And the wedding begins!

Today's photos are all from the wedding photographer Larissa Catherine Photography.

We are finally ready for this wedding!  The guests took their places, the bridal party lined up in pairs in the house ready for the walk to the garden. 

 Tony walked his mother to her seat...

Takumi escorted me.  Cynthia came with one brother,

Kiana came with another

Colin and Tony's sister came down the aisle...

And then came Tony's nephew, the ring bearer.

I found out later that there had been a bit of drama as I happily walked towards the altar.  Takumi and I had headed out the door when Jameer, the ring bearer looked up at the remaining adults and said,

"Aren't I supposed to be carrying rings?"

Rings!!!

Leiya had forgotten to give Jameer the ring box!  Jameer's mother whispered loudly to the next pair in the bridal party to "walk slowly!" trying to buy time while Leiya went looking for the ring box back in the "bridal suite".  No one but the few still waiting to make an entrance even knew what had happened (I sure didn't) but Jameer sure saved the day!  I hate to think that Pawpaw might have called for the exchange of rings and we'd have had to stop the wedding while someone ran back to go look for them!

And finally here come Tetsu and Leiya (Tetsu's still has tears in his eyes...  Leiya looks pretty happy!)

 Tony's first look at his bride.

Good for Kiana for making sure Leiya's wedding dress is at its most photogenic!  Only a female would attend to that little detail.

I was so happy about the arrangement of the bridal party that Leiya and Tony decided upon.  Instead of bridesmaids and ushers, Leiya asked her brother and two cousins to stand with her while Tony had his three siblings.  It just gave me a warm feeling to see Takumi standing there next to Leiya...

Vows were given.

 Pawpaw did a great job!

And here come the newly wed Dr. and Mrs. Smith!

First pictures of the big day!

The morning of the wedding arrived and in Detroit it was RAINING!  Oh dear...  Well, we can't control the weather even though everyone had been checking their Weather apps daily for weeks.  The tent was there for the weather variables and so we would make the best of it.

But once at the grandparents, the weather headed into cloudy and then overcast and as we all stood around with chairs in our arms, Leiya made the decision that THE WEDDING IS GOING TO BE HELD OUTSIDE!

 She made the right decision!  We set up on the back lawn.

 Lanterns set up on log stumps.

Leiya did some last minute art work on some old glass tables she had found.

Okay, ready for the guests to arrive.  Time for Leiya to get ready.

Kiana and Julieta took over hair.  The two girls just flipped through Youtube and figured out something to do within seconds.

So great to have a girlfriend cousin!

This is the hair...  Leiya used the lacy hair comb that I had made from my own wedding dress lace that my mother had chosen for ME.  There were so many beautiful hair accessories that I would have been willing to buy her but she wanted to go with "meaningful".

And trying to be meaningful, Marcy and I worked on trying to tie a kimono obi (belt) around the bridal bouquet.   I had wanted something of Tetsu's mother's incorporated in this wedding and had brought the obi to use SOMEWHERE.  It wasn't really visible to anyone but Leiya but it had meaning for HER.

I went out to let people we were almost ready and met with the handsome menfolk in my family.

Takumi looking good in his suit.

Tetsu very embarrassed but looking pleased.

Tetsu is EXTREMELY embarrassed about these next three photos but hey, this is what the father of the bride does.  The photographer wanted to shoot the dramatic moment when Tetsu first sees Leiya in her wedding dress and so we set it up so that they could be alone in the dining room. 

 "Hey Dad!"

 Tetsu had "planned" to be all smiles this day but...

...the first look really gets you.

Preparations and rehearsal

Things really got moving on the seventeenth, the day before the wedding!  We'd picked up the wedding cake (cakes) and headed back toTony's grandparents house where all hands had been called on deck to help out.  Women were down in the basement figuring out what to do with the flowers that had been delivered the day before, men were outside setting up tables and chairs and lights around the wedding tent.

So...  All these nice flowers.  Now who is going to arrange them into table decorations?  Not I!  Tony's mother led the honors.  Notice my brother smiling there.  He rarely smiles but I got quite a few pictures of him grinning this trip.  See!  He DID have a good time!

And these were the party favors that Tetsu and I had brought from Japan.  The wooden sake masu were set out and some small cherry blossom candies were added with origami cranes settled on top.

 My brother and Justin and Colin helped put up fairy lights around the tent.

For all his grumpiness my brother is so extremely helpful.  He was everywhere this day climbing ladders, carrying heavy tables.  I think Tony's family loved him because he never sat still and could always be found doing something handy.

Good gosh!  He even got to washing windows!  Way to go Keion!

Leiya called a meeting to give everyone instructions on what all had to be done this day and the next.  A real organizer she's become!

I wonder what I found so funny.

The tent was ready with a small dance floor inside and a siding of windows in case we had wind or rain.

 Takumi and Julieta arrived from California just in time for the rehearsal walk.

 They were pretty tired but they took a stroll around the grounds.

I guess Kiana and Marcy came on our stroll too.

Now that all of us from California and Japan had arrived, Tony's mother gave us all bags of Michigan goodies to enjoy.  I didn't know Kellogs was from Michigan!

And then rehearsal began. The bridal party paired off and walked from the house to the tent.  (Still planning for rain.)

 And here come Tetsu and Leiya.  It was actually at this point that I teared up when I realized the "wedding march" music that Leiya had chosen was an instrumental version of "10,000 Reasons" by Matt Redman.  I just love that song and had played it constantly as I watched over my mother last summer during the last week of her life.

Yes, that is Pawpaw officiating.  Tony and Leiya so respect him and he daily acts as the family's spiritual mentor.  Though he is not a pastor, they asked him to lead their wedding vows.  This rehearsal was really necessary so that Pawpaw could get the phrases short enough so that Leiya could follow him when she repeated her vows.

"Wait!  Say that again!"

Okay. All seems to be ready.  The dandelions are coming in strong and beautiful.

 The flowers are ready to be put on tables or pinned to lapels.

 The paper plate settings are ready to be laid out on the tables tomorrow.

 The lanterns with fairy lights are ready to be placed near the "aisle".

 Ooh yes!  Those fairy lights are very nice when lit.

And so are the tent lights.  As it turned out though, the wedding was mostly finished the next day before it got dark enough to see much of the lights.  Good try!

The wedding dress had been safely hung and hidden from prying eyes.  Cynthia made sure that there were no trespassers to the guest bedroom, dubbed the Bridal Suite for the weekend.

 Time finally to relax!

 Colin kept Jameer, Tony's nephew entertained.

 We are counting down the hours now!