A Handmade American Wedding

Sharing weddings from all around the world has been really fun.  Through the entire series, there’s been this little voice in my ear, asking when I might share this next wedding.  You might even recognize the face of this next bride…

bride and groom church

Yep.  It’s my ever-so-happy and generous sister and her new hubby.  They got married right before Martin and I moved to Germany last summer and had some of the coolest wedding ideas ever.

1. Transportation

tandem bike

They got from the church to the reception on a tandem bike – a wedding gift to each other that they spent an entire summer saving up for.  I love how green this idea is.  And let me tell you – they could move!  The only way Martin and I managed to snap a few pictures of this buzzing duo was when I realized my sister wanted to bike by the house we grew up in.  A stream of honking cars followed, and lets just say Martin and I were lucky no one was out patrolling when we made our detour around the block to snap a few pictures.

Then my sister had to wait for Martin to come unhook her and her four foot train.  Can you believe they got all of that tucked in?

wedding reception on bike

I kept suggesting I ride in a sidecar on the side of the bike to help with any dress troubles.  The groom said no.  I couldn’t really complain, though; I did get to sit right next to the happy couple as “Maid of Honor”… err as my sister preferred “Her Maid”.

2.  Decorations

Except I didn’t have to worry too much about cleaning up – maid or no.  My dad made pottery vases to decorate all of the tables.  The flower girl (our cousin) and her sister glazed them in pale blue and yellow.  Then on the morning of the wedding, we picked up enormous bunches of daisies to fill the vases.

handmade vases

As the crowd died down, my parents invited guests to pick a vase of flowers to take home.

3.  Cake

Of course, it took a little while for the party to end.  We all dined on a huge spread of food and stared at this:

homemade wedding cake

My sister made her own wedding cake!  Can you even imagine?  She needed an entire fridge just to store the layers and all the frosting daisies before she assembled them at the reception place that morning.  Isn’t the cake topper the cutest, too?  I love how it almost looks as if the bride and groom got off their bike and hiked right up the cake.  (Bet you can guess how the lovebirds spent their honeymoon, right?)

Now they live entirely too far from us.  Wahhh.  

Hope you enjoyed the unique twists my sister and her hubby incorporated into their American wedding.  What is your favorite part?  Quite different than my sister’s-in-law Vienna wedding, huh?  Thanks for letting me share – and get all gushy!  Ready for some more wedding action next Friday?