Love Story....American girl meets German boy!

Our niece, Nicole, did a semester of study abroad in New Zealand. While there she met a German man named Manuel. The year was 2005. They fell in love.

Mike and I attended their wedding on May 17th in Creedmoor (just outside of Raleigh, NC). It was beautiful. Sixteen German family members and friends took the long flight over to share in Manuel and Nicole's day. It was a wonderful day.

Enjoy the pictures...


I wanted to start with our family picture! Nicole is the daughter of Mike's little sister, Patsy. Left to right...me, Mike's sister Cookie (with grandsons Camden & Jake), Mike, Todd Barcus & wife Amy, bride Nicole and groom Manuel, Scott (Patsy & Garry's son), Patsy and Garry. There were lots of family members unable to attend. We missed all of you!!


The getaway car....l966 mustang...pictures for all you car guys & gals
Garry had this thing beyond clean and waxed! It glowed! It was parked safely in the stable...
Okay....enough car pictures!



Mike with niece, Amy, at rehearsal dinner.

We went to meet Todd and Amy at the hotel and had to laugh when he walked out in his orange shirt that matched Uncle Mike's! Todd said they were the "push up" guys! There was no pre planning involved! It just happened...divine intervention!

This is our nephew, Scott. He had already cut off his dread locks (not sure of spelling) and had this medium length and a little face hair for the rehearsal. We thought he looked great! His dreads looked good too! He is sooooo cute and nice and fun!!
This is what we saw on the wedding day! Scott is 23 and single! He is actually traveling to Germany with the newlyweds & Manuel's family to video the celebration over there before Nicole and Manuel head to New Zealand. We love you Scott! Keep in touch!!


Okay...back to rehearsal. We drove through heavy rain on the way. It stopped when we arrived at the beautiful Winters Family Farm. It was just enough to make everything even more green and beautiful! This will be the dance area after the wedding.


Big brother Mike arrived to help a little sister in wedding overload!


Back view of the barn!!

Parents of the bride....Patsy and Garry Day

Wedding Day....front of the stable/barn...absolutely beautiful!


Lovely way to honor Nanny and Pappy with bags of Nanny's sugar cookies for guests. When Chad and Valerie were little people, they would request a container of these sugar cookies for their birthday gifts from Nanny and Pappy! Can you imagine...kids wanting cookies instead of money or toys! That gives you some idea of how good they are!



The weather couldn't have been more perfect!


Todd & sons visiting the horses before the ceremony. This farm takes in abused, neglected and abandoned horses. What lucky horses! They also have a few abandoned dogs.


Pat and Garry watching their daughter marry the love of her life....


Beautiful ceremony...


Speaking of beautiful....our fun dinner partners!


My beach guy and I straight from Oak Island....


Brother and sister dancing!
A "sparkling" send off for Nicole and Manuel! What a fun day!

Nicole.....we will be anxiously awaiting your blog!! Keep in touch! You too Scott! We had a great time with all of you! We love you!!

Manuel....we LOVED your speech at the wedding! Wish we could have had more time with you and your wonderful family. Please give them our love.