Planning a wedding is what little girls dream of.
As a type-A personality, planning her own wedding, I took things very seriously. I had an excel spreadsheet breaking down items, vendors, deposits, balances, and dates. Everything had to be just so. Though I was far from a Bridezilla, as my family can attest, I will admit to having lost track of what was truly important in these upcoming nuptials. My wedding story is not a Cinderella story, but I did get my prince, a happy ending, and learned a valuable lesson.
It was a glorious spring day, the most magical day of a girl’s life, it was my wedding day. I woke up around 6am that day to sunshine and birds tweeting. Oh, and an upset stomach. I quickly called my best friend Julie up and told her I was nervous I might be getting sick. “Oh honey, don’t worry, it’s just nerves, you’ll be fine!” she assured me.
A massage via limo escort and a light brunch later and my symptoms seemed to be increasing. People were starting to arrive at my parent’s home to get ready. The house was a filled with bridal gowns, bouquets and Mary Kay!
Only one thing was missing from the pre-wedding preparations, me.
I was in the bathroom every three minutes. We tried everything we knew to do to squelch my uneasy stomach; mint tea, antacids, etc., Nothing was working. To make matters worse, it was now very apparent that my flower girl, (who also happened to be my 2.5 year old daughter), had the same 
illness.
The two of us were getting worse by the minute. I developed a fever and had the chills. I couldn’t keep anything down. I couldn’t sit long enough in the make-up chair to get my eye shadow on. Thankfully, we had arranged to take pictures before the ceremony in advance so as not to make guests wait to long for the reception to begin. Clever planning I thought.
So the photographer arrived promptly at the appointed hour and I was far from being picture perfect. Thankfully, the blush masked my pale and sullen face. I began to question whether or not we would have to call off the wedding. No. Not a chance. I was getting married. So off to the church we went.
Wedding photography is beautiful. The poses are timeless and end up in majestic frames on your mantle. But they also take a long time. There are pictures of the girls, the boys, the couple, the parents, and cousins, the uncle’s brother’s niece’s neighbor and your high school teacher. By the last set of portraits I could barely stand upright and my smile was gone, it was more like a grimace of pain and desperation. But onward we went with the proceedings.
There I was finally at the back of the church with my father. Not only did he walk me down the aisle that day, but he bared the weight of me, as I mightily leaned on him so as to avoid collapsing or tripping.
And there at the head of the church stood my handsome groom. It all seemed worth it now.
The ceremony began, the songs were sung and the scriptures were read. I thought I might very well get through this after all! Then I began to faint. I asked for a chair. There was none. I no longer had the strength to stand, so the Pastor, my groom and I vacated the head of the church to the front row of pews.
There, we took our vows seated. Our stealthy photographer, Bryan Yager of Beltrami Studios had some quick maneuvering to do to get the shots of us at this new angle, but he was able to capture our vows on film thankfully.
The audience had a favorite part of the wedding for sure, it was when Pastor Larry asked my groom if he would take me for better or for worse, and in sickness and in health. We all got a good chuckle on that one. And after we said out “I dos”, and headed back up the isle, I said these words to my husband…
“Honey, all this stuff that cost money, that I thought mattered, none of it matters, because I’m too sick to enjoy any of it. But I’m not too sick to enjoy marrying you.”
I went from the church doors back to bed and would miss all but five minutes of my own wedding reception. Instead, I spent it shivering, sick and in pain with flannel sheets pulled up to my nose and a thousand bobby pins poking in my perfectly coiffed up-do.
I was blessed to have amazing in-laws who through us a al fresco “Reception Take Two” on the family farm a month later, a Photographer who brought us in to the studio for another hour of portraits, and we even got to take a second honeymoon a year later.
