BLYN — A Blyn-area woman has decided to supersize the custom of tiny bride-and-groom figurines in advance of a weekend wedding.
While the small figurines traditionally adorn wedding cakes, Trish Bekkevar’s bride and groom are out standing in a field off U.S. Highway 101 east of Blyn.
Trish, 61, has built 12-foot figures to represent her son, Ole Bekkevar, 27, and his bride-to-be, Jessica Hawkins, 30, using 700-pound haystacks and a lot of imagination.
Trish, with the help of her friend Patty Dinius, crafted the statues at the request of Ole and Jessica, who “thought it would be cute,” Trish said.
Ole, a 2005 graduate of Sequim High School, is wedding Jessica, a 2003 graduate of Port Angeles High School, this Saturday afternoon.
The two met on Halloween night in 2011 and began dating about a month later. He proposed to her May 5, 2014, on a Hawaiian beach.
Their wedding will be a private family ceremony outdoors on the property the Bekkevar family has farmed for 105 years.
The massive bride-and-groom haystack statues can easily be seen by motorists passing by the Bekkevar family farm at 273054 U.S. Highway 101 northeast of Blyn.
The likeness of Ole, complete with red hair and blue eyes, is dressed in a black suit and wears a pair of oversized cowboy boots — orange traffic cones painted black.
Nearby is the likeness of Jessica, a blushing green-eyed bride with long golden locks.
The bride is adorned with silver earrings consisting of a pair of matching bowls, a white dress made from window curtains and one large cowboy boot — a repurposed concrete planter from Trish’s garden.
Both have lips formed by red tires — old tires from Les Schwab of Port Angeles — while the likeness of Jessica has pipe-cleaner eyelashes.
“I think they are amazing,” Jessica said. “Trish did a great job.”
Although the Bekkevar family has lived and worked on the farm since 1910, Ole and Jessica are presumed to be the first to tie the knot on the property, Trish said.
To celebrate the occasion, Trish was inspired to create the bride-and-groom statues.
“I have been doing hay art for probably 20 years,” she said Wednesday.
“I do turkeys, pigs, horses, trains, trucks. This is just part of the hay art that I do,” and Ole and Jessica “wanted to have a bride and a groom. And it fits because we are having an outdoor country wedding.”
Ole said he is impressed by his mother’s creation.
“It is pretty humorous,” he said.
“A lot of people are honking” from 101, “and that’s pretty cool,” he added.
“I think people will probably get the picture, too,” that a wedding is going on.
The Bekkevar-Hawkins marriage is the latest entry in a century-long family saga.
Olaf Bekkevar, a Norwegian man, settled on the property in 1910 after being deeded 40 acres of timber land from Gardiner Timber and Land Co., according to Richard Bekkevar, Ole’s grandfather.
In 1917, Olaf married Anna Campbell Huffman, and the two had four children: Elida Ruth, Laura, Richard and Lucille.
Richard wed Winona Joyce Lotzgesell in 1946, and the couple had six children: Christina, Aleta, Dave, Loretta, Dorinda and Jim.
Dave married Trish, and the couple had three sons together: Nelson, 29; Ole; and Eli, 25.
Richard, now 92, still lives on the farm with his wife, Winona, 87.
“They are really excited,” Trish said.
“We just want to continue doing what has always been on this farm: cattle, farming, ranching, logging and family.”
Ole and Jessica “will have their children here and take care of the farm when we are gone,” Trish added.
Ole said holding on to his family roots “makes me feel proud. We have a strong family.”
About 250 guests are expected at their wedding, which will be performed in a large white tent near a windmill at the rear of the property.
“It should be pretty fun,” Jessica said.
They plan to honeymoon in St. Lucia in the Caribbean.
For more information about the wedding, visit http://tinyurl.com/BekkevarWedding.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
