My last baby is getting married in a couple of weeks and I’m so happy for her. She’s a creative, unique, fun-loving individual who has done things her own way since the day she was born. She can also be hard-headed and stubborn, and I often wondered if there was anyone out there who would be able to appreciate her for herself.

Well, she met the perfect guy several years ago at a rendezvous reenactment they were both participating in. If you’re unfamiliar, rendezvous are living history events where participants dress in period clothing and recreate the North American fur trade era from the early 19th century to around 1840. 

Along with dressing for the era, participants at rendezvous demonstrate skills and crafts from the time period and hold activities like trading and campfires, providing an immersive historical experience for visitors of all ages. If you haven’t attended a rendezvous before I highly recommend you do, it’s a truly enjoyable experience. 

My daughter’s soon-to-be husband, Alex will be Blayne and I’s first son-in-law and we couldn’t ask for a better one. We knew the day we met him that he was a perfect fit for our family. Ren had told us a boy was coming by who she wanted us to meet and asked Blayne, specifically, to be on his best behavior. She’d never asked this before so we knew he must be important to her.

During the introduction Ren noticed Blayne’s zipper was down and angrily called him out on it. With a straight face Alex said, “Yeah, I was totally checking him out.” 

Anyone with a sense of humor like that will get along perfect in our family.

As an homage to where they met, after the traditional wedding vows and exchange of rings, my daughter and her fiancé will be handfasted, a symbolic unity ritual in which the couple’s hands are bound with a cord to represent their union and commitment to one another. Handfasting ceremonies were common during the rendezvous era as priests were rarely found at the isolated trading posts.

I believe weddings should be personalized to the couple, so I love that this ceremony will be included. I can hardly wait.