A Promise Kept...30 Years...and Counting!

Monday was a day of celebration for Mr. and Mrs. DillyDally ... June 27th marked our 30th Wedding Anniversary!  Yes ... I was a child bride, he was a child groom ... we were 8 years old as a matter of fact! ;-)

This is the cover of our wedding invitation ... it is also the title of a song my lifelong friend Cindy and her husband performed during the ceremony. 

We were married in the church of my childhood ... Shepherd of the Pines Lutheran Church in Alida, Minnesota.  My uncle spent the week before the wedding painting the entire church so that it would be especially beautiful for my wedding ... such an act of love.

We honored our heritage with a Scandinavian themed wedding.   I made all the pieces of my dress ... skirt, vest, and blouse ... I incorporated hand embroidered Forget-Me-Not flowers to represent our lives in Alaska on the skirt and vest.  I love this photo of my parents and I as they are about to walk me down the aisle ... I can see my mother's concern and how nervous I was ... makes me smile.

I have always loved and treasured the interior of my little country church ... little has changed there in these thirty years ... I am so grateful for that.  This is where I was baptized, confirmed and married ... but most important ... it is in this building that my faith and character grew.

Our first moments as man and wife! ;-)

Our reception was held in the church basement ... yes, every country Lutheran church has a basement ... and you thought Garrison Keillor made that up! ;-)  Do you see the watermelon carved like a viking ship, and the Scandinavia wedding cake with Swedish and Norwegian flags on it?  Friends of ours made them for us ... gestures of kindness like that meant so much then ... still do!

See...I wasn't fibbing...we don't look much older than eight! ;-) Mr. DillyDally's outfit was an authentic Swedish costume that we borrowed for the day.

So much has happened in the last thirty years, yet it seems like yesterday.  

Marriage takes committment ... it truly is a promise between a man, a woman and God.  Mr. DillyDally and I intend to keep that promise and with God's assistance we look forward to the next thirty years! ;-)