When Cheryl first went to a church choir rehearsal with Mark in September 2000, he warned her that it would be very much like walking into a room full of his aunts and uncles, all of whom were eager to see him married off! Since then they have welcomed her into the circle of this big "extended family" as well, and indeed they were very happy for both of us when we returned from Hawaii as fiancees. On Sunday 27 May 2001, after church, they threw a big engagement party for us at the home of the Costellos, just a few doors down from Mark's old apartment in Hermosa Beach.
The Costellos' home is, among other things, a great place for a party; it's beautiful and spacious, and there's a broad "patio" on the roof where a large crowd can gather with excellent views of the ocean and the town. The Stoltenbergs sent us this panoramic shot of part of the group on the roof; nearly the whole choir was there, it seemed!
What's a celebration without bubbles? Not to mention great food, and some very nice gifts and warmly felt toasts. What a great group of friends!
You'll have noted a lot of red, white, and blue attire; this was the Sunday before Memorial Day, and we had dressed accordingly to sing some patriotic songs in church that morning. Here are Nancy Jo and Pat, wearing the colors from head to toe; after this day, several of the other ladies in the choir (including Cheryl!) went out and found sweaters identical to the one Pat's wearing, for future patriotic celebrations.
Here we are back inside with Bill and John, cutting the beautiful cake. We'll take this to be a practice run for the wedding reception!
After most of the guests had left, Karen sat down at her harp and gave us a short recital. (That's her proud papa on the couch, visible through the strings.) She played, among other things, the Pachelbel Canon that she had performed at her sister's recent wedding. Cheryl and Mark have also recently watched a videotape of the Hampsons' wedding in the church, where a large subset of the choir gave a "mini concert" before the ceremony; too bad we can't take everybody with us to Hawaii for ours!
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to Photo Albumnew 17 December 2001, revised 2 September 2002