in his life and he couldn't stand it if we didn't like eachother. I turned to Amanda, told her to take care of my brother and walked away. It felt like a movie.
Three years have healed the little riffs. Ben and Amanda were engaged last summer and Amanda was actually the one to invite me to the wedding. It took Ben another two months to think to invite me. lol. The wedding was beautiful. Amanda was gorgeous and I could not ask for a better bride for my little brother.
Pictures:
all of the roses were wooden! So cool! If I were doing roses, I would do black wooden roses
The "Others":
That is most of 'our group' but it isn't all of us. Conveniently, Ben Amanda and myself are not there... no clue where they were, but I know I had already left.
and from that group
Megan and Brandon
Lindsay and Mike
Jacob and Crystal
and Meagan 'Mea' and Mike who I do not have a picture of. They were the videographers for the wedding.
Subject: Ben and Amanda 
Mon May 25, 2009 2:29 pm
