Above left: James and Joy Marie exchange

pieces of our wedding cake.               

                                                                  Joy Marie throws her wedding bouquet.  Dee Dee (in the long

                                                                  burgundy dress) caught it.  Joy Marie designed her own and

                                                                  the bridesmaids' dresses.  Our standards have changed

                                                                  through the years, so some of the things in our wedding we

                                                                  would do differently now.

                                                                    Back to Photo Albums Main Page

God was gracious in providing for our wedding in spite of a very small budget.  Marjorie Peckham, left, made our  wedding cake for only the cost of the ingredients, using her own cake decorating equipment. 

Joy Marie's aunt created this beautiful fruit centerpiece for our reception.  God also provided us with a honeymoon cabin at Lake Arrowhead, as we were missionaries in training at the time. 

James and Joy Marie were married on September 18th, 1982, 3 months after James graduated with a degree in Intercultural Studies (missions).  We had our wedding in the First Baptist Church of Santa Ana, James' parents' affiliation. 

At right are our bridesmaids, Karen, Dee Dee, and Danika.  Karen (far left) is currently a missionary in Cameroon. 

James' blind roommate, Rick Epperly, below, played the pipe organ at our wedding.  He studied music at Biola.

Our flower girl, (James' niece) Margaret, had just turned 3 when she wove her way down the aisle to find her mother. 

Joy Marie created her own floral arrangements for the flower girl and bridesmaids, saving us the cost of floral arrangements. 

We walked down the aisle to Purcell's "Trumpet Voluntary."  The hymns we sang in our wedding included "Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus," "Great is Thy Faithfulness," and "To God Be the Glory."

We are currently recording a hymn CD with some of our most loved hymns.  We hope to be finished with it by the end of this year, but have to say, "the Lord willing," as we are still exhausted from our move last year and developing our one-acre property this year so that it will sustain us with fruit, vegetables, and herbs.  A few of the hymns are ready for listening.  Click here to hear them.

We were married by Doctor Ed Murphy, a missionary and our professor at Biola College (missions department), whom we deeply respect as a man of prayer, with keen insight in missions, ministry, and spiritual warfare.

We feel indebted to everyone who had a part in creating our wedding.  You can read more about our Wedding-on-a-Budget in Issue #6 of Family Discipleship Magazine.   This same issue also includes articles by us on courtship and marriage. 

We married with the purpose of giving our lives to God's service.  The fancy writing above our engagement photo is our theme verse for our wedding, hand written by a friend for our wedding invitation.