So once we made it out of Liepaja we drove through the countryside for twenty minutes or so before pulling into a driveway to a small Methodist chapel tucked in the woods (Laura and many of her friends are Methodist and worked at the nearby Wesley Camp during the summers). The church was all concrete and built in the early 1900s and had been seized by the Soviets and used as a gymnasium but when Latvia regained it’s independence the church reclaimed the building (if you could prove ownership of a building then you could reclaim it).
The inside was decorated with flowers and small saplings that Laura’s parents had cut the day before so it almost felt like you were outside. When the ceremony started Robert walked in followed by Jim and Laura’s little brother Marecks, then the bridesmaids, then Laura, escorted by Pastor Joe, an American who had worked with Laura for many years at the Wesley Camp (her stepfather was too shy to escort her). The ceremony was a pretty traditional Christian ceremony, with readings from the Bible which the Latvian pastor would say then Laura’s friend Gunta would translate to English. At the end was the traditional kiss and then everyone went outside and took pictures, not just the bridal party but each guest got to take photos with the bride and groom in front of the chapel. Then everyone began the journey to the reception hall, and that is the next post 🙂
