Memory Lane Friday - A Ceremony

Memory Lane Friday is a chance to write about your memories to preserve them for your family.  Everyone is welcome.  This week's topic is "A Ceremony".

In life, you tend to go through lots of ceremonies and rituals.  But I wanted to write today about my wedding.  Although we will celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary in August, it looks like I still love the guy ;-)

Paul and I met during Welcome Week at Baylor.  I didn't expect to meet anyone so soon, and I definitely didn't expect to meet the person I'd later marry.  In fact, I never really saw myself as marriage material.  We stuck though.  And by early junior year we were engaged.  At some point, the summer before senior year, we decided to just go ahead and get hitched.  We knew this was what we planned to do.  So why wait?  Certainly, having never thought I'd be married, I'd never had any grand wedding delusions.  I just wanted a simple ceremony with a few friends.  So that summer we decided to wed in August.  Not everyone was as supportive as we would have expected.  And there were a few way off the mark questions about whether I was knocked up.  But we proceeded despite those things.

Like I said, I didn't want a big wedding.  I love attending other people's elaborate weddings, and have enjoyed participating in a few as well.  But that just wasn't right for me.  I picked out a pattern for my dress, sent it to my mom in Virginia, and she made it.  I searched all over Texas for strappy silver shoes, and finally found a pair in Dallas.  We called the people we wanted to invite - I didn't want invitations or receptions or announcements in the paper.  I didn't want stress.  So often, weddings cause people so much stress and cost so much money.  I didn't want or need any of that.  We really liked the Assistant Pastor at the University Church, so he did a few premarital counseling sessions with us prior to holding our ceremony. 

And so, on August 7th, 1996, Paul and I were hitched.  Other than Paul insisting on placing my wedding ring on the wrong hand, it went smoothly.  I sported a dress I still love, my strappy silver heels, and some very fake blond hair.

We had a maid of honor, my roomie Michelle, and a best man, Earl (who seems to have mysteriously disappeared.  Hey Earl, you out there somewhere?!?)

Loads of bird seed, coming our way.  This is my favorite of our wedding pictures, because it is candid and we look so happy.  All of our wedding pictures, incidentally, were taken by friends and family.

My goodness we were young.  Doesn't Paul look nice with his face shaved?  I keep telling him that.  He doesn't seem to care though.  He's had that beard thing going on 2-3 years now.  Sigh.  If you agree that Paul should shave his beard, PLEASE COMMENT!  It can be like a bloggy petition!  ;-)  Sorry, I digress.

Carrying over the threshold of the used-to-be-projects remade into college student apartments.

Hmmm.  Even though they were remade, they still kinda looked like projects in my pictures.

Friends decorated our car.  They did a thorough job, don't you think?  We headed off on our honeymoon and our first stop was a gas station to try to clear off all the cans and boxes and string.

Looking back, would I change anything?  Would I have waited or had a bigger wedding?

Nope.  It was just right for us.  And I remember the day fondly.

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Be sure to come back next Friday.  The theme is "This one time, at camp".  Also, if you have a theme you want to see, let me know!