Monday, May 7, 2007

Our Wedding Story


The Tulsa World was seeking unusual wedding stories so I submitted this: We had a picture perfect wedding. It was a beautiful day and had been planned in great detail. One of the most wonderful things was how calm my future husband and I were - and what joy we had in seeing all our family and dear friends begin to arrive. The wedding party was small - only two attendants and groomsmen, but it was formal and there were about 200 guests. In front of this dear gathering of loved ones, we recited the standard, "for better or worse" vows, as well as exceptionally tender ones we had written to one another. To surprise our parents, we had also written letters to them, recalling special childhood memories and expressing our gratefulness for all they had done to bring us to this time in our lives. There was not a dry eye in the congregation. After being pronounced husband and wife, we left the podium together, then separated to give our mothers a rose and a copy of these letters. We were to meet again in the middle and exit the service. When I got to that point - there was no husband!! Overcome with emotion, all he could remember was - this was the point where we were to exit. When he got to the foyer, the roar of laughter from the congregation reminded him he had left his bride at the alter - and of course he came back to get me. It provided wonderful comic relief to a very special, tender and dramatic wedding.