Saturday, December 29, 2001...

I coordinated a wedding. It was crazy. Where do I begin? Have you ever done something like this? Well, the craziness started earlier in the week with wedding favours and programs. I made them myself. The programs were so cool. They said Love, Honor & Cherish on the front, in black and white. The 0's were hearts, I hand colored each of the hearts with a red sparkley gel pen. After all that, with the help of some others, I tied a silver ribbon around the spine of the program. It looked beautiful. Did I mention I did 200 of them? That week, we wrapped candy and little packages of sparklers that would be used in the place of rice or bubbles. The night before the wedding, I finally got into that reception hall. It really needed a lot of work. Did I mention it was a "barn". Not like a barn with animals but it is called a barn...it looks like an enclosed barn. "Oh what were they thinking". The floor plan that had been given to me wasn't close to being correct. All the tables would not fit the way that was planned. Yikes what do you do? Well, we worked it out but there was so much other stuff to do. We (my helpers and I) folded napkins, layed out table cloths, hung ceramic hearts from each perfectly folded napkin, arranged flowers, set centerpeices, and decorated tables. I went home that night and made bouquets: one for the bride and one for the matron of honor. The next morning was even crazier. I still needed to get the drinks, go finish decorating, pick up the flowers for the others to pin on and so on and so on. Finally the time has arrived. Guests were arriving. I spoke with the band, they said they had it covered. They had played many weddings in their time so I shouldn't worry. Suddenly someone came to me and said, "Uh, the wedding cake is leaning, what should we do?" I told them to grab the photographer...take a picture. If it falls take another picture. What else can you do? Either way, the guests are seated and the parents of the bride and groom are being ushered in...the band is playing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". The maid of honor waits for her cue...and waits....and waits. I think people thought the bride fled...no one really thought she would go through with the wedding in the first place. I sent the maid of honor in...Finally she walks out to clip clop, clip clop. The band forgot to play the music. They were very old. She gets up there and lets the piano player know, he needs to play the wedding march. DUHHHHH. I thought he had done this before. Have you ever been to a wedding where the bride cries the whole way down the isle? Does that make sense? You are getting married. This is the fairy tale you have wanted since you were a little girl, WHY DO THEY CRY? Not this particular bride...no way...I think she would have ran down the isle (if she could have managed) and would have jumped right into the arms of her groom. She smiled the whole way. Paul Miller, yes my father in law, preformed the wedding ceremony. It was his first so I was a little worried about how it would go. He started to read. He paused. He took off his glasses. He was sweating. I swear, I thought he was a goner. But he pulled through. The service was short and sweet...just like the bride requested. After the eating, pictures, dancing and drinking...the bride and groom went sledding. It seems so simple to put it into words, when it is a story...it was really so much more complicated. You see, I was the bride. Jake and I had only known each other for 8 months and had been dating for 5. We decided after dating for 2 months that we would get married. Although, I told my sister I was going to marry him before we had even had our first official date. Imagine what our friends and family thought...many people tried to talk us into waiting a little longer. No one thought I would actually do it. No one thought it would last. But here we are...four years and 2 kids later. I love my husband more now than I did then...Heck, I barely knew him then. I tell him all the time, we are lucky we liked each other when we really got to know one another. He is the perfect man. Sure, he gets on my nerves some times but I bet I get on his more that the other way around. I try to tell him all the time how great he is but I don't think he beleives me. He is such a good dad. He is a hero to the kids. He washes the dishes. Isn't that nice? So anyhow...I wanted you all to know how much I love my husband and to tell you it is our aniversary.

Have a good day.