So, as promised, here is the story of my wedding day. If you would like to read how Jon and I met, you can follow the link to It’s a Love Story. If you’d like to read how Jon and I were engaged, you can read the story Marry Me.
I’m not one of those girls who dreamed of her wedding when she was a little girl. My dreams were more along the lines of becoming a jockey or owning a ranch out west with lots of horses, or travelling the world. Dating and marriage were the last thing on my mind growing up. I would rather play with the boys than with the girls during recess. I thought of them as friends, nothing more. In all honesty, my dad would tell you he didn’t think I would get married; obviously it took someone special to change my mind.
I’m not exactly sure where to being as my wedding story includes so many different stories all wrapped up into one. I could talk about the planning for the wedding, the process of picking out my dress, of choosing a photographer, or even deciding where to go on the honeymoon, but all of those stories could be a separate blog post in and of themselves. For today’s entry I think I’ll just focus on the day itself and save all the other planning details for another day.
If any of you are from Michigan, you know the weather is totally unpredictable in May. We have had snow in May before and we’ve had 75 degree weather before. Well, this particular May, it decided to rain. For two whole weeks. And it was freezing cold. But despite the awful weather, we were still married at the end of the day. As my Grandma told me, “for every rain drop on your wedding day, you’ll have a penny in your future”. Well, I don’t know about that, I’ve yet to see any of those pennies, but I still like to think they are out there. Waiting for me. Someday.
Well, as I mentioned in my engagement story, our photographer told us our wedding was one of the funnest she had been to yet. Here’s the reason why. The groomsmen. Jon had six groomsmen, all of whom he had grown up with or been friends with for a very long time. So they were comfortable with each other. Typically when this group of guys get together, you never know what will happen, and that is still true to this day.
For example, at the rehearsal. As we were practicing the recessional and the groomsmen were escorting the bridesmaids out of the auditorium, they immediately had a huge pile on at the end of the aisle. There were legs and arms sticking everywhere. It was actually very funny. I’m not sure if the wedding coordinator thought it was too funny though. These guys know how to have a good time and I don’t know if there is a serious bone in their body. It was an entertaining rehearsal to say the least.
Anyways, back to the wedding day. We were in the middle of doing our bridal party pictures when the boys decided to pick up Jon. Two guys picked up him, with one of his legs on a shoulder. Well, I don’t think the timing of picking him up was coordinated too well, because as he was being picked up, we all heard this RIP! There was about .2 seconds of silence and then everyone burst out laughing. Evidently, those tuxes that you rent tend to have poorly stitched up inseams. The inseam of Jon’s pants had been ripped and torn open!
As the laughter died down a bit, we tried to figure out what to do since there were still pictures to be taken. We finally just moved forward and finished up pictures, as we only had a few more left to take. Since the rip wasn’t obvious when Jon was standing still, we felt like we should finish pictures before the guests began to arrive.
Once we finished with pictures, the bridal party was whisked away to relax a few minutes before the ceremony started. Thanks to my aunt, we were able to stitch up Jon’s pants. It was rather funny to see him walking around with a formal jacket, vest and tie on the top half of him and jeans and dress shoes on the bottom half! My aunt finished up her sewing job and just advised Jon to not move too quickly after putting the pants back on.
Like I mentioned, there were many stories that all lead up to the wedding day. One that probably had the most bearing on the wedding is actually a very serious story. Without getting into all of the details, we weren’t sure if my dad would be able to walk me down the aisle. Two months before Jon and I were to get married, my dad and Jon’s brother were involved in a head-on collison involving a dirt bike and four-wheeler. My dad’s foot was crushed in the accident. He had progressed to crutches at the time of the wedding, but couldn’t stand for very long because of swelling in his foot. David actually ended up with a plate and several screws in his skull as a result of the accident. He was able to be Jon’s best man at the wedding and it’s by God’s grace both of them were at the wedding.
My dad, the big softie that he is, is also a determined man. He told me he would walk me down the aisle, no matter what, and I believed him. Right before the doors opened, I heard my dad sniff. I looked up at him and told him he wasn’t allowed to cry because then I would cry. So, as the music began and the guests stood, my dad and I made our way down the aisle, sans tears. Perhaps it was a bit slower than most dad’s walk their daughter’s down the aisle. Perhaps I was walking him more than he was walking me. But we made it.
Our wedding was 13 minutes long. One thing about Pastor Brent is that he’s short and to the point with his messages.I think it’s still a record at the church we were married in. Everything went fine. Short and sweet. To this day, I still remember what Pastor Brent told us. His outline for the day was TNT. Time. Niceness (is that even a word?). Together. I know exactly what he meant by each of those words and I will probably never forget it either.
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