He Came into Your Life Like a Whisper

This past weekend my good friend Allison Schutte (nèe Bates) married the wonderful Aaron in her backyard.  The weather almost ruined the day, but decided to be lovely just in time for pictures.  The whole affair was casual and intimate, with a romantic flair and nod to tradition.  This weekend, the best man and groom will trade places for another wedding before the Schuttes fly off for a three week honeymoon in Norway then a year in Tanzania, Africa.  (These pictures are different from the slideshow ones, so for more click the link to visit that full album.)

Allison and Aaron were good friends all through college, especially since both were in Castle Singers, the jazz choir at Wartburg.  They were in the same circles of friends and even went on a couple May Term trips together, all while dating other people (although at least one person claims to have called this marriage as early as freshman year).  They kind of never officially dated, as Aaron moved to Africa just after graduation and has been living there ever since (junior year they both went to Tanzania for May Term, after which Aaron stayed for the summer.  He returned to the site that Wartburg students visit every year, which is where he now teaches children.  His blog is http://aaronschutte.blogspot.com/).  For more professional pics, check out the photographer's blog at  http://audreraephotography.blogspot.com/2011/06/allison-aaron.html and don't miss the link to her Flikr on the side (just like my Photobucket stream) for even more pics.

I had never been to a wedding rehearsal before, and between the weather and the pastor's repeated mix up of "Schutte" and "Bates" it was a bit of a nail biter.  We ran into the church at the end just in case.

Also, my first rehearsal dinner, which was rather enjoyable.  I got a chance to talk to Allison's brother, Matthew, and Aaron's friend from high school, the only groomsman/usher I didn't know at all.  Allison and Aaron visited the "kids table" (where most of the bridal party was) for a few minutes to give out their presents (necklaces for bridesmaids, beauty products for Katie and me, board games for groomsmen, Bananagrams for ushers).

Instead of a unity candle, Allison and Aaron washed each others hands, which echoed a ceremony from their engagement in Tanzania.  The water, once caught in the bowl, is symbolically impossible to differentiate or separate.  This is a picture I snapped while the fellas were setting up and the ladies were waiting to put on their fancy dresses.

(I don't know what that spot thing is, probably too many cameras at once.)  Allison got ready in her childhood bedroom, which is currently bare between her having lived in Marion, Iowa for the last several years and her efforts to prep for a year abroad.

We spent the entire afternoon taking pictures.  Allison's house is several miles outside a rather small town without any really camera-ready places, so all the pictures are from in the yard.  During breaks from the professional photographer (a high school acquaintance of the maid of honor whose career we Facebook stalked throughout college), we just took more pictures on our own and each others cameras.  From left to right in the last picture, the bridesmaids are Laura and Ellen (maid of honor), both college friends; Dena, Allison's best friend from high school; and Alayna, Aaron's little sister.

Moms gave us lots of ideas for silly things to do that supposedly were necessary (like making Allison drink out of a straw all day).  The lovely lady in the glittery dress is next week's bride, Alisha.

 The boys did some pretty goofy stuff.

Once guests started arriving, we waited in the living room and tried to distract Allison, who doesn't really like being the center of attention and wasn't excited to spend an hour with everyone staring at her.  She later said the piano playing was more headache inducing than an actual productive distraction.  We played I Spy/20 Questions for a while, and I had the best clue if I do say so myself (I picked the piano:  is it high?  can be.  is it loud?  can be.  is it soft?  can be. I think Laura figured it out.) and we ended up singing "Chapel of Love" just before we headed out to get Allison hitched.  We also could see the crowd gathering and gestured some people we hadn't seen in an exceptionally long time in to chat with us while we waited.  Rather out of character, Allison was the one waiting on everyone else (she's more of a fashionably late sort), which taught us all that limiting her wardrobe choices in advance can make a timeline more reliable.

The ceremony was lovely, and the pastor gave a kudos to their reliance on hymns throughout (the processional and all the special music were either hymns or songs with lyrics directly from scripture, with the Hallelujah chorus as the recessional and the song Hymn by Lorie Line in place of the traditional bridal march).

 

 Ellen's mom came from Appleton, Wisconsin.

We went to Music Man Square in Mason City for the reception, a building made up to look like the town square from River City in the musical The Music Man (the River City of the show is actually Mason City, the writer's hometown, in case you didn't know).  Instead of cake, some family and close friends brought homemade fruit pie and everyone had a card f for a free scoop of ice cream from the ice cream shop(pe) as well.  The main street, complete with street lamps, served as the dance floor, and we got to pick all the tunes for the evening.  The couple left the reception to a double line of fireworks (instead of rice or bubbles after the ceremony).  This was the first time since graduation I had seen some people, and the first time since graduation I had seen all my close friends at the same time.  I look forward to seeing (almost) everyone again this weekend for another wedding in Dubuque.  Sorry if this post took long to load, but wedding pictures are pretty fun so I thought I'd share with all those who weren't there, especially since I know at least some of my regular readers met Allison at least once.

You Can Hear the Ocean Roar

Ok, maybe most of you can't hear the ocean roar.  But I have an old Simon & Garfunkel album (the title their line) on the record player my mom grabbed when my Grandmother's old preschool migrated from the basement of the Methodist Church to wherever some other person runs the program Mrs. McIntosh ran for longer than I have yet been alive.  It would probably be a lovelier way to pass the afternoon if I weren't still afraid to take the plastic off my windows (seriously, this winter is so long) so my blinds are still closed behind my protective layer.

some students got together for a Candle Light concert during Earth Week

my two remaining AmeriCorps members

at one  point she sand the hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (the Sufjan Stevens lyrics

they were pretty good about requests

Kristin set up a place to draw on the floor for those not singing or playing

The last month or so I've been rather frantically trying to pull together the first two big events of the summer.  The first was a kick off of the summer campaign with a mix of semester and summer volunteers leading 3 simultaneous community workshops at shelters run by an organization in Milwaukee called Community Advocates.  We worked with people who came to CA following a variety of life situations that made independent living impossible or unwise to help them understand how to be more energy efficient once they transitioned back into living in their own home or apartment.

one of the games we play with kids is Energy Charades.  Here, two ladies are helping this fine fellow act out a toaster

I tried to stay out of the way while Kathleen explained the benefits of compact florescent lightbulbs

Our other event was a reprise of Education Week, where volunteers visited Milwaukee, Madison, and Oshkosh to visit dozens of schools and teach thousands of kids in 4 days.  We also performed a dozen or so energy assessments, taught lessons in community groups (including a very popular senior group at the church where out of town volunteers slept in Milwaukee), and watched a documentary about the coal industry in the US.

organizing another game of charades

the really awesome room of an afterschool program we visited

cookies destroyed in the pursuit of coal (chocolate chips)

While both events were great (more or less), I am glad to be done with them for now.  I know I'll have another big event to start planning soon enough, but between finals and the switchover between semester members and summer hires, these last few weeks have had more kinks than I would prefer.  One in particular that kept coming up was working with other organizers' students.  It can be hard to find the line between stepping on someone else's leadership toes and leaving students without direction or feedback.  This summer presents its own challenges that should be interesting to tackle soon enough, but I'm still happy to leave behind some of the challenges I know already.

With the countdown to the end of the year stepping up, my Milwaukee must-do list remains rather long.  I'm excited for a more predictable schedule through the summer that should give me more time to explore, and I've made a more specific to do list for the summer (and I've been putting some of the things I want to do on random days throughout the summer, like an assignment except fun).  I'm looking forward to getting to know Milwaukee a little better, especially since it sounds like