Rachel and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary on July 2 with a surprise (for Rachel) vow renewal service at the same church where we were married 25 years ago.
Church arrival pictures / small reception area at the church...
4:45-6:00pm SURPRISE #5 Seeing her wedding dress for the first time in 25 years + her reaction to my note to her. I love this video...
link in case embedded video doesn't work (opens in a separate window): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD6njvcXWW0&feature=youtu.be
PREPARING THE BRIDE!
515pm The littles and I arrive back at the church...
5:30pm A QUICK rehearsal!
6:00pm THE MAIN EVENT!!!!
Dave Ripper, the lead pastor at our church conducted the service. He started by having us turn around and see all the people who had come to celebrate with us. Then he prayed and delivered a wonderful 10 minute message on a Christ-centered marriage. He then led us through our vows before handing the microphone to me.
The next video (a bit further down the page) starts with me turning to everyone and saying "We did it!" I loved that moment because all the people there (and many others) love Rachel, kept the secret, and truly surprised her on this special day in our marriage. I thanked everyone and talked a bit about our relationship....
SYNOPSIS OF MY COMMENTS AT THE SERVICE:
"I first met Rachel while playing guitar and singing on a street corner in Vienna, Austria in January 1993. I like to joke that while she didn't give me any money that day, she did eventually give me her heart. A month later I serenaded her with the song "Can't Help Falling In Love With You" after which we had our first kiss. We have been together ever since!"
"Two weeks later we were sitting in a park in Vienna, and she started talking about her hopes and dreams for her life. I knew that day she was going to be my wife and dated her with the intention of marrying her. One thing I remember her saying that day is "All I really want to be is a mom!" And look at how The Lord answered that desire of her heart! She is an amazing mom and an incredible wife."
"We traveled throughout Europe together that spring and spent the summer in Israel and Egypt before heading back to college...Rachel in New York, me in Texas."
"I told her I wasn't even going to think about marriage until after college....but that was not quite true....I just wanted to surprise her. I bought the ring in August when I got back to Texas."
"I asked her father for her hand in marriage in November while visiting over Thanksgiving. For any single young man in the audience today, do not make the same mistake I made and ask your future father in law this question late at night on your last day in town. I told him I loved his daughter, wanted to spend my life with her, and would like his blessing to marry her. He looked at me silently for what seemed like a long, long, loooooooooong time and said "I'll think about it. Good night."
I had a flight in the morning and did not sleep at all that night wondering what I was going to do if he said "No!" But her mom saved me in the morning saying "Dick and I talked last night and we think that would be a fine idea." I swore them to secrecy (Rachel's mom was a terrible secret keeper) and until today my marriage proposal was the biggest surprise of Rachel's life. I asked her to marry me Dec 23, 1993 the day after she met my family. I sang her a song I had written and dropped to my knee on a crosswalk at the Fountain of Mustangs at Los Colinas near Dallas, TX. She was so surprised she literally almost fell backwards into the fountain!"
"We were married a little over 6 months later in this very church on her parents 25th wedding anniversary. Her parents were one of the first couples married in this church 50 years ago today! While they have both gone on to be with the Lord, I have thought often the past few weeks about how amazing it is that we have now been married the same amount of time as your parents were married on the day of our wedding!"
"Your parents had 2 college graduates and another college-aged kid at that time. And look at us on our 25th!!!! We have 8 kids and you are still nursing our baby boy on our 25th wedding anniversary! (many laughs at this comment) Before we got married Rachel said she wanted 2 children. I grew up in a large family and said I was hoping for 4 children. I think God chuckled and put a big multiplication sign between those two numbers 2x4 and so here we are blessed with 8!"
"But I know what those vows mean now. And when I said them to you today, I know exactly what I am committing to for however long the Lord gives us together. The most important part of our marriage is that Jesus has been at the center of it. The Lord has used you and our marriage to change me, to change us to be more like Him. I love you. I adore you. And I'm so thrilled for the way today played out the way it played out!"
SURPRISE #6 - Serenading Rachel with "Can't Help Falling In Love With You"
link in case embedded video doesn't work (opens in a separate window): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dJGU9lw8jw&feature=youtu.be
Our Vows
I Andrew/Rachel take you Rachel/Andrew to be my wife/husband,
To join with you and to share all that is to come.
To give and to receive,
I tease Rachel about this picture. She takes SO many pictures of the kids that they have been trained to smile at the sight of any camera. Isaiah noticed the camera in balcony and automatically turned on the smile....
Funny / cute kid pictures...
One sweet surprise from my sister Amy and brother in law David happened early in the day. Although they could not fly to the event due to other commitments, they put together this video singing the song they sang together at our wedding 25 years ago. Sarah and Leia showed Rachel this video while they were at brunch.
Rachel's love language is acts of service - things that require thought, planning, time, effort, and energy. She teared up after watching the video saying that it was so kind and thoughtful given all the preparation they had to do including teaching the song to her nieces. Sarah said she was thinking "you have no idea how much love and thoughtfulness is coming your way this afternoon!" It was a wonderful way to start the day. Thank you Amy, T, M, and David!
link in case embedded video doesn't work (opens in a separate window): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqTQkJwBOAI
Rachel has a heart for youth, in particular teenagers. One of her favorite parts of the day were kids she mentored who are now young adults coming to celebrate this day with us.....
Family Pictures! The only sad part of this day was our daughter Vienna is studying in Tanzania this summer and could not fly home for a couple of days given her commitments. Rachel and I have talked about how as our children grow into adulthood the times when we are all together will not be as often as we would like. We love you Vienna and know that you were with us in spirit!
An ENORMOUS 'thank you' to these men who helped make this event go as well as it did. Mike Gagne for getting all the technical things up and running for the event and dedicating many hours of time over multiple days to make this all happen. One of the best men I know right here....
Noah Davis for all the photo and video work at the church from Rachel's arrival until the last photo of the evening...
Dave Ripper for officiating the service...
and thank you as well to Helen from Ctk who was so very helpful but we failed to get a picture with her!
THE BEST OF THE REST...
If you watched all the videos above, this last video is a compilation of all those videos plus pre-service arrivals, our pastor's prayer over us at the end of his sermon, Rachel and I reciting our vows to each other (while Natalia twirls her dress!), the family and wedding attenders coming up for the picture and ends with one of the songs played at our wedding along with a number of pictures.
link in case embedded video doesn't work (opens in a separate window): https://youtu.be/-e_DlsRUnDk
If you have made it this far, please leave a comment below!
That was then...
This is now....
For me (and I think for Rachel as well), this was easily one of the top 10 'non birth of a child' days in our marriage. It is SOOOOOOO incredibly difficult to surprise Rachel, but with hundreds of people knowing about this event and probably a thousand potential touch points / text messages / emails / conversations over the past several months where an inadvertent "reveal" / "hint" could have happened....somehow, someway the surprise was kept!
Here is the invitation I sent out:
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Friends and Family,
Rachel and I will be celebrating our 25th Anniversary on July 2. Before going into any details on the surprise I have planned, let me just say it is almost impossible to surprise Rachel. So, please, help me keep this a surprise!
With a 1 year old baby and various kid-centered things going on in early July, it just wasn't practical to do a nice 'getaway' kind of anniversary trip. Rachel has been a bit down at the prospect of a 'ho-hum' 25th Anniversary.
So, here is the surprise: I have rented the church where we got married (which was the church she grew up in). Our teenage daughters will take her out for a day of pampering thinking she will be having a nice date with me that night.
But on the way home they will stop by the church where we got married, her wedding dress will be dry cleaned and at the church, and hopefully all of you will be there as she walks down the aisle 25 years later for a renewal of our vows.
We will have a reception including simple catering at the church afterward, and I know she will simply be thrilled and feel so special. Will you help me pull this off?
Here are the details:
When: July 2, 2019 at 6:00pm
Where: (Name of church and address)
Why: To surprise my bride and the love of my life and to celebrate our 25th Anniversary.
Please put this on your calendar and join us! You are welcome to bring your spouse and kids who are able to sit through the service (no child care will be available)
And remember, it is REALLY hard to surprise Rachel so shhhhhhhhhhh!
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To everyone who held this secret for months - THANK YOU! My only regret is the church where we got married is small with limited space for the after service 'reception' we were having. So I couldn't invite everyone I wanted to invite. With Rachel's 1000+ facebook friends as my guide, it was quite humbling making out the guest list and realizing just how many amazing people we have in our lives.
THE PLAN
Sarah and Leia let Rachel know that she was going to have a day of pampering before having a date with me on our anniversary night. I felt like such a double agent as Rachel would talk to me in bed about what she thought the girls were doing...massage, nails, maybe a facial....and I just went right along affirming what she was thinking while being thrilled to see that she had no clue what was really going to happen.
AJ is in a professional theater production about an hour from our home this July. I offered to take all of our younger kids with me to that day's rehearsal while Rachel, Sarah, Leia, and Baby Theo went on Rachel's 'pampering' day. The theater excused AJ for the day but sent me a fake schedule calling AJ to be at the theater until early evening just so Rachel would have no thoughts that we were anywhere near where she was!
SCHEDULE and SURPRISES:
8:30am Rachel, Leia, Sarah, and Baby Theo leave house.
8:45am I sit AJ, Isaiah, and Natalia down and explains what is REALLY going to happen during the day. They dance around all excited, try on their outfits and then get to watch a video while I gather everything together for the event at the church.
9:00am Rachel Massage
10:15am Rachel Brunch
12:30pm SURPRISE #1 - AUNT GRETCHEN AND COUSIN MANDY flew in from Wisconsin the night before and were waiting at the nail salon when Rachel arrived. Auntie G holds a special place in Rachel's heart and her reaction to Gretchen and Mandy being in the nail salon when she arrived is absolutely priceless....
link in case embedded video doesn't work (opens in a separate window): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0et08oNP9Vc&feature=youtu.be
11am to 1pm The littles and I pick up the wedding dress, pick up the tux, shop for some things for the reception, and ultimately arrive at the church to set everything up. Great helpers those little ones!
2pm-3pm Rachel and her entourage head to a bakery and then a 3pm hair appointment (hair salon had pictures of what her hair looked like on our wedding day and matched that style).
4pm Hayleigh and Mimi arrive at church after a morning flight from Dallas. They are Surprise #3 and hide away in a back room of the church waiting for Rachel's arrival. I head home with the littles to get dressed.
4:30pm SURPRISE #2 Rachel arrives at the church which is decorated with all kinds of pictures from when we were dating as well as pictures of our wedding day and pictures of our family now.
SURPRISE #3 Our daughter Hayleigh is working in Dallas this summer. Mimi and her flew that morning from Dallas for the event.
SURPRISE #4 Rachel learns what is really happening!
The video below captures Surprises #2, #3, and #4. It starts with a funny reaction when she walks into the church, 1:15 is the surprise of Hayleigh and Mimi, and about the 2:30 mark Sarah tells her what is really happening with 100+ people coming to celebrate a renewal of our vows (funny reaction) as is the reaction a few seconds later when she learns her dress is awaiting her in a back room!
NOTE: the music you hear in the background is the wedding party entrance music from our wedding. There is a TV and a recording of our wedding playing at the back of the church lobby behind the photographer. That is part of what she is surprised about.
link in case embedded video doesn't work (opens in a separate window): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvzJo9CBgd4&feature=youtu.be
Church arrival pictures / small reception area at the church...
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What Rachel saw as she entered the church... |
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| HAYLEIGH!!!!! |
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| MIMI!!!!! |
PREPARING THE BRIDE!
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| First view of dress - "Look at those sleeves!" |
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| Reading my note... |
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| Another surprise...Arrival of Bethany who lived with us for a year and is now stuck with us as another daughter! |
515pm The littles and I arrive back at the church...
5:30pm A QUICK rehearsal!
6:00pm THE MAIN EVENT!!!!
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Natalia = the BOSS of flower girls! She threw those petals with gusto and authority. Everyone in attendance was laughing at her sheer joy in throwing those petals! 
THE BRIDE! (watching her come down the aisle again was one of the most amazing moments of my life! 25 years later and as stunning as ever...)
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Dave Ripper, the lead pastor at our church conducted the service. He started by having us turn around and see all the people who had come to celebrate with us. Then he prayed and delivered a wonderful 10 minute message on a Christ-centered marriage. He then led us through our vows before handing the microphone to me.
The next video (a bit further down the page) starts with me turning to everyone and saying "We did it!" I loved that moment because all the people there (and many others) love Rachel, kept the secret, and truly surprised her on this special day in our marriage. I thanked everyone and talked a bit about our relationship....
SYNOPSIS OF MY COMMENTS AT THE SERVICE:
"I first met Rachel while playing guitar and singing on a street corner in Vienna, Austria in January 1993. I like to joke that while she didn't give me any money that day, she did eventually give me her heart. A month later I serenaded her with the song "Can't Help Falling In Love With You" after which we had our first kiss. We have been together ever since!"
"Two weeks later we were sitting in a park in Vienna, and she started talking about her hopes and dreams for her life. I knew that day she was going to be my wife and dated her with the intention of marrying her. One thing I remember her saying that day is "All I really want to be is a mom!" And look at how The Lord answered that desire of her heart! She is an amazing mom and an incredible wife."
 |
| 2019 Mother's Day "Kid Stack" - Family Tradition that is getting challenging to pull off with 8 kids! |
"I told her I wasn't even going to think about marriage until after college....but that was not quite true....I just wanted to surprise her. I bought the ring in August when I got back to Texas."
"I asked her father for her hand in marriage in November while visiting over Thanksgiving. For any single young man in the audience today, do not make the same mistake I made and ask your future father in law this question late at night on your last day in town. I told him I loved his daughter, wanted to spend my life with her, and would like his blessing to marry her. He looked at me silently for what seemed like a long, long, loooooooooong time and said "I'll think about it. Good night."
I had a flight in the morning and did not sleep at all that night wondering what I was going to do if he said "No!" But her mom saved me in the morning saying "Dick and I talked last night and we think that would be a fine idea." I swore them to secrecy (Rachel's mom was a terrible secret keeper) and until today my marriage proposal was the biggest surprise of Rachel's life. I asked her to marry me Dec 23, 1993 the day after she met my family. I sang her a song I had written and dropped to my knee on a crosswalk at the Fountain of Mustangs at Los Colinas near Dallas, TX. She was so surprised she literally almost fell backwards into the fountain!"
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| Notice the little crosswalk with no railing in the second picture...that is where I got down on my knee and asked Rachel to marry me after singing her a song I wrote. She literally almost fell backward into the fountain she was so surprised! |
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| Our Amazing Parents who modeled lifetime marriages for Rachel and me, one for nearly 35 years and the other for nearly 50 years |
"Your parents had 2 college graduates and another college-aged kid at that time. And look at us on our 25th!!!! We have 8 kids and you are still nursing our baby boy on our 25th wedding anniversary! (many laughs at this comment) Before we got married Rachel said she wanted 2 children. I grew up in a large family and said I was hoping for 4 children. I think God chuckled and put a big multiplication sign between those two numbers 2x4 and so here we are blessed with 8!"
"When we stood here 25 years ago I never imagined that we would have 8 children. I didn't really know what marriage was all about 25 years ago. I was just excited to be with you. Our vows talk about the peaks and valleys of life. I just thought there would be a huge series of peaks lasting years and years."
"But I know what those vows mean now. And when I said them to you today, I know exactly what I am committing to for however long the Lord gives us together. The most important part of our marriage is that Jesus has been at the center of it. The Lord has used you and our marriage to change me, to change us to be more like Him. I love you. I adore you. And I'm so thrilled for the way today played out the way it played out!"
And then I surprised her one last time on this wonderful day by singing to her the song that began our relationship on a snow cold night back in February 1993, "Can't Help Falling In Love With You"
SURPRISE #6 - Serenading Rachel with "Can't Help Falling In Love With You"
Our Vows
I Andrew/Rachel take you Rachel/Andrew to be my wife/husband,
To join with you and to share all that is to come.
To give and to receive,
To speak and to listen,
To inspire and to respond.
I will be faithful to you
And honest with you.
I will respect, trust, help and care for you
Through the peaks and valleys of life
So long as we both shall live.
To my bride... You are so loved by our community of friends and family, by your children, by me and by God. The best day of my life was the day you walked into it. I thank God for you and for the 25+ years I have had the privilege to be your husband. Thank you for loving the Lord as you do, for teaching our children to love Jesus, for being an amazing mom, and for being an incredible wife. I love you. I adore you.
Forever yours,
Andrew
PS Thanks for marrying me! (whenever I say this she always responds "Thanks for asking!")
PPS Please leave a comment below. Before hitting send, 'copy' what you have written. If it does not post immediately please 'paste' the comment in an email to me and I will post it for you. My address is ascottusa (at) gmail (dot) com
Other Memorable Moments and Favorite Pictures:
You may kiss the bride! (Look at AJ....LOL!!!!)
To inspire and to respond.
I will be faithful to you
And honest with you.
I will respect, trust, help and care for you
Through the peaks and valleys of life
So long as we both shall live.
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Forever yours,
Andrew
PS Thanks for marrying me! (whenever I say this she always responds "Thanks for asking!")
PPS Please leave a comment below. Before hitting send, 'copy' what you have written. If it does not post immediately please 'paste' the comment in an email to me and I will post it for you. My address is ascottusa (at) gmail (dot) com
Other Memorable Moments and Favorite Pictures:
Near the end of the service we asked all who were family or who had attended our wedding 25 years ago to come to the front for a picture. We had family travel from Indiana, Texas, Wisconsin, Maine, and Massachusetts. The woman at the far left is Effie Hall who is over 90 years old and brought our wedding invitation and wedding program from 25 years ago as a gift to us. Who saves things like that these days! Amazing.
I tease Rachel about this picture. She takes SO many pictures of the kids that they have been trained to smile at the sight of any camera. Isaiah noticed the camera in balcony and automatically turned on the smile....
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| Caption here would be "please, no more pictures!" LOL |
Rachel's love language is acts of service - things that require thought, planning, time, effort, and energy. She teared up after watching the video saying that it was so kind and thoughtful given all the preparation they had to do including teaching the song to her nieces. Sarah said she was thinking "you have no idea how much love and thoughtfulness is coming your way this afternoon!" It was a wonderful way to start the day. Thank you Amy, T, M, and David!
Rachel has a heart for youth, in particular teenagers. One of her favorite parts of the day were kids she mentored who are now young adults coming to celebrate this day with us.....
Family Pictures! The only sad part of this day was our daughter Vienna is studying in Tanzania this summer and could not fly home for a couple of days given her commitments. Rachel and I have talked about how as our children grow into adulthood the times when we are all together will not be as often as we would like. We love you Vienna and know that you were with us in spirit!
An ENORMOUS 'thank you' to these men who helped make this event go as well as it did. Mike Gagne for getting all the technical things up and running for the event and dedicating many hours of time over multiple days to make this all happen. One of the best men I know right here....
Noah Davis for all the photo and video work at the church from Rachel's arrival until the last photo of the evening...
Dave Ripper for officiating the service...
THE BEST OF THE REST...
If you have made it this far, please leave a comment below!