wedding

so it all started with a text message on wednesday afternoon during one of my teaching weeks at IslandWood. here is a sample of our text conversation:
jared: lets get married next weekend
eileen: we can, but should we
jared: yes
(a few hours later)
jared: are you making the wedding arrangements?

that night, jared and i talked on the phone and we talked about the idea (he was originally planning on coming out here to visit me). i said i was open to the idea and told him i wanted to talk to his mom and he needed to call my parents. so, when we got off the phone, i called his mom and she and her husband said they were open to it and would fly out.
the next day (thursday) i called my mom to tell her about the idea. i also called my grandparents since i always wanted my grandpa to marry me. he was very surpised...actually at a loss of words (which he said had never happened in his life...later to find out it would happen at the ceremony :)). later that day, my parents called me on a 3-way call very concerned and upset. later that night, (while jared was looking up marriage license details in the state of wasthington) i called my mom expecting a long drawn out conversation. she said that they had been looking for flights and asked, "what can i do to help?"


on friday morning, all of our parents had bought plane tickets to fly out along with my grandparents, jared's grandma and cousin (best man) along with my other grandma. that day was also the day jared was flying into seattle and we were going to get our marriage license. however, his flight was delayed 4 hours...too late for any offices to be open!! i was freaking out...but found out it was ok to still have the ceremony and perform the legal one later.



on saturday afternon, everyone was pretty much here....we walked downtown bainbridge island to get the cakes, ice cream to compliment the cakes, ribbon to decorate, and food ordered. we also got my 2 bridesmaids and all the ceremony decorations in line.

that night, we had a pre-rehersal dinner at an amazing restuarant accompanied by our 0wn guitar player.





on sunday, we went to seattle to pike's place market to get all the flowers, jared's ring, and presents for some of my friends helping out with the cermony. it is great because my friends here are very talented and they provided all the services we needed: photographer, videographer, drummer, and did all the organizing for the reception!! it was truly amazing.

on monday morning (day of wedding), the whole wedding party met up for a solo hike in the woods to establish a sense of place in the woods and also reflect upon the day and the couple (us!) it was such a great way to begin the day. then, we had the rehersal.








our ceremony took place in a place called the Bird Blind. it is a small structure overlooking the marsh. it was incredible. a perfect setting (which jared and i chose on saturday morning :)).

the thing i am riding?! well...i just had surgery a few weeks ago...and this is my option instead of crutches. my original idea was to get surgery soon so i wouldnt have to have any walking devices for our wedding in june...oops :)


















our current status: we are married :)
our current locations:
eileen-bainbridge island, washington...finishinng her graduate program at islandwood (will finish in june)
jared-quepos, costa rica...serving as a missionary for cocaine addicts (until the end of may)
future plans: we are planning on moving down to costa rica together sometime during the summer as missionaries....we also know God is guiding and directing our ways so we are open.

we appreciate your love.