26 July: Wedding at Pink Poppy Farm

Saturday, 26 July 2014

Madeline and Jacob’s wedding at Pink Poppy Farm

Allan and I were so honored to be invited to the wedding of a young couple whose talent and creativity have impressed us ever since we met them just a few years ago.  They lived next door to us for awhile before buying a home in Chinook. Maddie owns the delicious Pink Poppy Bakery and grew up on Pink Poppy Farm, a beautiful garden setting which was on the Music in the Gardens Tour in 2013.  The garden became a fairytale setting for the wedding.

entering the garden; this entry and the viewing platform were built for the wedding.

 

Allan’s photo

just inside

the wedding party members’ names on an old window

Allan’s photo

looking east across the garden; the house in the distance (behind the yellow balloon, not a residence) was being used for dinner preparations.

guest book and gifts

By the guest book were photos of Maddie and Jacob’s family’s weddings

And what made me weepy, the grandparents who have passed away.

lemon water and a berry drink

wine and beer from local sources

North Jetty Brewing and Proletariat Wine (Allan’s photo)

bartenders poised for cocktail hour

four craft cocktails, one by Maddie, one by Jacob, one by Lynn and one by Mike

The bar would be opened after the ceremony.

everywhere: flowers and more flowers

The garage was set up as a cut flower staging area.

Allan got a photo of the bouquet making area!

Maddie herself before the ceremony

Madeline’s multi-talented mother, Lynn, made the stunning wedding dress and the vests for the groomsmen.  I am in awe.

the groomsmen gathered by the back door

to the left, Maddie’s father, Mike

I walked around the garden for awhile….

Looking west from the knoll

tables set up on the lawn to the south of the house

I realized after awhile that I had accidentally set my camera to “vivid colour!”

The Imperial Chicken Palace isn’t quite that exuberant

Imperial Chicken Palace

 

Allan’s photo

Eucryphia in bloom on the west wall of the house

more tables northeast of the house

the bride and groom’s chairs

Back in the central garden, the hoop house in the middle of the garden (usually full of veg) had its covering taken off to transform it into a viewing pavalion.

 

Allan’s photo

People begin to gather for the ceremony.

family seating on hay bales right in front of the ceremony garden

Unless you knew the garden from garden touring, you would not have guessed that right to the south of the seating tent is a whole row of big wooden compost bins.  Earlier in the year, nasturtium seeds had been planted in the old compost and made a solid wall of flowered green.

a wall of flowers

(Later, the tent became the dance floor.)

Hydrangea petals made a path to the ceremony garden. (Allan’s photo)

waiting for the ceremony

inside the tent; I was a semi invalid for the day so was advised to get a seat.

I was so fortunate in that from where I sat I had a perfect view of the wedding party walking down to the ceremony garden on a grassy path strewn with hydrangea petals.  The songs:  The wedding party walked to When a Man Loves a Woman by Percy Sedge. Parents and family walked to Never Ending Song of Love by Delaney and Bonney.  And Madeline walked in to Wild Theme by Mark Knopler.

Jacob’s folks Priscilla and Lyle and Priscilla’s dad, Jack

in blue, Maddie’s mom, Lynn.  to the right, Maddie’s dad’s business partner, and Maddie’s honorary uncle, John Berdes.

Jacob’s paternal grandparents Patty and Mick Moore

right, Sonya, who presided over the ceremony, and her family.

 

Jacob

right, my neighbour and co-owner of Starvation Alley Cranberry Farm, Jessika

The flower girl was the daughter of Pelicano Restaurant’s Jeff and Shelley

Jacob and his gentlemen

the bridesmaids (Allan’s photo)

Maddie and her father, Mike

A few words said by Sonya, and then there was an exchange of hugs among all the family members.

Allan’s photo

Maddie’s mother stood by Maddie and Jacob and quoted words by Joni Mitchell:

 “I want to have fun, I want to shine like the sun
I want to be the one that you want to see
I want to knit you a sweater
Want to write you a love letter
I want to make you feel better
I want to make you feel free”

Then came what for me was the deepest moment of the afternoon, when a recording was played of Jacob’s mother singing a song that I later learned was by Don Henley.  The lyrics were so realistic and so very far from fairy tale perfection that I, who have never in my life cried at a wedding, felt the tears on my face.  She changed the lyrics of “For My Wedding” to “For Your Wedding” (and may have made a few other lyrics changes that I can’t recall).

For your wedding, I will dress in black
And never again will I look back
Ah, my dark angels we must part
For I’ve made a sanctuary of my heart.

For your wedding, I don’t want violins
Or sentimental songs about thick and thin
I want a moment of silence and a moment of prayer
For the love you’ll need to make it in the world out there.

I dream, and my dreams are all glory and light
That’s what I’ve wanted for my life
And if it hasn’t always been that way
Well, I can dream and I can pray

On your wedding day.

So what makes us any different from all the others

Who have tried and failed before us
Maybe nothing, maybe nothing at all
But I pray we’re the lucky ones; I pray we never fall.

To want what we have
To take what we’re given with grace
For these things I pray
On your wedding day.

I so much appreciated the non fairy tale aspect of those words in the midst of all the perfection.  It just…got to me.  There is no couple I have ever seen who have a better chance at happiness but adding this sense of realism and courage moved me profoundly.

And then, the ceremony.

That, by the way, is a tattoo of Madeline’s mixer, the one she uses at Pink Poppy Bakery.

 

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

 

Allan’s photo

After the ceremony, it was cocktail hour.  I wandered the lovely gardens some more.

pavilion, formerly a poly tunnel

flowers in the pavilion

on the side of the pavilion (Allan’s photo)

the glories of the garden

garden with sweet peas

the old boat near the fire circle

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo of the table where the dinner buffet would be served

A puppet theatre was set up to amuse the little children.  (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Refreshments began to appear on tables all over the garden.

We learned that all, and I mean all, of the soft cheeses were made by Madeline’s renaissance woman mother, Lynn, otherwise known as Superwoman.

It was only this sort of cheese that Lynn did not make.

perfect garden party

Throughout the garden, tables had been constructed by post hole digging tree trunks into the ground and making long tables and small individual tables.

It was a brilliant concept.  I found out Maddie’s dad Mike came up with the idea and Jacob implemented it.  “It was a piece of cake”, he says.

over by the garden shed on the south side of the garden

to the east house

I found a chair at a table near to that table laden with delicious food and ended up spending considerable time with a fascinating woman named Gloria (I think), who volunteers with Peninsula Poverty Response and Project Homeless Connect.

Maddie was circulating through the crowd and I believe she stopped and spoke with every one of the 250 or so guests.

Maddie and Gloria

Gloria, Allan and I went for another garden walk up to the big poly tunnel, to the east of the ceremony garden.

 

Allan’s photo

looking west over the garden

telephoto

Allan’s photo

inside the big polytunnel

From Pink Poppy Farm’s bounty comes the salad greens and herbs and flowers that Maddie sells at her Pink Poppy Bakery booth at Ilwaco Saturday Market.

I decided I it was time to have a cocktail and chose “Moore to Love” because it had Starvation Alley cranberry juice in it.

at the cocktail bar

 

 

more cocktail mixing

Soon we were called to the dance floor tent for Maddie and Jacob’s wedding dance.  During their vows, Jacob had made reference to taking dance lessons with Maddy (and might I add, his vows, which he called “bullet points”, made me realize what a very funny guy he is).

It was a well choreographed dance to Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon.

My view was from a garden above the dance floor.

Allan had a different view.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

watching the wedding dance

After the dance, Jared, the MC (and co owner of Starvation Alley Cranberry Farm) announced that it was time for dinner.

view east from the pavilion to the dinner buffet table

Maddie and Jacob walking with their meal

Allan’s photo

the feast

salads by Chef Jeff McMahon of Pelicano

 

Allan’s photo

Later in the evening I talked to Chef Jeff McMahon of Pelicano about how beautiful and tasty the salads were; he said he loves to use beets because “they are like jewels” and I said I make sure to order any beet salad on the Pelicano menu because it is always superb.

one of the big tables

and one of the so clever little tables

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

The guests spread throughout the garden at tables big and small.

Some of the big yellow balloons came down.

After dinner came the wedding toasts in the white tent.

Lynn’s toast (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Maddie and Jacob (Allan’s photo)

applauding the toasts

All the words were kind.  A friend each of Maddie’s and Jacob’s spoke of their childhood and college friendships.  Maddie’s college friend praised Jacob’s courage! and Jacob’s friend reminisced about their boyhood science experiments, both being science-experiment minded youngsters.

Mike, Maddie’s dad, had a tear in his eye when he spoke of his long companionship with his wife, Lynn.  I very much loved when he thanked the many guests for being kind to his garden.

And then, the father-daughter and mother-son dance, and I realized that these good parental relationships are the foundation of all that was so beautiful here.

Maddie and her dad danced to Audrey Hepburn’s rendition of Moon River.  (Allan’s photo)

(Allan’s photo)

(Allan’s photo)

Jacob and his mom, Priscilla, danced to La Mer by Charles Trenet (Allan’s photo)

And then, more garden wandering.  Allan happened upon the signing of the wedding paperwork.

 

 

 

But wait, there were more treats in store.  Maddie and Jacob cut a small meringue wedding cake made by a Portland pastry artisan (Maddy had been talked out of making her own cake); I wish I had gotten a photo of it as it was the most charming array of three or four meringue “berets” with berries,  And then we were all directed to a dessert table.

dessert table

The meringue cookies, which echoed the cake, were so delicious I must admit I could have eated a trayfull of them.

Allan’s photo

Then….more garden wanderings.

view east across the garden

bachelor buttons

Allan’s photo

 

Allan’s photo

evening light turning the top of the surrounding trees to gold

that gold light on the trees

the dance floor

(We heard that the dancing went till 2 AM!)

still wandering the beautiful garden and marveling at the golden light

A campfire had been laid with all the fixings for ‘Smores.

fire circle on sand

Allan’s photo

My garden wandering continued.

 

 

 

 

And then suddenly we got a chance for a ride back to our van.  We had arrived on a shuttle from Long Beach (part of the amazing organizational skills that had gone into this event) and while shuttle rides were offered back, we did not want to take any of the guests away from the party, so we took the opportunity to catch a ride south with friends.  It was probably about eight o clock when we left; the party carried on into the early hours of the morning.

Never have I been to any celebration that came off as perfectly as this one did or seen any couple who seem as well suited to a long, happy, creative, and rewarding life as Madeline and Jacob.  A toast! to their future.

Allan’s photo

You can peruse the official wedding photos at Homespun Creative.