Happily ever after began on the evening of January 29, 1997 for My Mom and Dad.
The wedding was beautiful! Mom's Cathedral gown was gorgeous and made her look like an angel, and Dad in his white tux with tails looked so handsome! It reminded me of one of my favorite stories... Cinderella.
Our good friend John Nichols, my Uncle John, was the wedding coordinator, and he put together some very untraditional ideas to make the ceremony and reception absolutely magical! With the use of Christmas lights, rose and white meshing, angels of every size and style and other romantic figurines (such as unicorns, carousels, candles and music boxes) the room sparkled with a mystical charm, just like a fairytale! You may call me biased, but I have to say it was the most beautiful wedding I've ever seen! Okay, so it's also the ONLY wedding I've ever seen... in person that is. I've seen a few on that box called the "television", and ours certainly topped those by a longshot! I dare say it was picture perfect.
The Wedding colors were teal and rose. Those colors were beautiful together, but sprinkled with gold and white they became truly enchanting. Mom and Dad chose "Me and You" by Kenny Chesney as their wedding song, and the tears flowed freely when they took the floor during the reception to dance the wedding dance. They also chose the song you are hearing now, "I Swear" by John Michael Montgomery. Both songs represented the words they felt in the hearts, and the basis of their love. It was the perfect end to the perfect union.
Now for the fun part! I get to tell you all about the things that happened while we were getting ready for the wedding! Get comfortable... this could take awhile.
First of all, and notably the most obvious, Mom was a basket case the entire week! She could barely remember her own name, much less the vows she had written to recite during the ring exchange. Aunt Kerri kept drilling her on them, and she seemed to know them pretty well... until it was time to recite them. Needless to say, Mom did alot of adlibbing but it was beautiful just the same. She had even thought about writing the vows on her hand, but had ruled against it because she was afraid they would rub off on her gown. We found out a little later (just after the ceremony) that Dad had the same idea, and for the last few minutes before the ceremony started he was busy scribbling his own vows on the palm of his hand! Ain't love grand!
Then we had this problem with the wedding cake. It was the evening before the wedding and Mom, Aunt Kerri and Uncle John went to pick up the cake. When they arrived, the nice lady at the bakery brought out the cakes. Aunt Kerri and Uncle John thought Mom was going to faint right there at the bakery! They looked attrocious! The cake actually showed through the icing on most of the cake; the colors were wrong; even the design was wrong! Needless to say, we were not happy campers. The bakery promised to have the cakes redone and ready by noon the following day, and, after quite a few tears were shed, they gave us a nice discount on the original price too. It all worked out just fine, but for awhile we all thought Mom was going to lose what little sanity she had struggled to hang on to for the last few months!
Then there's the story about the groom's last night out as a single man. Of course, his buddies kidnapped him and took him on a little road trip to Louisville (which is about an hour from here). The problem was instead of spending the evening as they had planned, they ended up sitting in the car all night on the side of the road with a blown tire! Dad didn't even get back into town until eight the next morning! Now I saw Mom personally checking ALL of those tires just before Dad left, so how do you suppose that happened? I'm just kidding!
Of course, the night before the wedding wasn't much more enjoyable for the bride either! Mom was up till four in the morning with curlers in her hair being primped for the big event. We did get some very interesting pictures of her in this less than lovely state, but she'd kill us if we ever put them on the internet! The funniest thing about it all was that Mom forgot she wouldn't be able to pull her shirt off over the curlers (she has rather thick curly hair, so we used the big ones that look like orange juice cans). She had to wear her nightshirt to the bakery and the store to pick up a couple of last minute things that had been forgotten. Aunt Kerri said we should just hang a sign on her back that said "I'm getting married today. Please excuse my appearance." Uncle John said if Dad had seen her then, he'd have ran for the hills! I don't think he would have; I've seen them together and I know how deep their love is. Heck, they play paintball together! If they can love each other when they look like what they look like after four or five games, they can love each other through anything!
There were many other little mishaps along the way, as there always are, but everything still turned out wonderfully. Mom and Dad retained their sanity and ran off to their honeymoon suite with the hot tub waiting to ease their frazzled nerves. They jumped into there nicely decorated car (covered in toilet paper, hot cocoa mix, and various other goodies) and drove away into the twilight. It was finally over, and we are an official family now. I missed them terribly while they were gone, but Aunt Kerri and Uncle John came to visit daily and brought Jesse and Nicki too. I think we were all ready for a nice long rest.
I'd like to take a minute to thank Uncle John for all his help; I know Mom would have been lost without him. It was by no means an easy task putting this wedding together! We ran into so many problems throughout the course of the preparations, but we found alternatives that worked out just as well if not better. Uncle John is a really creative fellow!
Mom and Dad had a beautiful fairytale wedding, and now begins their happily ever after...
Now for the fun part! I get to tell you all about the things that happened while we were getting ready for the wedding! Get comfortable... this could take awhile.
