Our Wedding: Getting Ready and First Look

I woke up the morning of our wedding feeling so happy. I wasn’t stressed at all, just excited! My mom and I got ready to head out to the salon to get our hair done, and that’s when things started to get hectic. I share this only because I find it hilarious, but my mom was taking breakfast with her from the hotel, and they were taking forever to give her her bagel, while I was wondering what was going on. If you know my mom, you will not be surprised to hear that she made them fork it over! I had brought a box of cereal to the hotel and had planned to munch on it in the car…but my little brother ate most of it while watching tv the night before, after I had gone to sleep. I am seriously laughing while I am typing this: ah, wedding breakfast foibles! In any case, we were later than I wanted to be to the salon, and the stylist doing my hair did a beautiful job, but just was not in any hurry at all. To say that the whole day was on a tight schedule would be an understatement, and I was getting stressed thinking of all we had to do that morning. My mom later confessed to me that she was going, ahem, rather fast on the way to the church from the salon. I had no idea! If you ever want to pull something over on someone, wait till their wedding day: they’ll never notice! When we got to the church, Amy Dale was there, as well as our wonderful makeup artist. Eric and his family were there getting ready too, and it was fun to have the room to share, just us girls: me, my mom, Eric’s mom, and my amazing Besfrinn.

The room was a mess of flowers, hangers, shoes, jewelry, and makeup, and it was so much fun. My makeup was done pretty quickly, and I was so happy once more that I’d had someone else do it. I am no expert, and I am sure I would only have stressed myself out trying!

Then my sweet Besfrinn helped me into my dress and even put my shoes on for me. She was such an amazing maid of honor! Maybe for some anniversary in the future, I will relate to you the raucous comedy of my wedding dress fittings, and how she kept me sane during them.

Finally, I was ready to see Eric! We had decided a long time ago that we wanted to see each other before the wedding. The tradition of not seeing each other before the wedding actually goes back to the days in which marriages were arranged for financial reasons. The groom was not allowed to see the bride before the wedding to keep him from changing his mind and balking on the deal if she wasn’t as pretty as he’d been led to believe. Yikes! We didn’t feel any need to hold onto that tradition, and, what’s more, we wanted to have a special and private moment together before our wedding, to pray together, to rejoice together, to celebrate our love. And, for me, there was one more reason. Eric is seriously the most calming presence in my life. He is so gentle and compassionate with me, so understanding all the time, and when he is there, everything is okay. Better than okay, actually. I had an inkling that after the busy morning, I would be ready to have some relaxing time with him, to hold his hand and look in his eyes and feel the peace that he brings to my life. Here he is, waiting for me.

And here I come, walking so fast that I’m blurry.

And here we are, just as we should be. I love this picture.

These moments were so precious.

After the hectic morning, it was so beautiful to have the whole silent cathedral to ourselves. I am immensely glad we shared this time together. It was an oasis of calm sandwiched between a flurry of busy activities, and, when I think about it, that is what our marriage is too. Whatever crazy things are going on, being with Eric puts me at ease. Wherever he is, I am home.