Wedding Day: Mr. & Mrs.

    January 7, 2017


      A cold front settles into Birmingham, AL on the night before my wedding, ice freezing over the streets before the light of dawn. Stress is high and worries storm my mind of how successfully we can pull off the wedding in the morning. Family friends were in town for the event, staying at my parents house. They helped us load the trailer with all the wedding decorations because we weren't allowed to set up the venue until the day-of.  Our moving truck, brought from Pensacola by G, was parked in our front grass, being slowly packed up with my belongings. G planned to drive to Huntsville to spend his last "free" night with his dad's family and uncle who flew in, but was persuaded to spend the night on our couch due to worries of his not being able to make it back the next day in time. Good thing, too: my relatives from Huntsville did not make it until the end of the reception!

     We chanced the roads at ten, delaying our plan three hours, making it a rush to decorate The Cahaba Pumping Station. Out of six bridesmaids asked, only one made the scene because of the storm. At noon we were told my "makeup and hair" friend couldn't make it and then the tears came! G was so good at comforting and reassuring me that it was all beautiful and at the end of the day, we'd be married. It did not matter if the tissue paper flowers would not adhere to the walls, most of the groomsmen forgot their jackets, or the donut cake was not going to come either. So I just relaxed and went with the flow, asking friends who arrived early to do my hair and fix my makeup with personal makeup they happened to have. It meant more that they were willing help, than trying to go through my plan angrily and upset, trying to make it come together "right." My wedding day was filled with countless plans up in smoke, but it was overshadowed by the joy I felt in the outstanding memories of friendship and kinship I had collected in my twenty years.

    The cake bar, drink stand, and ceremony background went up quickly and turned out beautifully with the help of my two uncles. Centerpieces were made up of sea-glassed wine and Coke bottles I had been collecting and sprigs of greenery. 
The pianist arrived just in time for the ceremony (well, the delayed time!) on her neighbor's four-wheeler because her car could not go down the steep icy heights in her neighborhood!

     G's dad arrived and the groomsmen and family enjoyed the fried chicken lunch they brought for the group as G and I went outside for wedding pictures. We hired Alexandra Davie, the same photographer from our engagement shoot. She is based in Nashville and Birmingham and is one of the best at what she does. 

     At the time of the ceremony, everything was perfect. Burlap bows hung on the front gate, the hand-painted wooden signs were in place, the Jenga block "guest book" sat in buckets, and the classic Birmingham red-brick pump house was transformed. The music played as guests were seated: In The Garden, Jesu, Largo by Handel, Sonata in C Major, He is Lord, For the Beauty of the Earth, and Serenade by Shubert. My mom and I picked these out together out of her wedding book, using some of my parents' songs as an allusion of where I came from, like a testament to their long-standing marriage. Our wedding party was shooed out the back door and re-entered through the back. I stood arm in arm with Dad until Canon in D played. Then we walked up the aisle: here we go!
    
     The ceremony flew by to me. I hardly knew what Rev. Gene Howard was saying, but could only listen for questions he wanted replying to. G must have been much more nervous because he replied "I do" to every one just in case! We had forgotten to have the rehearsal during the rush to decorate everything. The ceremony was drawing near the end and the reverend asked for the Communion elements... oops! Forgot to bring that too! Quiet whispers to rectify the situation just made the moment awkward but I could not help but laugh. Mistakes like this just make good memories. 

     The reception began and our guests got to enjoy the hot cocoa and tea bar, mini sodas displayed in an antique sink, and a cake bar boasting an array of six flavors in replacement of a traditional large bridal cake. German chocolate, lemon pound cake, my mother's strawberry cake, angel food cake, and chocolate pecan cake let our guests choose any they wanted, almost as an award for arriving to our icy wedding in one piece! My mother's friends, who helped us by serving the cakes, said they could see the glow of happiness about me, even without the help of adequate "dolling-up". 
     I thank God for such wonderful support and kindness by my family and friends. He brought us together to start off the best time of my life. Married to G, I feel like the possibilities are endless. 

-my heart is not afraid