With a different perspective we each had about our once ‘friendship,’ life seemed a little more relaxed! We continued to date more frequently and one evening in the fall of 1989, he surprised me with a proposal!
Unbeknownst to me, he previously asked my mom for her permission to marry me. One evening he created a perfect and romantic dinner! He placed 11 roses, representing his siblings, in a vase. Another rose was by itself in a vase with the engagement ring around the rim. He did get down on his knees to propose and when I said yes, he said, ‘now there is a perfect dozen.’
We were married in May the following year. I was very fortunate to have family members on both sides to help with the plans, food, decorations, and cake. It turned out just beautiful but seemed to go by so quickly compared to the time it took preparing for it!
I chose the color teal blue with a Victorian theme for the wedding and even made my own veil. We practiced for a couple of months singing our new song, Always, for the ceremony. It went well but I got a bit nervous toward the end of the song during the ceremony and my voice was a bit cracked. We still have some people now, almost 30 years later, telling us that is one wedding they won’t forget cause everyone was emotional and tearing up as we sang. It was a special day!
With both sides of our families being so large, I think I remember someone telling us they did a count as they came in and there was about 600 people at the reception. There were a lot there and it was a little overwhelming. As we were leaving for our honeymoon, I remember telling my husband how my cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
I knew God was present during our ceremony, but one thing I wish I would have done was to actually pray and ask Him to be there. We went through the pre-wedding classes with another couple from church and understood what a marriage really was, but to really ask Him to be a part of our wedding was just an assumption! One thing I like to stress to other couples is to really ask and not assume. Why? God wants us to come to Him about all things. He demands our respect and should be first and foremost in all things no matter what.
