The Wedding Dinner Guests for Mary and Gary

Our guests are all so special to us (along with about a gazillion other friends!)

Maynard and Gayle Weaver, OUR niece and hubby, Mary and Gary, Orden Harman.

Matthew Weaver, Gail and Larry Martin, Winston and Bonnie Weaver

Becky and Bill May (1st cousins), Wilmer and Shirley Shank

Kenny and Lois Brown Horne, Phil and Maribeth May, Susie and Galen Shank

 

Cheryl Nottingham (our cruise friend), Krista Suter, Doris Whitmore, Brian and Natalie Bass 

Anita May Krull, Stashia May Kline, Gayle Davis, Jane Pinson

April Krull and Anita May Krull came down from Dayton, Ohio for the occasion. 
April was kind enough to take many good photos.

 

 

 

Gayle Davis, a dear friend from my church in Virginia.

 

Stashia May Kline and I have known each other since the day I was born.  She's my first cousin and is a tad older so was here first.  We've shared a lot of wonderful experiences throughout our childhood - on the farm - at our church  - and socially.  She's just the best cousin around!

Jane Pinson moved next door to my house in Florida.  What are the chances?  She and Gene are from Harpers Ferry.  You have to understand, no one in our retirement community in Florida is from "normal" states.... most people are from New York, and other northeast states, but West Virginia??  

 

Jane is a retired nurse and has nursed me through many difficult situations.  Not to mention some fun, fun times!

 

What good luck!  She happened to be in Harpers Ferry and was able to drive down to our festivities. 
 

   

Gayle Suter Weaver and Maynard Weaver are from Stuarts Draft.  Gayle is Gary's niece and helped represent the Suter side of the family.

 

We surely had plenty of space to social distance.

 

We thank everyone who came to our Wedding Dinner.

The Wedding Dinner for Gary and Mary Suter

.......On to celebrate our wedding with a delicious dinner.

Once again, we surely had no problem with social distancing and the room was lovely. 

We had to set up our seating chart with no more than six at a table.  I didn't realize how tricky a table arrangement can be.  But, as expected, our friends and family are all very accommodating so there were no problems (that we knew of).

Gary welcomed everyone to the dinner.

Next, the best man, Winston Weaver, gave a toast for the groom.  He shared some fun experiences he and Gary had when they were young.  They met at Eastern Mennonite High School and have been friends all these many years.

Much to my surprise, Krista gave a Bridal Toast for me.  She told some things about my life.  Even my family had forgotten about some of them such as, my year in Australia, my travels in the Orient and South America, my 7 years in Puerto Rico, my 23 years in Ft. Lauderdale, and traveling cross-country in an RV.  Becoming a scuba diver was one of my greatest personal achievements.

 

Krista is well aware of my new adventures with Gary, from cross-country road trips in a caravan of hot rods, to Sunday dinners at DQ with the "Mennonite Corvette Club," to Suter dinners, to cruises with Krista and Cheryl, and to buying an apartment with Gary at VMRC (Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community). 

She wished me many more adventures and said,  "Welcome to the Family."  I was deeply honored.  Thank you, Krista!

 

Before long, up jumped my brother, Phil May.  He mentioned several things and told how he, as a baby, couldn't pronounce "Mary Elizabeth" so he called me "Beeba" and he called Anita "Neena."

 

 NOTE: Let me mention here that I have a very cheeky Cornish Rex kitty who likes LOTS of attention.  Blanche Devereaux is her name (after the character on The Golden Girls).

Then along came my sister, Anita May Krull, who stole the show!  She talked about some advice that our mother might have given for my first night with Gary.  She was quite dramatic with her 5 points. 

1.  Put on a sexy nighty.
2.  Have a candle burning.
3.  Have romantic music.
4.  Wear your best perfume.
and......
5.  PUT--THE--CAT--OUT!!   

 Then, came the scrumptious dinners, with choices of a porkchop, pan-fried Rockfish, or roasted chicken.  Many people told us how good the food was - and it was hot!  We agreed that Hotel Madison did a great job with everything. 

On to the real Star of the Show - The CAKE!
It seemed like most every guest took a picture of our cake and the real "icing on the cake" was that it tasted as good as it looked.

It came from the Heritage Bakery and Café in downtown Harrisonburg.

We did the traditional cake feeding. 

Naturally, I had to ask Mr. Google about the cake-feeding tradition: "This cute kindness is a sweet symbol of commitment to provide for one another, showing each other their love and adoration."

I will say one thing for certain -- I do love and adore my wonderful husband, Gary Lee Suter, and I can tell that goes both ways.

 
 On to our guests....

The Wedding Hors d'oeuvres of Gary and Mary Suter

We chose Hotel Madison for our reception and dinner.  It is part of the James Madison University campus, is only a few years old, and very nice.  In fact, I'd say it's pretty "uptown!" 
(Note:  I went to JMU for my undergraduate degree in Education.)

We decided to keep our dinner at about 30 people, which proved to be a bit challenging.  We have so MANY other friends and relatives but just couldn't ask everyone..... hmmnnn, we might have needed the whole hotel for all of them!

Just for fun, we made masks for everyone that said,
"Gary loves Mary, 9/19/2020"

 People were kind enough to humor us and wear them for the photo above. 
I will say we were all aware of the social distancing.  For someone to get Covid-19 would be the last thing we would have wanted.  We pretty much wore our masks during the social time but took them off to eat.

Click on any picture for a larger view.

 

Social distancing was easy to achieve since we had the place pretty much to ourselves.

The crab cakes, stuffed mushrooms and beef wellington were delicious.

The Receiving Line

 

Becky, Bill, Phil, and Maribeth May

Long-time family friends, Brian and Natalie Bass with Krista Suter.
Isn't it cool how well Krista's mask matches her dress?

Bonnie Weaver (wife of Winston, Gary's best man)

We broke the social distancing for a "new-family" hug.  Gayle and Maynard Weaver are our niece and nephew on the Suter side of the family.

 

Lois and Kenny Horne with my brother, Phil May.

Lois and I have been friends since first grade.  We were college roommates at JMU and have kept in touch all these years.  Our younger sisters were the same age so we had some fun sleep-overs with the four of us.

Gary has been "My Hero" for four years.
  Now it's nice to be able to say "My Husband is My Hero."

It was a privilege to be able to celebrate at this lovely venue and the hotel staff seemed pleased to get the business.  We didn't see anyone else there.

p.s. Yes, I did have to look up how to spell "Hors d'oeuvres."

Stick around for a report about our Wedding Dinner post.

The Wedding of Gary and Mary Suter

September 19, 2020 was a memorable and meaningful day, in spite of the Covid-19 Pandemic.  That was the day that Gary Suter and I entered the state of wedded bliss. Yes, the virus posed some limitations but we worked around those.

We got married in my home church, Donovan Memorial United Methodist Church in Singers Glen, Virginia.  It was built in 1906 

I always felt this church, with it's unique design, was so beautiful and such a spiritual place.  (This photo was taken several years ago.)

It's amazing to me that the very small country town of Singers Glen could build such a lovely church and so long ago. 

 

(By the way, if you google "Singers Glen" you'll find it's the only Singers Glen in the USA.

Anna May, in the left window, was my great great grandmother and
H.F. May, in the right window, was her son.  That son was Henry Franklin May, my great grandfather.

 

This marriage means I now have a lovely, kind, and smart stepdaughter.

  My sister, Anita, Niece April, brother Phil and Maribeth May along with Bonnie Weaver and Jane Pinson were there.

.

Pastor Jim Harrison, Krista, MaryMay, and Gary Suter,
and Winston Weaver.

JOY, JOY, JOY!

This was that magical moment when Pastor Jim said,  "I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Gary Suter!"

 

 

Someone observed that Pastor Jim appears to be a photobomber here!

What a fun and lucky shot!  My niece, April Krull, took it with her phone and the flash reflected into the stone.

I used to find it strange that wedding photographs usually have one of the hands with rings.  Now I realize that it's the symbol of a sacred, deep, and meaningful trust in each other.

My New Family 
Krista, MaryMay and Gary Suter

 Stay tuned for The Wedding Dinner.......

Popping the Question

 Hello, hello, hello!  I mentioned that there was exciting news, no clowning around so..... here 'tis - the latest.

I'm bursting with happiness and want to share my unexpected joy........ It is with great surprise that I report to you that Gary Suter (pronounced "suitor") asked me to marry him and I said, "YES!"

We're busy planning a tiny wedding and a very small reception on Saturday, September 19, 2020.  

 

God is sooo good to have brought us together.  This man is so solid, so thoughtful, so loving, and so dependable.  I just love him to pieces. .........AND - he's taller than me!  We grew up 6 miles apart and went to the same high school but we didn't know each other

We've been together 4 years and he's been thinking about marriage for 2 years..... even discussed with Krista, his 44 year old daughter, 2 years ago and she gave her blessing.

I went ahead with my plans to buy an apartment at a nearby Retirement Community.   Taking care of a house and 3 acres is just too much to deal with - I'm an ole broad now!!

It will take 3 months to renovate the apartment.   The building is almost 20 years old so I'll get to choose my flooring and wall colors..... PLUS, I choose my cabinets, countertops, showers, vanity, closet set up, etc.    The unit is very small but how much do we need?  Gary will keep his house because his tax office is there.

Will this be my new official name?  Mary Elizabeth May Barrows Angelil Suter ?  We've discussed that and it's easy on cruises to just say we're Gary and Mary.  But, we both like the MaryMay Suter name the best. 
 

 MaryMay found her suitor (Suter)

 

p.s.  Don't know what to call the "Angelil Adventures" blog now.  If you have any ideas, please let me know.