Jim, Joni's son, and his beautiful bride, Barbara, got married on June 1, 2007, in New York.
It was the best! Jim and Barbara had been engaged for 1 ½ years. We have all been very excited and couldn’t wait for the big day!
We flew to NYC from Dallas. Delton’s brother Larry and his wife Linda joined us on the plane.
Pastor Larry co-officiated
at the wedding with Father Tom, Barbara’s family priest. 
Pictured are Larry
and Jim discussing final details.Pictured is Joni's son, Chris.
The wedding was held at St. Raphael’s Catholic Church in Long Island City, NY, just outside of NYC.
Many family and friends came from all over the world. Thirty members of Barbara’s family came from Ireland.
Jim’s family and friends came from California, Texas, Florida
and New Hampshire. And many lived right in NY.
Pictured with us are Joni's Mom and Joni's son, Ken.Also pictured are Linda and Kathy and Joni with Delton and Larry.
It all started on Wednesday, May 30, with the rehearsal and rehearsal diner. We all took a taxi to the church in Long Island City and then proceeded back to NYC for the diner at Nick’s Italian Restaurant. Joni’s son, Chris, and his stepbrother, Alex, and the best man, Paul, didn’t make it to the rehearsal. Their plane was late coming in from DFW due to storms in Dallas, but they made it to the diner. Chris and Alex were groomsmen, along with Joni’s son, Ken, who came in from California, and Matt, a friend of Jim's from NYC. Ken wasn’t feeling well, with a head cold, so the weekend started off a little rough.
Thursday, May 31, was a free day, since the wedding was on Friday, June1. But, Jim had a lot of work to do. Not only was he getting married on June 1, but he and Barbara were moving into their new apartment, which had a move-in date of June 1. Jim spent much of Thursday moving furniture with the help of his brothers and friends.Pictured is Jim with his Dad.
Our friends, Kathy and Skip McKie, flew in from DFW on Thursday afternoon, for the wedding. We spent a lot of time touring around NYC with them and Larry and Linda. The McKies stayed at the Doubletree Hotel in NYC as did the bridal party. We shared an apartment that we rented with Larry and Linda. We were walking distance from the hotel.
The wedding ceremony was at 2:30 p.m. and the reception didn’t end until 11:00 p.m. It was a long wedding day.
We decided to dress for the wedding at the hotel and used Chris’s room to change. We all took taxis to the church from the hotel. Joni’s Mom, Lee, and brother Rich and his family stayed on Long Island and drove to the church together in Rich and Adele’s car.
The ceremony was beautiful and special. Pastor Larry and Father Tom together officiated to create a very special ceremony for both families.
Pictured is Barbara walking down the aisle with her dad, Joe. 
In the middle of the ceremony, Joni and Barbara’s mom, June, lit candles and gave them to Jim and Barbara, who then lit the Unity Candle. 
Pictured is Joni being walked down the aisle with her sons, Ken and Chris, with Delton following.Joni brought a lot of tissues. She had many many happy tears. Jim was her first son to get married and also was her Mom’s first grandchild to get married. It was a very very special day. Joni finally has a daughter (in-law).
On to the reception at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, NY...
The bridal party and parents rode in a Hummer Limo.
It sat 18 of us. We were crowded as you can see in the pictures. Since it was Friday afternoon, we hit rush hour traffic. The ride to the reception on Long Island should have taken ½ hour, but with stop and go traffic, it took almost 2 hours. AND because we couldn’t get up a lot of speed, the air conditioner didn’t work well and we were hot!Jim and Barbara rented 2 school buses to take the guests to the reception. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the buses, but I got a picture of the groom's cake with a toy school bus on top of it.
They were concerned that they would be very hot because school buses in NY don’t have air conditioning. I think they were cooler than we were in the limo because they could open the windows.We arrived at the reception, first for a large, gourmet cocktail hour and then for a wonderful diner. It was an outstanding spread of many delicious foods. The cocktail hour was originally supposed to be presented outside by the pool and garden, but due to threatening rain, it was moved inside, And it didn’t even rain afterall.
Wedding pictures were taken out in the garden. What a gorgeous setting it was, as you can see.
Pictured are Joni, her brother, Rich, and their Mom. Also pictured are Rich and his wife Adele with their children, Justin and Ryan.
After a grand entrance into the reception, Larry said a blessing for the bride and groom and the party began. Pictured is Larry saying the blessing.The reception had a multitude of themes, Irish, Texas, and NY. It was such a joy to see all of Barbara’s family enjoying their family from Ireland.
Pictured is Barbara being carried around the dance floor by her brothers. 
We all danced and sang Irish songs, with a mix of country and western, and to finish the night, we all got on the dance floor in a circle, holding hands, and sang NEW YORK, NEW YORK along with Frank Sinatra!
The bouquet was caught by Amanda. Amanda is Joni's nephew's Justin Marone's girlfriend. See Amanda holding the bouquet and waiting for the garter to be placed on her leg.
The reception ended at 11:00. The buses brought everyone back to the hotel, where there was an after party. It was a late night for many.
Jim and Barbara went to Hawaii for their honeymoon, but didn’t leave until Monday morning. They wanted to enjoy all the family and friends who came from so far for their special day.
On Saturday, Jim, Barbara, Ken, Chris, Alex, Larry, Linda, Kathy, Skip, Ron (Jim’s Dad), and his girlfriend, Lyn, joined us for a day in Central Park.
Many left on Sunday, including us. Larry and Linda stayed until Wednesday so they could enjoy more of NYC. Jim and Barbara allowed them to use their apartment after they left for Hawaii. It gave Larry and Linda a real NYC experience. Ken went back to CA on Sunday morning and Chris joined us on our plane back to Texas.Joni says it was one of the happiest days of her life. The smile never left her face. We pray that Jim and Barbara will have a long, loving and Christ centered life.
