Melissa and Rick are having a private ceremony to celebrate their love and dedication for one another. The private ceremony will be held sometime before the date of the reception on July 6th.
Melissa and Rick approach the bond of marriage as a spiritual ceremony before God to promise and dedicate themselves to each other and their marriage to His service. They each desired for this to be a small, intimate, and very personal wedding, without the pomp and circumstance (and expense) of a traditional wedding ceremony.
Melissa and Rick each have a home that is filled with household items, there's no real need for the normal gifts that newlyweds would traditionally receive when setting up a home. Fun Facts about what's in the Amazon cart: Melissa jokingly told one of the kids that she couldn't move in unless there was a hand mixer present, so she added it to the registry (it was the first registry gift that was purchased!). If you know anything about either of them you know that they both love coffee. Rick regularly makes pour over coffee for Melissa and brings it to church for her. His water boiler broke the day after their engagement! The two slice toaster is on its last legs. Four toasts is twice as nice as two toasts (Also purchased! Thank you!).
Absolutely! There will be a table dedicated to gifts at the reception if you prefer to bring a gift instead of using the registry.
Yes! Rick is the father of four wonderful adopted children. The children love their Dad, but they also LOVE Melissa and are wrapped around her finger (.... pretty sure Melissa is wrapped around theirs also!). They are very supportive, and even before they were engaged, the youngest asked Melissa's dad, "So, can my dad marry your daughter or not?" They are very excited to be a part of her life, and for her to be part of theirs!