The wedding-Part 7 of my testimony

One other tidbit that I remembered and wanted to include in preparations for the wedding... I honestly can't tell you right now how I met her, the lady that was to make the bridesmaid dresses. I think that I just saw her at a fabric store or picked up her business card or something...I don't even remember her name. Anyway, I wanted dusty rose dresses and couldn't find any ready-to-order ones that were in the right color or the right style, so I decided that I was going to have someone make them. I called this lady and met her at the fabric store after I got lost and had to make multiple phone calls to her and Keith to figure out where I was going. Finally I got there, quite late, and we picked out the material and finalized plans for the dresses. The material had to be ordered.

A couple weeks later, she called me and said, "The material is backordered and I really don't think that it will get here in time for me to make the dresses." Now what?? I called my Mom and she rushed to the largest town near her, going to every bridal shop she could find. Bless her heart, she saved the day when she called and described a simple, but elegant dress in a wine/burgundy color. "Sounds just fine", I said and that was it. The dresses were ordered. The only question was, how was everyone going to get the dresses altered? My one sister that was near my Mom was easy. She could get the dress and bring it to a neighbor's house. My other sister was in Colorado in college and my maid-of-honor was not close either. There wasn't time to mail the dresses to them for alterations where they were. It ended up that this seamstress that was going to make the dresses in the first place ended up doing alterations on Thursday night before the wedding. I vaguely remember sitting in the basement of her home with my sister and friend, being totally exhausted as we waited for the dresses to be completed. Things were becoming quite a blur.

Friday, November 5th arrived with tons of driving to pick up this and that and set up at the reception hall. Late that afternoon, was the rehearsal. I had been blessed with three bridal showers and therefore had enough bows for myself and all three of my bridesmaids to have bow bouquets to carry that night. Probably the most memorable moment from the rehearsal was when Keith and I were practicing our vows. While saying mine, I became totally overwhelmed with all that was about to happen and after completing the last sentence exclaimed, "HOLY BUCKETS!" Pastor Alan had the funniest look on his face and everyone burst our laughing.

The rehearsal dinner was very nice and after that Keith and I went back to the reception hall with my Dad for a private dance. Since we weren't going to have a dance at our wedding reception, I wanted to have a "dance with Dad" the night before. Dad had a small tape player with and set it up on the table. It wasn't a long event, but it was special to have that time with Dad. Despite all that had happened while growing up, the divorce, his moving away, and everything else, I will always have an ache in my heart for my Daddy.

Finally November 6th arrived. We got to the church early to fix hair, etc. We did have pictures done before the ceremony, but before this, Keith and I had a special time seeing each other for the first time that day, all dressed for the wedding. This started the giddiness that continued for the entire day. Pictures seemed to go on forever, making sure we had every combination of people possible, yet afterward we still found out that one was missed. My cheeks were starting to hurt, yet I couldn't stop smiling.

Since praise and worship music was such a part of my life, I had the praise and worship team play before and after the wedding. They were to play "Take Me In" (Take me past the outer courts, into the Holy place, past the brazen altar...) right before another song before the processional-yes I had LOTS of music planned! Anyway, they started early and/or we weren't ready in the back... they played that song probably 10 times or more. We found out later that they were getting quite tired of the song and when they were getting to the end and needed to start over AGAIN, they would despirately look at each other and figure out who could do a solo this time or whether to do an instrumental rendition. Of course Keith and I were totally oblivious. Wedding coordinators are actually quite helpful. She just told us who was to go when and where...very good thing when you have a giddy bride and groom.

Finally I was walking down the isle holding arms with my mom on one side and my dad on the other. Then came the part of the ceremony that made Keith more nervous than anything else. After Pastor Alan asked "Who gives this woman..." and my dad said "we do", Keith had to lift up my veil and lay it back over my head. He sweated over this moment for a week, but it went without a hitch.

Then was the solos by my sister and a friend, the song led by the praise and worship team and the message on "covenant". The vows went perfectly, the lighting of the candles, giving roses to parents. Then I was able to sing a song to Keith, written by another gifted friend. Keith had a card with the words in his pocket, but they came to mind so easily, it was as if no one else was in the room except Keith, myself and our Lord. Afterward, Pastor Alan had to make sure that everyone noticed that my new last name was written behind this song in the ceremony program. When he said this, I punched the air in excitement. I could hold it in no longer!

Another moment that Keith and I had been waiting for...see, Keith and I never kissed on the lips before that moment and many people at the wedding knew this. There was whooping and hollering when Pastor Alan said, "Keith, you may kiss the bride". Let's just say that it was a memorable moment as well, especially because laughing and smiling and kissing are hard to do all at once!

We practically skipped down the aisle after we were pronounced Mr. and Mrs.

The reception was another time of blur, greeting guests, feeding each other cake, kissing to the clang of glasses, "speeches" by those in the wedding party, friends and family, each retelling memories and stories. Larry and Wilma spoke as well as the couple that had gone through the vow of purity with me. I was able to read aloud the plaque that stated the vow that I had made.

By the end of the evening, we were elated and exhausted and VERY ready for our first night together as husband and wife.

If there is anything that we remember about our wedding day, it was just how much fun we had. God felt so near that day and the entire event was surrounded in pure joy. But the giddiness! It's almost hard to watch the video!! :)

The next day was the gift opening. I love gifts in general, so this was a special treat for me. Then it was time for last-minute packing for the drive to Colorado for our honeymoon. We had a cabin in the mountains and it was wonderful.

When we came back from our honeymoon, we weren't sure what was in store for us. We knew that someday we wanted to move out of the "Cities" to raise the family that we hoped to have. We looked at a map of Minnesota and pointed to the northwest corner. "That looks like a good place to live." Neither of us had ever been there. Little did we know what God had in mind and the miraculous events that were about to happen...