We were leading worship at a friend’s wedding, and other than our knowledge that the reception was going to be in a barn (which I was totally stoked for) we really didn’t have a clue what we were getting ourselves into. It turns out, we got ourselves into a beautiful and crazy weekend full of both blue skies, tornadoes and everything in between. The wedding was beautiful and even though I was not the photographer I managed to grab a few shots at the reception. We’ll get to those in just a minute… first thing is first. We were staying in a hunting lodge in the middle of BEAUTIFUL farm land. We have beautiful farm land like this in Texas and Oklahoma, however, during this season it is BLISTERING hot. I remember romping through my grand-parent’s farm in Oklahoma and coming into to the one window unit and standing there for hours trying to cool off. That was not the case in South Dakota, instead we were greeted by temperatures in the mid 60′s and 70′s. So fun for a Texas girl!

Now here is a problem that is unusually rare for Texas/Oklahoma but is apparently common up North. They had a TREMENDOUS amount of snow (rarity number 1) which left their land mushy and un-plowable this season. The rains continue coming (rarity number 2) which is keeping the fields looking more like lakes. See below:

Isn’t that crazy? That is a field on the side of the road, not river, not a lake. A field. Anywho, I was so moved by the awesomeness, that I conjured up my own little mini-session. I grabbed a friend and asked her to please press the “click” button for me. I have to admit, it was somewhat of an out of body experience to pose myself and Dan.

Onto the wedding. Like I said, I was no there as the photographer. In fact, I took my battery pack off of my camera and only brought one lens (24 mm). We were there to lead worship, and lead worship is what we did. It was such a blessing to be a part of their wedding. Check out their reception!

The reception was in the barn above, the toilets were outside the barn below. Fabulous.

So, remember the storm I mentioned? Well, it blew in during the reception.

The reception was delayed for about 45 minutes as the children were shuttled to the storm shelter and us crazy adults watched the clouds above us swirl and turn all sorts of shades of blue and purple. The paper the next day said that around a dozen tornados touched down all around us. One 7 miles North and a few just a mile West of us. One that was pretty close was recorded as 500-1000 feet wide and completely destroyed a nearby farm. Thank you Jesus for keeping us safe.

After the storm past, the reception began!

I love her dreads. It makes me miss mine.

A little outside dancing after the rain. The sky was amazing!

Dan looks crazy… We had so much fun dancing on the farm that night. We were just happy to be alive! The storm was still going on in the distance and I had my flash with me so we had some fun with it. Thanks Vicki for being my model!

This is the best still shot I got of the lightening. No bolts, it was all hidden in the clouds.

and then they left!

Here is a little stop-motion film of the storm