Meant to be.

Everyone tells you it goes by so quickly. You wait for it and it seems like the days are dragging until it comes. Then you’re married and you celebrate. And you look back on it and wonder how time flew by.

The day was perfect. Our rehearsal was rainy. My salon appointment was rainy. But ten minutes before pre-ceremony pictures, the sun came out and the sky cleared. It was a warm, sunny, breezy August day. Perfect weather for an outdoor wedding.

We took too many pictures. We got blisters the size of nickels. We drove to the park. We frolicked through the dahlia garden and watched the Amish tour the mill. We mingled, we snuck last minute kisses, and we shared jitters. Then, the harpist began to play and we got into our places. We listened to our friends read James Joyce, Shakespeare, George Eliot, and Pam Ayres. We hung on the Congressman’s every word as he spoke of timeless love and honest commitment. I beamed at my Joe. My cheeks hurt from smiling. I cried as I handed my mom a sunflower. I shared tissues with my Joe. Then we exchanged vows. I didn’t recognize my voice. I wasn’t concerned with it. We exchanged rings and I held his hand tightly. Then out of nowhere, the Congressman told us to seal our vows with a kiss. And that was it. We were married.

We strolled down the aisle that we didn’t walk down at the beginning. The harpist played “What a Wonderful World” but I doubt I heard it. We hugged and sighed huge sighs of relief. We did it! Now let’s eat!

We signed our marriage certificate, took some pictures, and tried desperately to see and hug and thank everyone. We piled into Kelly’s car; me in the front seat, Joe and Becky in the back seat. My skirt was too big to fit in the back. We giggled through the toll booths, we relished in the relief, we thanked the powers that be for the nice weather, we made sure Kelly and Becky knew they were lifesavers.

Uncle Pat announced our arrival at the reception hall. We kissed to clinked glasses. We drank glasses of Chardonnay. We listened to the dinner music we picked out and watched our slideshow and listened to the chuckles at some of our drunken photos. We watched friend after friend after friend stand up to tell the crowd how much we mean to them and we hugged them knowing it’s truly the other way around. We started the buffet line and barely tasted our dinner. We looked at each other and exclaimed quietly, “We’re married!” We cut the delicious cake and dabbed a bit of icing on the end of each other’s noses. We got to save the top layer. We coordinated the first dance with our friends… and when “Everytime We Touch” began, we all stormed the dance floor, arms up, jumping, and laughing with all of our closest friends. We stayed on that dance floor nearly all night. We had a couple of Coronas and rocked out in flip flops. Joe’s aunts showered us in bubbles and we laughed for six straight hours.

We said goodbye to everyone and hugged my dad for sticking around to make sure everyone got home safely. We piled into the backseat of Michael’s car and drove back to our bed and breakfast. We hobbled up the stairs to our king size suite to find chilled champagne, two glasses, and a plate of chocolate chip cookies from the inn keepers. We drew a hot bubble bath in the claw foot tub and finally curled up next to one another in bed.

Goodnight, husband.
Goodnight, wife.