Mari's Taiko Wedding

I've been slow in posting the best part of Portland -- Mari and Scott's wedding. Some somebodies went a little crazy with the digital cameras, and 400+ photos is a lot to edit. My cousin Mari is in Portland Taiko, a group that does awesome performances with Japanese drums. So for her wedding, Portland Taiko was a big part of the celebration! Here's Mari playing with part of the group, doesn't she look beautiful?

The wedding was at Kruger's Farm on Sauvie Island. One of the most unusual parts was when the wedding party, parents and minister arrived at the ceremony on a hayride!

Getting off the bales of hay was a bit tricky for someone in a full wedding dress with train, but Mari handled it with grace and dignity. I'll just save those great leg photos for a later date.

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The actual ceremony was under a huge old oak tree that was probably a hundred years old. There were all kinds of beautiful details see and hear during the wedding.

Scott and Mari signed their marriage license on the stump of an old tree that was cut down after a storm.

Here's a detail of Mari's gorgeous dress.

Other sweet details included a big candy selection of goodies to take home after the wedding. We each got a little Chinese take-out box to fill with sweet things to remember the day...

... gummy frogs and strawberries, sweet tarts, rock candy. I think I cracked a crown on a Bit-of-Honey, but I can't say my cousin the dentist didn't warn me.

Scott plays the saxaphone in a swing Latino band called Pepe and the Bottle Blondes, so after the taiko drums, there was lots more fun music.

Enough to get everyone dancing, way past dark. Even Mari in her crocheted wedding flip-flops. I'm glad I wore my cowboy boots, but even so, I did have tired toes the next morning.