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    An Amish Wedding Invitation; An eShort Account of a Real Amish Wedding
    An Amish Wedding Invitation; An eShort Account of a Real Amish Wedding
    An Amish Wedding Invitation; An eShort Account of a Real Amish Wedding
    Ebook57 pages50 minutes

    An Amish Wedding Invitation; An eShort Account of a Real Amish Wedding

    By Serena B. Miller

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    About this ebook

    Amish fiction author Serena B. Miller takes you "behind the barn door" in this true e-short account of her experience of attending an Amish wedding.

    In her years of researching her Amish novels, Serena Miller has gotten to know several Amish families in Holmes County, Ohio. When she was invited to attend the wedding of one of her friend’s daughters, she expected it to be a casual affair: muck out the barn, throw a potluck together, send the bride and groom off on their honeymoon in a buggy with a Just Married sign hung on the back. But when the young bride shyly brings her a formal, professionally printed invitation, she realized everything she thought she knew about Amish weddings was wrong.

    From the hand-arranged centerpieces—made from flowers the bride grew herself—to the portable kitchens the family rents to the elaborate and formally served meal, she realized that every detail of this wedding has been carefully and beautifully orchestrated by a bride and a society that cares very deeply about marriage. On the day of the wedding, Serena sits through the three-hour sermon preached entirely in German, after which the ceremony itself lasts under two minutes. She sees the grace with which the bride cooks for and serves her guests, and then stays to clean up after everyone has gone home. She is inspired by the way every member of the community seems to have some role to play in the event.

    Serena, a pastor’s wife, has attended hundreds of weddings, and draws comparisons between the overblown weddings she normally attends and this “simple” wedding. She is inspired by the immensity of the vows this young couple is making—not just to each other, but to their community—and the faithfulness of the community that puts the focus on the marriage far more than the wedding itself.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHoward Books
    Release dateFeb 19, 2013
    ISBN9781476727868
    Author

    Serena B. Miller

    Prior to writing novels, Serena Miller wrote for many periodicals, including Woman’s World, Guideposts, Reader’s Digest, Focus on the Family, Christian Woman, and The Detroit Free Press Magazine. She has spent many years partnering with her husband in full-time ministry and lives on a farm in southern Ohio near a thriving Amish community.

    Read more from Serena B. Miller

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      An Amish Wedding Invitation; An eShort Account of a Real Amish Wedding - Serena B. Miller

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      An

      Amish Wedding

      Invitation

      An eShort Account of a Real Amish Wedding

      So, how many chickens do you think we’ll need to butcher in order to feed everyone? Luke Beachy asked the group seated around the yard as we relaxed and visited after supper. Everyone was close kin to him, except me.

      Luke was the father of the bride-to-be, and the wedding was weighing heavily on his shoulders. This was his oldest daughter’s wedding, and she was the first of his many chicks to leave the nest. As with most Englisch weddings, there was a bittersweet quality to discussing the upcoming event. They liked the boy, but Luke and his wife, Deborah, grieved the fact that the daughter was moving so far away.

      Five miles.

      I know that doesn’t seem like so much to you, Deborah had said to me earlier, but with a horse and buggy, it is a lot to us.

      At the moment, we were watching a group of young cousins, ages five to twenty-one, playing volleyball in the front yard. The girls were barefoot and wearing Old Order Amish dresses made from pastel-colored fabric. Two of the older boys were dressed Englisch and had short, modern haircuts. Their cars were parked discreetly behind the barn. They were having their Rumspringa—their running around time—before settling down. All were laughing and having a good time. It was a pretty sight.

      Well, we’ll need to feed around five hundred people before the day is over, the grandmother said.

      No one ran for the calculator, because Luke’s question was rhetorical. They knew exactly how many chickens they would need, and how many quarts of home-canned green beans, and how much celery, and flowers and everything else they would have to grow or gather or borrow. The Amish are experts at marrying off their children, and the chicken would be one of the greatest expenses. Fortunately, the father of the bride was a chicken farmer, which, under the circumstances, seemed a lucky thing.

      There were ten of us relaxing in folding chairs around a small campfire beneath the comforting shade of an ancient maple tree. We had come together to celebrate the successful publication of my first book, Love Finds You in Sugarcreek, Ohio, which was a story set in a nearby town and had involved Amish characters. This family had been kind enough to allow me to spend months pestering them with questions, trying to truly understand their culture.

      The book had debuted to great reviews, but the opinion that mattered most to me was theirs. Had I gotten it right? Had I portrayed their people accurately?

      Yes, they said. I had gotten it exactly right. Deborah especially enjoyed it. She commented that she wished I could speak German.

      Why? I asked. Her comment puzzled me.

      Because then I could tell you what is in my heart, she said. It is so hard to say in English the things I feel.

      This was intriguing. Can you try?

      Because you did not make our people look . . . I could see her translating in her mind. Weird.

      Weird? This was not a word I had ever heard an Amish person use.

      After I read your book, she explained further, I felt a lot better about being Amish.

      Oh. Her comment was unexpected and felt like a gift to me. I am so glad!

      I was beyond grateful to this Old Order family who had allowed me, an Englisch woman with jeans and short hair, to enter their world and become part of their lives. As a small thank-you, I was giving the women a break

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