We usually document a couple’s first steps into the relative (but hopeful!) unknown of marriage, but in this edition of the blog we get a good look at a version of the“happily ever after” one would be lucky to have.

As we’ve covered before on this blog, Erralyn and Michael have been married with three great daughters and planned a vow renewal at the Castlewood Country Club to celebrate their decade of marriage. What they planned had all the trappings of a wedding; a dress and a tux, a grand entrance followed with a big dinner party ending on a dance floor. The day certainly centered on the continued union of two great people, but as the day wore on it became increasingly a celebration of the result of that marriage; Erralyn and Michael’s three daughters.

Though all three were at their heartwarming best and genuinely happy for their parents’ renewed vows, none were more affected, proud, and palpably loving of her parents than their eldest, Mikayla. She was a proud reflection of her parents, the best example for her younger sisters, constantly attending to her mom as she prepared for the day, and later in the evening giving a powerful, genuine toast.

That toast sticks with us even now, months after we heard it. It revealed ten year old Mikayla as precocious, gracious and appreciative of her parents. It was difficult not well up inside the viewfinder as we imagined the sense of pride that her parents must have had for her at that moment. To ask for a kid with so many virtues should probably be a hope fraught with hubris at the sheer audacity of the request; yet, we’ve seen it happen! Her speech was delivered with the verve and candor of her youth with a sentiment and command well beyond her years.

Though Mikayla’s toast was certainly a highlight, the day was full of warm moments between family and friends. The ceremony was punctuated by Erralyn and Michael gifting their three girls Tiffany’s necklaces, and they started up the dance floor with some of their own moves. More than anything, this celebration was just about having fun with their guests, and a part of that was a bouquet toss for the groom and a garter toss for the bride and Mike breakdancing with kids who don't know a world without FutureSex/LoveSound s.

Congratulations to Erralyn and Mike for their first decade of marriage, for their life together to come!