Stephen ❤ Libby

When Richard and I first started dating we had that awkward hurdle to overcome that you only have if you a) were friends first and b) belong to the same larger friend group.  Both a and b combined mean that if the relationship falls apart 3 weeks later it’s going to be REALLY awkward at the next weekend get together.  Consequently we did what most people in this situation do, we pretended that we weren’t dating even though we really were.

In our case this illusion was created by the addition of Stephen.  If Stephen was along then obviously it wasn’t a date, just a get together amongst friends.  Stephen went with us everywhere.  We went to a bar, we took Stephen. We went to play pool, Stephen was invited along. Stephen joined us at the movies. At parties. At coffee shops. At dinners.  I imagine by the end of that month Stephen was heartily sick of the both of us.

You would think given his early role as chaperone that his response to our request to serve as groomsman in our wedding would have been something along the lines of, “haven’t I done enough to enable this relationship already?”  Thankfully that was not his response, and yesterday Richard finally had the opportunity to return the favor by serving as groomsman when Stephen pledged his life to the amazing, beautiful, hilarious, intelligent Libby.

Stephen and Libby planned a beautiful outdoor wedding; held on a farm in the late Colorado summer. September is the ideal month to get married in Colorado because it’s typically still warm, and it’s the month in the year when it’s least likely to rain.  Apparently 2013 failed to get the memo.  Over the past week Colorado has seen more rain than it typically sees in a year.  The farm where Stephen and Libby were supposed to get married is now a lake.  With all the road closures there was serious question as to whether or not people would be able to get to their wedding at all (and their food and flowers almost didn’t make it!).  It broke my heart to see how much stress the two of them were under this week with trying to rescue what they could of their carefully thought out wedding plans.  I know they were both disappointed that they didn’t get the farm wedding they had planned.

Thankfully this story has a happy ending. Stephen and Libby were able to find a new place to hold the wedding, and their guests and food all made it to the event.  It might not have been at their beautiful farm, but the thing that makes a wedding beautiful has nothing to do with the location it is held at; their wedding was one of the loveliest I have seen.  Last night was full of love and I feel honored to have been able to be a part of it.  Congratulations to you both.