Family Unity Ceremony – Debbie and Ken

12.11.22

Debbie and Ken – November 23, 2022

Family Unity Ceremony

Debbie and Ken brought their kids to us for a family unity ceremony. They dressed the chapel in white fabric with our moody florals. Debbie brought a cute puzzle for them all to put together as part of the ceremony. It was so sweet. She looked amazing in her green velvet dress, and the lighting made her glow. Congratulations, Debbie and Ken!

From the Bride:

We met through an online dating site. We were both scarred from life – I’m a widow, he went through a terrible divorce. Both older with young children. He has 2 and I have 2. They are all within 3 years of each other in age. I don’t understand God’s plan, or if he even has one, but if so – he knew we needed each other. And we are so grateful. We healed together and slowly over the years of raising kids, school, jobs, houses, loss of loved ones and all the other real life ups and downs – we grew a beautiful love and family. The most perfectly imperfect amazing life we could ever have imagined. It’s been over 8 1/2 years since we met. We have a phrase we have used – “All thanks to a wink” because I apparently sent him a wink on the site and didn’t even realize it lol…and that’s what made him contact me.

Our first date was a casual dinner and Ken talked the entire time lol. We met again for coffee a few days later and he insisted on me getting to talk this time and sweetly asked all about my life and who I am. There was certainly an attraction there but something about the way he genuinely felt bad and wanted to listen to me just swept me up.

Who proposed? Well…..lol…..we just kind of knew we would get married. But he did surprise me with a ring (an incredibly beautiful one) on Christmas Eve of 2019. It was the last present and he had all 4 kids bring it to me. My parents and family were there and lots of tears were shed. After a few massive life events – a pandemic, job changes and the loss of my mom we just kept having to push the idea of a wedding back. I was often impatient and he kept telling me we would have “our time” one day. We had considered using a friends house to have a ceremony but it just didn’t seem doable at the time. Then the opportunity of us getting the home of our dreams appeared and we are finally all under one roof now. We were discussing taking a family trip over the Thanksgiving holiday and while googling places to rent, I saw a few ads for mountain wedding venues. He was sitting across the table from me and I casually just said we could get married while we were in TN and he just a causally said sure – that sounds good. lol…and the planning of an East Tennessee wedding began! We both just wanted something small and intimate that included just our children. The Chapel in the Hollow looked beautiful and checked all the boxes.

We are looking forward to the “official” blending of this family! We see ourselves as a family, we act like a family and we love like a family – for years. This just makes it legal. And to have our kids standing by us as we say our vows is everything we could ask for. Our children are 14, 13, 12 and 11. 3 boys and the 1 girl is the youngest.

Fun, what do we do for fun? We have kids… lol, kidding. We are completely renovating our home and we are both loving it (even though it’s exhausting). We are just finishing up football season and will start the baseball season after the new year. We have collected 4 high maintenance animals, a giant house that needed work in every square inch, lots of scratches and scars from clearing out 2 1/2 acres of land, stress wrinkles, tons of pictures from all our trips and special memories made, laugh lines, too many new pool toys, and a love that’s more than I could have ever dreamed.