A word to describe what I experienced the day Josh and Kara got married. The way it felt to be in the salon with Kara and her daughters, playing in the mirrors. The way it feels to have friends that feel like family do your hair. The perfect words to describe the looks on her daughter’s faces when she stepped into her dress, or the way they watched her as she applied her “all day stay” lipstick. The way deep burgundy velvet and Gucci feels.

It’s rich.

Josh got ready by himself in the old farmhouse on their friend’s property. Dolly Parton sang from the old television speakers that the farmer watched as he sat in his reclining chair in the next room over. Josh reflected his environment. He was deliberate, mindful, and slow. He buttoned his vest while he moved quietly about the room, crossed and knotted his tie, slipped his Gucci loafers on and walked out the front door. The screen door was old and heavy, declaring this sacred movement loudly as it slammed closed behind him.

They met on the walkway before the ceremony. That is when I watched time stop. In the moment they came together it totally let go of it’s grips on the day and they moved into a space between it. Their own time. Within it, a deep sense of belonging, understanding, and connection communicated in the ways their eyes meet. They are truly together.

It’s rich.

The ceremony took place under an old oak tree. Flowers and the finest people surrounded them as they spoke their promises into the end of summer’s air. Magical keys unlocked a new season. The dinner table spanned a quarter mile and they danced a moment together in a field of medicinal herb. Their love is medicine.

The barn held a dimly lit, totally alive, party in it’s arms for the entirety of that night.

Lancaster county’s bounty.

The word is rich.