Ellen In Amerika!"MY EMIGRATION TO AMERICA AND MY ADJUSTMENT TO LIFE IN CALIFORNIA SINCE SEPTEMBER 2008"

The wedding day is as a fairy tale. I know this sounds pretty exaggerated, but everything is as it should be! The nice weather, the beautiful wedding cards designed by my cousin Kimberly, the Champagne breakfast, offered by the brothers and sisters.

Lotty and Hans came to our apartment and drove us to the house of Jos and Truus in Bemmel. Niels and Thomas were already there in Bemmel.  I thought they were there just to help decorating, but these super sons of mine are also going to make the dinner (they are both chefs). This is so emotional for me. Friends of Niels were also helping by doing the catering.

Thomas and Niels gave me “away” to Dan at the house in Bemmel, which was a beautiful start of the wedding ceremony.

The moment Dan saw me in my wedding dress was, to be honest, the best part of the day. His expression on his face I will never forget.

Jos and Truus, grandma Sol and my sons had worked hard on decorating the yard with flowers and butterflies.

And then: the big, big surprise: The gift of Jos and Truus. It was a very romantic carriage with two horses and 2 drivers! Isn’t this a fairy tale?

We went to the Town hall, which was a small castle, and the wedding ceremony was very emotional. Dan had said his voves in Dutch and I in English.

After the official “I Do”, we could give our first kiss as a married couple.
So many friends and family came from far to join this day with us.

The whole day is full of love, laughter and socializing with each other. Friends of Thomas and Myriam had made a song, and they performed it at our wedding. It was a real good performance.

My brother Tom had made a movie of the whole day, which I have seen by now; let me think…..50 times?? Nah, 75 times! He really had made such a lovely video of it, with a great choice of music, it is amazing. Hans was the photographer, and he has done a great job. He and Truus also made wedding books. These books and the video are priceless.

After the wedding ceremony and the vows, Dan and I went with Hans and Tom to a nice little park, to make some wedding pictures.

Again, they did a great job! Then we went into the carriage back to the house of Jos and Truus, where everybody already were. They had made a song for us and sang it while we entered the porch and backyard. After this beautiful song (not really, ), we cut the wedding cake, which tasted so good! We toasted the wedding with Champagne and then had an intimate reception.


And then dinner was ready! We were treated to a buffet with such delicate and fine food. All was self made by my sons, and I again became emotional.

(I forgot to mention, my mascara was already gone before we even went to the town hall. I am such a baby!)
Jos had a very funny speech and Dan and I had our own speech, which was for everybody an emotional moment again. We received very thoughtful presents, like stamps with pictures of us on our pre-honeymoon in Hawaii.

And then it was throwing the wedding flowers into the small audience. That was great fun. After saying goodbye to everybody, Dan and I went with Hans and Lotty to the car. Hans drove us to the Marriott Courtyard hotel in Hoofddorp. Dan had another surprise for me: He had booked the penthouse / suite for our Honeymoon! As I wrote before: This day was priceless, a true fairy tale to me and my husband!