The fact that it takes a family to create a wedding was made clear not long ago as our family gathered to witness and celebrate the marriage of my sister's eldest daughter.

Last year when this young lady announced her engagement and then set the wedding date --- four days after Christmas --- everyone was excited. Because it seemed so far off, no one considered the practicalities of a winter wedding in the Midwest that would require nearly everyone but the bride and groom to travel.

The aerial caravanning began in Holland a week before Christmas as the bride's parents and younger siblings began their journey. They got stuck in London and then Chicago due to inclement weather. Their other daughter, a college student in Colorado, was also delayed due to the blizzard that buried Denver and shut down its airport. My sister, usually a very upbeat woman, confessed to crying at airline desks pleading for flights.

Meanwhile the rest of the family, living in Southern California, complacently enjoyed Christmas under sunny skies, sympathetic but not fully understanding the challenges of real weather.

Two days later, that all changed, as group by group we got stuck in Salt Lake City due to delayed and cancelled flights. My husband and I and our youngest son finally arrived at our destination --- Kansas City, Missouri --- late, minus baggage with an assurance from the airline it would arrive later. This did not present a problem for the men but was quite a moment of humility for me as I went off to the "girls only" dinner in well-traveled jeans and a t-shirt knowing that everyone else would be decked out in their finest. My husband reminded me it was about being together and not fashion.

And then things really went haywire the next day, when the rest of the family was to arrive in time for the rehearsal. The bride's grandparents, an uncle, an aunt, my other children and grandson as well as the bride's great uncle (who was to preside at the liturgy) were scattered in the sky in various places across the country hoping to make connections to Kansas City. They missed the rehearsal and to add insult to injury most of their baggage did not arrive with them.

In addition to this, a medical emergency kept my brother-in-law's family from coming to the wedding. They stayed home to care for their father who suffered a stroke the day before the festivities were to begin. The decision to tell the bride of her grandfather's condition weighed heavily on everyone.

In the midst of all this my sister --- who had wanted everything to go smoothly for her daughter --- asked that I pray because she could not. She was overwhelmed worrying about the family arriving and her father-in-law who was ill. Needless to say we were all praying, not only for the obvious, but also for patience and the ability to see the light through the darkness.

The next morning, the day of the wedding, my brother loaded everyone into his rental car and took off for a mall to buy clothes for our parents and my children who were participating in the liturgy and needed proper "wedding" clothes. Lacking trust in the airline baggage delivery system, my husband went to the airport to meet flights that might carry the family's bags. Cell phones were ringing as he called with progress. As the bridal party assembled for pictures and pre-wedding activities, time was running out.

Finally, at 2 p.m., only a few hours before the wedding, my husband called --- Victory! He had all the bags. I called the shoppers, who at this point had purchased suitable stand-ins for their wedding clothes and were on their way back to the hotel.

By 4 p.m., the family arrived at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, appropriately dressed, smiling and sharing a bond and stories they would repeat for years to come.

My role in all of this was that of wedding coordinator and when I opened the double doors of the church for my sister and her husband to escort their daughter down the aisle I whispered that it was certainly true that it took a family to pull off a wedding.

The liturgy proceeded with ease and a quiet sense of beauty and the sacred, as everyone witnessed and blessed the young couple. At the reception, as family and friends enjoyed food, drink and each other, my sister turned to me and said, "The grace of Erin's wedding brought us to this point."

We smiled, shed a few more tears and danced the night away.

Anne Hansen is a parent education consultant and a parishioner at Blessed Junípero Serra Church, Camarillo. Her e-mail address is familymail@aol.com.