The loop has closed. All three of our daughters are now married, and their dad couldn’t be happier, more grateful.
Our beloved middle daughter, Sonja, was the last to tie the knot. She and JB Foreman exchanged vows April 3 on the dock at College Club, a boathouse and headquarters for a rowing club on the shores of Seattle’s Lake Union.
The bride and groom arrived at the wedding venue in a boat – Sonja’s longtime dream on her wedding day — and left in a boat. Now Sonja and her sisters are all in the same boat.
Sandwiched between Good Friday and Easter, I guess you could say this was “Good Saturday.” This day was good in every way.
We all knew the day Sonja got married would be cause for considerable celebration. Her sisters Krista and Greta were both married the summer of 2009. Sonja took her time. We all wondered “when is Sonja going to meet ‘The One?’” Even Sonja wondered from time to time.
“If you would have told me in 2009 that I wouldn’t get married for another 12 years I would have been really depressed,” she told Vicki and I in January, shortly after her and JB were engaged.
It wasn’t like boys weren’t interested in her. I’m a little biased here, but anyone who knows her will agree with this assessment: She’s gorgeous, smart and a kind, caring person.
She dated several guys. But none checked all the boxes, including that her future husband be a man of faith.
“She was picky,” said JB, not trying to sound smug, but agreeing with my “gorgeous, smart and strong faith” description when the two of us met in early January so he could ask me for her hand.
As a father who helped raise three girls – all of whom I adore — I am glad she was choosy. She could easily have settled. But she didn’t.
JB, like my other two sons-in-law, is a man of integrity. He is a man of deep faith, will be an excellent provider and shares Sonja’s adventurous spirit and zest for life.
The nautical theme for the wedding was right up his alley, or in his case, boat slip. He’s a licensed boat captain, a yacht broker and the owner of an invention company. He wore “boat shoes” and a “boat rope belt” with his suit at the ceremony.
Sonja had always told her friends that when she met “The One,” she would fall fast. That would be the case with JB. The two were introduced to each other by JB’s sister, Katie, a classmate of Sonja’s at Seattle Pacific University. But it took awhile for the romance to begin.
Sonja had confided in Krista she had a crush on JB, but didn’t quite know how to start the relationship. Sonja made the first move, and the two began dating in May of last year. Within seven months they were engaged.
Unfortunately, not all extended family members and friends of Sonja and JB were able to attend this much-anticipated wedding. COVID-19 restrictions kept the number of attendees to 50.
But friends and family were able to watch the ceremony, which was streamed live on Zoom. Earlier-in-the-week forecasts for rain, thankfully, never materialized. Under cloudy skies, but comfortable 63-degree temperatures, and with waves lapping up to the dock, Sonja and JB’s dreams came true.
A Good Saturday, indeed.
The Inside Scoop 