A Wedding Celebration

Nancy Tackett and I were honored to be invited to the wedding celebration of Stephen Hampson and Harold Koopowitz  on April 26th.  This event was held Saturday night at a beautiful garden facility called “Sherman Gardens” near the Pacific Ocean in southern California.

Harold and Steve were legally married in civil ceremony the previous Tuesday, and for this  wedding celebration, Melissa Reading administrated the vows.  She did a very touching and professional job of this and a number of guests asked if she was a minister that did a lot of weddings.   They were surprised to learn this was her first and only one.

It had been storming the day before and overcast on Saturday morning.  But by the time of the wedding, conditions were perfect and the temperature was in the mid 70’s  (24 c).   The wedding ceremony was outside in an open garden area, then we moved into a more inclosed patio area for cocktails.  Last dinner and dancing were inside a quite lovely room.

For the photos that follow, I cannot identify everyone properly.   Visitors came from as far as South Africa, some from Canada, to attend this event.

Harold’s  daughter Lyn and son Michael were very much involved in various aspects of the celebration.  One of Harold’s grandsons was the official photographer and, as I observed, appeared to be doing an excellent job.   I also noted that there were a lot of cameras, at least two dozen…

Harold’s daughter Lyn did the flower arrangements which you will note contain daffodils too.  These daffodils were express shipped from Missouri just for the wedding by  Jason Delaney.   I believe Harold indicated that Jason personally grew these daffodils too.  Thank you Jason!

During the vows, Melissa Reading was facing west directly into the sun.  She bought the hat to deal with that and had to keep her head down just to see anything and handle the ceremony.

I will try to comment appropriately on the photos.

Ben

 

18 comments for “A Wedding Celebration

  1. Thanks so much for posting the photos; looks like a very lovely event; Congratulations to Harold and Steve!

    Your photos are awesome.

  2. Thank you Ben. We were so lucky to have so many friends present they made the day so sweet.

  3. Thanks Ben.  Your photos are great!  You wanted me to comment on the sweet peas in the arrangements I did.  Well here goes:  I’m heavily involved in growing and promoting sweet peas (almost as much as daffodils!)  I grow and trial about 40 varieties every year, and am known as “Sweet Pea Steve” at Roger’s Gardens where I am employed.  Harold and I will be going to the National Sweet Pea Show in England in late June, at which I clerked last year.

  4. Congratulations, Harold and Steve!  The wedding looks wonderful, lovely venue, beautiful weather and it was great to see so many familiar faces there. We loved the cake!   All the best for your future together.

    Denise and Neil, Ngatimoti, New Zealand.

  5. Congratulations Harold and Steve!  Everything looked perfect for this momentous day.  :-)

    Ben…thanks so much for sharing your wonderful photos with us…

  6. Congratulations, Harold and Steve!  Beautiful wedding!  Thanks for sharing the photos with us, Ben.

  7. Congratulations Harold and Steve, and best wishes for your future together.  Looks like you have lots of great memories from your special day.

  8. How lovely!  Congratulations and many good wishes to you.

    Janet Hickman

  9. What wonderful things daffodils do, to cause this lovely celebration of marriage commitment.  This magical flower has done it again.  I wish you much happiness, Harold and Steve.

    Thanks for the lovely pictures, Ben.

    Donna Dietsch

  10. May your future be blessed with lovely times together and lovely flowers to join you; Jerry and I wish you the best.

     

  11. Congratulations, Harold and Steve!  What a beautiful wedding and venue.

    I had to go back and check out those sweet peas in the arrangements.  I have always loved sweet peas and those are sure stunning.

    Love the name “Sweet Pea Steve” and hope you will share some pics of the National Sweet Pea Show.

    Ben, thanks for sharing the day via photos.

     

     

  12. What wonderful news, Harold and Steve!  This really makes our day. The pictures are the next best thing to being there, and I loved seeing all the flowers.  THanks so much, Nancy and Ben for letting us be a part of their  perfect celebration.  All best regards for Many years more together.

     

  13. Congrats Harold and Steve!!! The photos are fantastic. Thanks so much to Ben and Nancy for posting them!!

  14. Beautiful, beautiful celebration for the perfect pair! CONGRATULATIONS and tons of Best Wishes forever! Thanks Ben for posting the wonderful pictures for those of us who couldn’t be there!!

  15. Harold and Steve – belated congratulations from Minnesota!  This is wonderful news, and I felt I was there through the pictures (thanks, Ben!).  All the very best wishes to both of you for many wonderful years together!

  16. Congratulations and best wishes!  What a lovely celebrations – thanks for the photos, Ben.

Comments are closed.