Today is Scott & my 5th Anniversary. It's kind of weird to me that it's been 5 years already. Some days I feel like we're still super new to all this and we're still figuring out how to live together. But most of the time I know that we've worked out a lot of the rough edges and our lives have a pretty smooth rhythm that works for us. So naturally I am thinking of my wedding day today.
Like most people, I can only remember certain things about that day. Most of the images are a blur because there was so much happening in such a short time frame. But there are portions of the day that I can see very clearly and will probably never forget.
Early that morning I left my mom's house to go pick up my dress. It was cream satin with golden insets and a spattering of crystals. I loved it. Mom's sweet friend Jonica had helped us pick the dress out and then did the alterations for me, which was no small task since my body was changing every week with my growing pregnancy with Scooter. When we first got the dress we were worried about how big the bodice was and how much we were going to take it in. A week before the wedding Jonica was begging my bust to not get any bigger so she wouldn't have to let it out. But in the quiet of that morning, Jonica gave me a very special gift. Jonica had made me a cape with a hood out of a sheer golden, shimmery fabric. It was light weight and when I put it on it floated around me and made me feel down right enchanted. It was gorgeous. The first of many tears that day fell.
After my hair was done and I had checked into our hotel I found my way to the Presidential suite my parents had gifted Scott and I with. It was bigger than our house. I gave Tyler a bath so he was ready and grazed on sandwiches. I don't remember all the details of getting ready and who was there or the ride to the building where I was getting married. I do remember spending a whole lot of time hanging out in a conference room high in the sky of downtown Dallas that was a makeshift Bridal suite. I waited to go down for pictures and then I waited for the ceremony to start. Lots of waiting.
Most of the next couple of hours are a blur but I remember very clearly having my rear end pinched by two of the groomsmen, Doug and Drew, while I was surrounded by the guys for a portrait. I remember how handsome they all looked, our friends and family, and most especially Tyler. He was so grown up in his tuxedo. My bridesmaids were gorgeous, outshining me in their chocolate satin dresses. My flower girls were my about-to-become nieces and they were downright adorable.
I remember waiting, once again, with all my girls in an elevator lobby for it to be time to head outside and down the aisle when Scott's Aunt Bonnie bustled by on her way out to her seat. She wanted to stop and admire all of us, but I shooed her on her way so that we could get started. (The wedding was in downtown Dallas on a Friday night so traffic problems caused a very late start.) I walked down the aisle with Dad on one side and Tyler on the other. I have never been so proud or so happy.
Another of my mom's friends, Claudia, sang for our ceremony. It was 'For the First Time' by Rod Stewart. Such a fitting song for Scott and I, as we had been friends for so long and had literally taken a fresh 'first' look at eachother in order to get to this day. Claudia's beautiful voice is one of the parts of that day that I won't ever forget. Clear, Strong, Beautiful. Scott's sister Dulane spoke for us and welcomed Tyler officially into the family with an engraved Silver Pocket Watch that we had picked out. I can't remember all the words, but the gist of the speech was about our families merging together officially after long years of being almost family anyway. It was great.
We exchanged vows - and let me tell you, that was weird for me. I have been to countless weddings over the years, but when it's actually you standing in front of 150 people, making such solemn promises while staring into the person you love's eyes it's kind of surreal. I don't remember every word, but I know for a fact that 'obey' was not one of the promises I made since I asked for that particularly. Scott likes to joke about it all the time, asking when I am going to start obeying and then laughing at me when I remind him AGAIN that it wasn't a promise I had made.
We also made vows to Tyler. I can't even remember what I said mostly except that I know I made reference to Tyler and I being a team since that's always been a running theme for us and that our team was just growing. Scott, though, he promised to love Tyler as part of his family like he was his own son and that he would always consider Tyler his son in every single way. It melted my heart. When we exchanged rings, we gave Tyler an ID bracelet with our wedding date engraved on it. He always said he was getting married too so we made sure he felt like he was.
When I finally got to my own reception, the Bellini's were gone and so were the appetizers, but I hear they were fabulous. We ate, we danced, we laughed. We had our first dance to 'The Broken Road' by Rascal Flatts, still our song. We did the cake thing. I had begged Scotty to be nice about the cake since I was so broken out from pregnancy hormones and spent a ridiculous amount of time on my make up to cover up, but he crammed it in my face anyway. I had my father-daughter dance, but it wasn't what I had imagined. The DJ I had hired sent a fill-in at the last minute and he played some song I had never heard before instead of the one I had chosen. It wasn't a slow song, but it was cool. So dad and I didn't have the traditional slow, tear filled father/daughter dance. We kind of had a slow-fast dance and showed off our boogie moves. It was really fun, if a little strange. But it was the kind of song we would probably have danced to on any other day together so it was pretty cool.
After the toasting, dancing, smiling and bouquet toss - it was time to go. All the guests headed downstairs and Jonica helped me put my gorgeous cape on over my dress. Scott tipped the DJ a ridiculous amount considering he had screwed up and forgotten half my requests (including NO music after the ceremony to walk back down the aisle to!!!!), but Scotty was SUPER happy. We went downstairs and out the door to be sent off amid a cascade of bubbles.
I really hadn't cared if we did the send off originally. But there I was, in my cape (really this was huge for me, can't you tell - I mean what other time in your life can you get away with wearing a cape?) running with the man I loved to - get this - a horse drawn carriage. This was a gift from my mother's friend (doesn't she have awesome friends?) Susan and her hubby John. Scott and I climbed into the carriage and snuggled together while we had a slow, peaceful, romantic ride through downtown in the autumn night to our hotel. Tyler was a little annoyed that he didn't get to come for this part (he was also annoyed he didn't get to stay with us in our hotel room), but that's the breaks kid.
We had an after party in our enormous suite to cap off the night with some of our friends and family. I remember that one of our friends didn't know I was pregnant until I showed her my belly. Yeah for the dress! Even though most people knew I was and I wasn't trying to hide it I hadn't looked like I was packing baby! I didn't look like I had an 18 inch waist, but I hadn't looked like a blimp either. Not bad considering I was 18 weeks pregnant!
I hadn't wanted a big wedding originally. I wanted to go away somewhere and get married on a beach and have a party later. When our original plans for a 'sometime next spring' wedding were derailed with the discovery we were expecting Scooter, I would have been happy with a quick wedding by a Justice of the Peace. But Scott wanted a wedding, and he wanted a party. Of course, he didn't have any idea how much work would be crammed into 8 weeks to pull it off, but we did it.
Every time I tried to minimize a portion of the process or let something go, my mom's friends stepped in and made sure I did things right anyway. My sister marshalled the forces and pulled off the impossible for my shower (there were something like 13 hostesses, but she coordinated it all to perfection), organized a really fun and baby-safe pajama bachelorette party and negotiated hotel rates for our out of town guests. Might have been the best Maid of Honor ever! My mother-in-law and her sisters pulled off the most amazing rehearsal dinner I could imagine and I had been thinking barbeque would be sufficient. No way - it was elegant and delicious and fabulous. My aunts all made it here for the wedding from out of state as well as some cousins and some really important-to-me friends. Scott's cousin Ernie came from New Orleans and his buddies came from all over.
At the end of the day, I am so glad Scott talked me into a real wedding. There were a lot of things that got messed up or missed because we did everything so fast, but it didn't feel like it that day. I hadn't been looking for a fairy tale wedding or to feel like a princess that day, but I did anyway. I always say that the wedding is just one day, but the marriage is the rest of your life so the only important thing is the two of you, not the details. I still think we could have had one heck of a destination wedding on a beach with the money we spent, but I was happy to give Scotty what he wanted.
And I am so happy that I married Scott. If you had told me when I was 10 that I was going to marry the annoying little kid down the street I would have thought you were crazy. But it turns out you really can find true love in your backyard. We've had our ups and downs and more than our fair share of crazy, but we are genuinely happy together. We make eachother laugh and we work really well together as a team (well, we do if I can get him to wait for me to read instructions before we start a project anyway) and I have even learned to tolerate the fact that he's a Cowboy fan instead of the exalted Green Bay Packers. Now, if I can just get him trained to bring me breakfast in bed . . . well, there's another 50 years or so to figure that out.
Thanks and God Bless!
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