I've been told my wedding was magical, perfect, romantic, well-planned. But knowing how stressed out I was and how many things went wrong on the week leading up to the wedding and the very day of the wedding, I always feel the need to argue that it wasn't as magical as they think. Regardless, the fact of the matter is, my wedding day will be a day that I remember forever. And the pictures didn't capture the stress and exhaustion I was feeling (see below) - which is a good thing.
The truth is, I could list all of the things that went wrong... or I can tell you all of the wonderful things that happened and how much I enjoy being newly married even with my husband over 1,000 miles away...
I choose to focus on the positive!
I got to meet several of my husband's friends from overseas. This was an enriching experience for me, because I have not been able to meet his family yet. To meet people who shared his culture and heritage meant a lot to me - to have them at our wedding meant even more! I felt so blessed that they traveled from all corners of the world to be with us on our special day.
My yellow tulips turned out so beautifully. I chose yellow tulips randomly one day about 6 months before the wedding... it just came to me out of the blue without reason. When I started to look around for the flowers, I was told they were out of season and weren't able to be ordered for the wedding. This caused me to look up the meaning behind yellow tulips so I could find another flower that was equally stunning. Yellow tulips mean "hopelessly in love" or "perfect love" and after finding that out, I simply HAD TO HAVE the yellow tulips! Nothing would stop me... I finally located them, had to order them through a Peoria Kroger whose wholesaler could get them at a higher cost. I googled Do-It-Yourself tutorials about how to wrap fresh flower bouquet handles and bought all of the supplies. I managed to wrap my own bouquet, my made of honor's bouquet, and 3 boutonnieres for the groom, best man, and ring bearer in the 45 minutes before my hair & makeup appointment on the day of the wedding! I was so proud of my beautiful bouquet and wish I could have frozen it in time and preserved them a lot longer.
A few of my guests told me that the most precious thing that they witnessed during the ceremony (other than our self-written vows) was the elated look on my son's face as he watched his mom marry the man of her dreams. He was ecstatic, beaming! He has been asking us for over a year when we would get married. When he found out we were going to be married, he couldn't wait for the day to arrive. I couldn't see the look on his face, but from what my guests tell me, he was extremely happy. This tickles me to death!
And one of the greatest blessings of all was how many family members, friends, and support group members showed up to help with the set-up and decorations for the wedding and reception. I had a lot on my plate to worry about without having to decorate... they really took a lot of the stress off of me by helping out and I cannot express my gratitude enough! I am amazed at how willing my supportive people were to help out so that I didn't have a "bipolar moment" on my big day. Even though I made it through most of the day - even the ceremony - without being a nervous wreck, I did have a few brief moments of an unpleasant mood while taking pictures. It was raining cats and dogs, I was drenched and freezing cold, and my dress was so muddy that we had to cut the bottom out of pictures so you couldn't see how dirty it had gotten! To top it all off, everyone was shivering cold and wet, and wanted to get pictures over with. My new husband was losing patience and wanted to get back to gisting with his friends. Meanwhile, the pictures are what mattered A LOT to me. I'm all about making memories and photographing them! So, I didn't take too well to my husband's half-hearted smiles and slouching poses. As you can see in some of our preliminary pictures, they didn't turn out too shabby. And you can't even tell that it was pouring down rain!
By the end of the night, I had forgotten about the stress and given in to enjoying my wedding. I was ready to kick back and relax with my new husband for a few hours before he had to leave for California in the early morning. I'm not entirely happy that we can't be together this summer... but I'm learning to cope. I'm keeping myself extra busy and I'm working my butt off trying to earn a little extra money so we can go to Disneyland for our honeymoon in the end of July. This princess desperately wants to go to Disneyland!!! Our day may have started off with a lot of hustle and bustle, sweat and tears; but it ended with a beautiful, clear sky and this wonderful picture that perfectly displays our "magical" relationship.
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