i have so many things to say about our wedding that i have decided not to worry about being organized in how i start to tell about it. i’m just going to share bits and pieces that come to mind, and if i keep doing that, maybe i will eventually cover a fraction of the love and beauty and amazingness that day (and the whole week surrounding that day) held for us.

this little bit was an idea that came to me thanks to a group of online radical mama friends i connected with when quinn was a baby (one of whom made my wedding dress, another who came and took photos at the wedding, several of whom still read this blog). at one point in time, i remember us each creating a square to contribute to a long string of prayer flags for one friend’s birthday. since rich and i knew that quite a few of our far away friends and family members would be unable to join us for our wedding, but who would love to be here in spirit, we thought this would be a way for everyone to be included, while also providing some colorful decorations for our day. this was the text we included in our rsvp card, which is how the flags made their way back to us one by one.

“we will decorate our reception tent with prayer flags created by our guests. please add your words, drawings, or blessings to the fabric square and enclose it when you return this rsvp. we’ll let the breeze carry the prayers and blessings of our community skyward, and create a cheerful banner to brighten up our day. (sharpie marker is fine, we are not asking for fine embroidery, though feel free to be creative – paint, sew, embellish as you like!)”

cotton gauze, a yard of each color of the rainbow, just after being dyed.

cut fabric squares, ready for inclusion in invitations.

we underestimated how much we would be blown away by each and every one of the flags we got back.

quinn’s mandala flag.

an amazing dragon family.

mom and dad rew. quinn insisted his be right next to grammy’s when the flags got sewn together.

each time, the exact right thing just seemed to show up.

most of the flags made a string long enough to stretch all along one whole side of our big reception tent!

each flag has its own story and i am sure not all flags are visible in these photos… but the way we got to receive each one over the course of months, expectantly walking to the mailbox on a “date” each afternoon to see if we got another one, practically giddy if we got more than one in a single day! each one got our undivided attention as it was received, and we were amazed each time with the love and care put into the thoughts and artwork applied to our flags. each one was a blessing to receive, and it was a joy for me to add each one to the long ribbon; a visible and tangible representation of our great abundance of loved ones.

that radical mama photographer is also handy with a needle and thread, and hung the last few stragglers up just above our head table while i was having my hair done. luckily i had multiple photographers to make sure such details were captured!

there will be many more flowers in other posts, but i loved the way the prayer flags framed this image of early morning on our wedding day.

the whole day was full of amazing things like having a rainbow set of prayer flags show up to hang directly behind us, fully put together by people who love us. i didn’t even lay eyes on these particular flags until they were already sewn and hung up!

i love these pictures of rich giving his toast, and me laughing hysterically. humor is pretty foundational to our relationship.

and also, kindness. here we are feeding each other the yummiest cake ever baked, backed by om symbols, a phoenix and st. mary magdalene, on whose feast day we happened to get married; my catholic friend responsible for the mary flag wrote in her rsvp that she is “the patron saint of women, among other things: glovesmakers, converts, tanners, hairdressers and more!”

later in the afternoon, it was time to turn on the fireflies.

now that we have been married for three months (as of sunday!) we are still enjoying our prayer flags, hung up around our bedroom. it’s such a cheerful and colorful reminder of all of our friends and family coming together (physically or in spirit) to celebrate with us.