After a night of attempting to sleep I awoke to see the snow gently falling outside of my window. Maybe another couple would think this is the perfect setting for a wedding but it made me anxious knowing that our minister would be flying in that afternoon for 2 weddings (ours on Friday and my cousin’s on Saturday). Just what would we do if his plane was cancelled or delayed I thought and yet the excitement of the day pushed away the anxious feelings.
Everything seemed perfectly planned and arranged: the organist, minister, flowers, reception hall, harpist, motel and trip to Florida. As the hours ticked past we began preparing for the photographer to take our pictures – me at one brother’s house and my soon to be husband at another brother’s house while each of us waited till the moment we saw one another at the church for the first time that day.
My bridesmaids and I were dressed and ready when the phone rang…the call that would change the day. It wasn’t the minister but my sister-in-law calling from their house an hour away from where we were. My sister-in-law made the flowers for us since she worked for a florist and she said that they loaded the flowers into their van and went back into the house for their little girl and our rings. Going back outside they were met with a van fully engulfed in flames and since they had no other vehicle they would not be able to make it in time for the service to start.
So now we had not only no flowers but even worse we did not have our rings to exchange. My cousin’s flowers (made by another florist from church for the wedding the next day) were brought to us as soon as possible. As we snapped a few pictures I was whisked off through the snowstorm to the church. By this time we were almost 45 minutes late for the wedding to start – the organist had played all the music twice over. We quickly decided to use one of my brother and wife’s rings to exchange so at least we had something.
Although the minister’s plane was delayed he arrived in time for the wedding ceremony. It was a nice service with our text being, “And Noah builded an altar to the Lord,” but it was hard to keep our minds on the sermon. After the service ended our photographer took a few pictures in the church and we headed to the reception hall only to be informed that the contracted time of the harpist was over but on hearing our situation she agreed to stay for another half hour. Soon everyone was seated and we were about to open the meal when we realized that the person who was to open hadn’t arrived. He showed up 15 minutes later explaining to us he was lost.
Finally the meal was served and by this time it was past 9:30 pm. The caterers did their best but the food had been sitting ready for over an hour. The reception went smoothly although it ended very late and by the time we arrived at our motel it was 3:00am and we had to leave for our plane at 5:00am which wouldn’t have been such a big deal but tradition is where I was raised that you get an expensive motel the first night.
Everything seemed perfectly planned and arranged: the organist, minister, flowers, reception hall, harpist, motel and trip to Florida. As the hours ticked past we began preparing for the photographer to take our pictures – me at one brother’s house and my soon to be husband at another brother’s house while each of us waited till the moment we saw one another at the church for the first time that day.
My bridesmaids and I were dressed and ready when the phone rang…the call that would change the day. It wasn’t the minister but my sister-in-law calling from their house an hour away from where we were. My sister-in-law made the flowers for us since she worked for a florist and she said that they loaded the flowers into their van and went back into the house for their little girl and our rings. Going back outside they were met with a van fully engulfed in flames and since they had no other vehicle they would not be able to make it in time for the service to start.
So now we had not only no flowers but even worse we did not have our rings to exchange. My cousin’s flowers (made by another florist from church for the wedding the next day) were brought to us as soon as possible. As we snapped a few pictures I was whisked off through the snowstorm to the church. By this time we were almost 45 minutes late for the wedding to start – the organist had played all the music twice over. We quickly decided to use one of my brother and wife’s rings to exchange so at least we had something.
Although the minister’s plane was delayed he arrived in time for the wedding ceremony. It was a nice service with our text being, “And Noah builded an altar to the Lord,” but it was hard to keep our minds on the sermon. After the service ended our photographer took a few pictures in the church and we headed to the reception hall only to be informed that the contracted time of the harpist was over but on hearing our situation she agreed to stay for another half hour. Soon everyone was seated and we were about to open the meal when we realized that the person who was to open hadn’t arrived. He showed up 15 minutes later explaining to us he was lost.
Finally the meal was served and by this time it was past 9:30 pm. The caterers did their best but the food had been sitting ready for over an hour. The reception went smoothly although it ended very late and by the time we arrived at our motel it was 3:00am and we had to leave for our plane at 5:00am which wouldn’t have been such a big deal but tradition is where I was raised that you get an expensive motel the first night.
At 7:00am we boarded the plane and were off to Florida. We arrived exhausted only to be told that our luggage was lost and wouldn’t be there till the next day. This was the final straw. We left the airport and found our motel, ordered a pizza and slept for the next 15 hours. Our luggage came the following day and we had a nice week in Florida except for the fact that we had to buy clothes since they had the coldest weather in years the week we were there.
And so on January 8, 1988 my marriage of 23 years to my best friend began. As much as we thought we were in love then we are so much more in love now. I thank the Lord for providentially giving this wonderful man to me. He is my friend, lover, defender, supporter, and soul mate. He as lifted me up when I was down, stood beside me day by day, shared in my joys, and sorrowed in my pain.
And so I dedicate this post to my dear husband – Happy Anniversary – I Love You!!
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