So much for celebrating...for now.

Yesterday, May 23rd, 2021 marked one year from our original wedding reception date. I had mixed feelings throughout the day. I felt disappointed because Neil and I didn't grace each other's lives until we were almost 40 yrs old, and had to wait even longer to have a traditional celebration. Because we had a private ceremony in November of 2019, we thought waiting 6 months to have a reception to celebrate with our loved ones would be perfect! Some of those reasons included saving up a little, those helping with the event would have time to prepare, and most of all, the weather would be nice. We had just finished preparing the invitations to go out in March 2020 and the day before putting postage on them to later drop them in the mail, the world news announced a world-wide pandemic. Businesses were to close, indefinitely. Seriously??!! Wow. The timing was unreal.

So...here we are, six months away from our two year wedding anniversary, and no final reception plans are in sight. Many of you have asked about it, and made suggestions. Thank you! Thank you for acknowledging that it is a loss to have not had the opportunity to celebrate with all of our people. One of the main reasons we haven't is because a large amount of people (important people!) are from out of town, out of state, and/or out of the country. We don't want to plan a big celebration until all of our people are free to attend! So...stay tuned!! THE HOPE is to celebrate next summer, 2022. The way we're looking at things now is we've waited so long to find one another - almost 40 years -- what's a little more waiting to celebrate with y'all?! Most of all, we've learned that God has plans, especially in the waiting. Afterall, that is one of the biggest themes of our lives as we've waited for many things - especially each other. We're trusting God, and He's giving us the endurance to, well, wait patiently! lol In the meantime - we are loving marriage, can't believe we were without each other all those years prior to meeting since we cannot imagine living without each other (y'all that are happily married know what we're talking about! And those that are yet to be married, we trust you'll know what we're talking about one day!! Believe us, it's worth the wait!!!), and are taking time to celebrate in all the little (and big) ways that we can, during a world-wide pandemic. Can't wait to see you at our reception in 2022, Lord-willing!

~ Mr. & Mrs. Vandenbergh <3