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Was it a disaster? A dream? How did you celebrate and what made the day so special? Tell us your stories, quotes, and words of inspiration today in 250 words or less!
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Can’t wait to read about your weddings and see where they fit into the Celebrating Weddings book!
My husband & I will celebrate 20 years of marriage in November 2011. We didn't have much but love back then so we opted for an "intimate" wedding and planned to have a big celebration and a honeymoon trip after the Holidays. We shouldn't have waited. The day after our wedding we both had to be at work. Due to a series of strange events, my new husband had to be somewhere he normally would not have been that day. Because of this, he was in a horrific work-related accident. The very first time I was called by my married name was when the Paramedics phoned telling me to get to the hospital as fast as possible. My husband was in critcal condition. My husband survived, thank The Lord, but was left permanently disabled. Over the years he's had many, many surgeries and spent months in hospitals. He eventually lost his leg and is now bound to a wheelchair. Needless to say, we never did have the big wedding OR the honeymoon trip. We've had our struggles over the last 20 years. It's been tough trying to adapt but we've managed. Our lives are completely different than what we imagined and planned but we have each other and I guess that's all the really matters in the end. I still would have like to have that BIG wedding though!
40 year ago, I didn't get a say in our wedding. My husband was stationed away in the military, I just graduated H/S, but we knew we wanted to be together. I did not get the dress I wanted, the cake I wanted or even the flowers. We were on such a tight budget, & my parents had the say on everything because THEY paid for it, so it was what they wanted. On 8-28-11, we will celebrate 40 great yrs together. I wish we could afford the celebration we wanted, but with the economy and my husband loosing his job, now our priorities are staying on our feet. Hopefully in 10 yrs we can celebrate.
My husband and I were married on January 30, 2006. Our wedding was planned for May 2006, but I discovered I was pregnant with our daughter and unfortunately lost my job, so we ended up cancelling the formal wedding and reception. We ended up just picking up my daughter which was 7 years old from school and going to the court house in Miami, Florida where we live. My husband actually got in to a minor motorcycle accident a few nights before we go married so he couldn't stand on one of his legs and was hopping through out the court wedding. My favorite part is that my wedding license was signed by my daughter as the witness. After the court wedding we had to go to the ER so my husband could get checked out from the accident. If I could do it all over again which hopefully one day I can I will have my ceremony/reception that I originally planned.
Our wedding was was beautiful despite all the problems. two weeks before the wedding we had no venue no food i was the only one who had my dress we had no decorations, no one officiating. We managed to scrap by with the basic's then it rained i had to jump over a mud puddle to get to the alter but despite all of that it was the best day because i got to spend the rest of my life with my best friend.
I met Justin on June 2, 2003. Four days later he told me, "I will marry you someday." It took about 3 years, but he made true on his promise, and on August 12, 2006, I married my soulmate. Our wedding was a memorable event to say the least. Justin and I are from a very small area in southeastern Ohio which I always referred to as "Podunk, USA." He was a brand new Airman in the United States Air Force and had been stationed in Idaho, while I was left back home to work a minimum wage job (as a college graduate). Because of the nature of a military life, much of our relationship was a long distance one, so I was not surprised when my proposal came by way of a phone call saying "Hey....wanna get married?" As I wanted nothing more than to marry the love of my life, I accepted, then the catastrophic wedding planning began. Justin is, well, let's just say that he is a "guy's guy" so the only help from him that I received from his was his opinion that it could not be too girly. Being in the Air Force, he couldn't even arrive until a week before and that is when I got my engagement ring. I have to admit that because of that and because of our limited budget, I sacrificed almost every dream detail I had ever had for my wedding day. His mother and my mother were both willing to help as much as she could with the expenses, but my mother in particular did not have much money. My father said that he would help pay for the alcohol for the wedding, but more about that later in the story. Needless to say, I had to do almost everything. We wanted a fun, outdoor summer wedding that was very "us." Although a good idea at the time, it kind of spiraled out of control and lost every ounce of class I originally planned for it. There is very little about the day that I do not regret. For the invitations, I designed, printed, glued ribbons, addressed, and sent more than 200 from my home printer in my living room all by myself. For my bridesmaid's dresses, I picked out the fabric and patterns from a local craft store and had my mother make the dresses. As 2 of the 4 lived out of town, the dresses were ill fitting and looking back, they were all pretty ugly. They wore $5 flip flops bought at the mall the week of the wedding. For the groomsmen, they wore blue polo shirts and khaki pants bought at Walmart the day before. My poor dress is one of the things I regret the most. I bought it at a consignment shop and it was HIDEOUS. It came with half-length sleeves and an enormous bow on the back. My mother did a lot of alterations on it, but in the end, it still didn't fit well and was just not me at all. She also made the vail and I stitched plastic beads onto a pair of white flip flops to wear. The flip flops were also very ill-fitting so halfway through the "reception" I took them off and went barefoot. Our wedding flowers were sunflowers and daisies because they were some of the cheapest I could find, but in the end, I barely saw any flowers anywhere on the wedding day. I think there was one pot full of daisies and the archway was decorated with fake daisy garland hours before by two decoratively challenged groomsmen. Our wedding took place on a beautiful August afternoon in Justin's mother's back yard. At the time it seemed like a good idea. A nice little backyard wedding out in the country where everyone could have a good time then whoever wanted to stay, could camp out there that night...what could go wrong? Weeks before the wedding, I repeatedly tried to get ahold of my father to make sure he was still giving me away and that he was still paying for the alcohol. Well, he finally got back to me the night before with some crazy story about the building where his paycheck was being held had burned to the ground and he could not pay for the alcohol. He also said that he could not come to the rehearsal dinner because he had to go golfing with my brother who had just arrived in town. Our friend, who was a pizza delivery driver fortunately offered to give us his entire paycheck which was enough for 2 kegs of beer and 8 bottles of liquor. The night before we held a rehearsal dinner at my mother in law's house which was a fiasco. The groom and half the groomsmen were an 1 1/2 hours late the my sister made a huge scene when she started yelling at her sons. Our dinner consisted of Papa John's Pizza. Then, the night before my wedding, I was up until 2am printing and cutting programs, and also writing on poster board in black magic marker signs that said "Justin and Jenna's Wedding." All the while, all of my friends, including the groom, were up partying. The day of the wedding could not have started worse. My mother catered the wedding and was cooking almost everything in our tiny apartment kitchen. That morning, for reasons unknown even today, the power went out in half of our town. So, it was kind of hard to cook on an electric stove with no electricity. Also, it was kind of hard for a bride and her bridesmaids to get ready with no power, so we had to all drive to my groom's mother's house (30 minutes away) hours early so we could all get ready in a 5 by 5 bathroom with one mirror. So, to alleviate my stress, I decided to have a couple drinks. Well, my groom's grandparents are uber-religious so my soon-to-be mother in law hid all of my liquor from me. This was my one and only bridezilla moment and boy, was it a doozie. I started to scream and swear at anyone and everyone until they told me where my liquor was. By that time, my guests were beginning to arrive, so I pretty much made a fool out of myself in front of all of my new in-laws, many of which I had never met before. I regret that dearly. What a horrible impression I made! After a couple screwdrivers (only a couple...I promise I wasn't a drunken bride), I began to calm down. Then, after a while, when my groom hadn't showed up, I started to freak out again. Apparently, he and the groomsmen all went golfing that morning and started drinking at 9am. So, yes...my husband was drunk. The ceremony was actually pretty great. I mean, how much damage can be done in a TEN MINUTE ceremony. That right...10 minutes. Hardly special or sentimental at all. The main thing about those 10 minutes I could change was my father. Having not showed up at the rehearsal, he said the wrong words while giving me away, cutting my mother out completely. She had done so much for me, and she wasn't even able to be a part of giving me away. Later that day, he took Justin aside and gave him another cockamamy story about why he couldn't help out and told him that he would be getting us a nice gift as soon as possible. No gift ever came. I can't bring myself to forgive him. Another problem was that we didn't have nearly enough chairs so many of our guests were left standing in the back and on the sides. We had a tent where the ceremony was held, but it was barely decorated and not nearly big enough. After the ceremony, the groomsmen and my husband's brothers were supposed to set up plastic rented tables underneath the same tent. Having less than 10 tables, that didn't even happen. I think about 2 or 3 of them ended up going up, but the tent was abandoned the rest of the night. The party was moved up the hill in the backyard but it was somewhat muddy and people ended up getting dirty. There wasn't really anywhere I nor a lot of the guests could sit, so we just made due with what was around. I remember at one point I was sitting on the step of a storage building eating. Our food consisted of burgers, hot dogs, and pretty much the kinds of things you would find at any cookout. I didn't really have party favors to give my guests. I thought that bubbles with our names on them was a good idea, but looking back, I realize that was a mistake. We also had a real lack of music. We basically listened to a bunch of CDs on an old 3 disc changer. Our first and only dance at our wedding was on the pool deck to "Island in the Sun" by Weezer. As the day went on, it seemed clear to me that my wedding had turned into a college house party. We were eating bbq, drinking keg beer out of yellow plastic cups, playing beer pong and corn hole, and doing keg stands. By the end of the night, there were people skinny dipping in the pool then walking up to Justin's grandparents in the nude, there were people vomiting off the back porch, and there were people who were so drunk that they were getting injured. Yes, I was 21 at the time, and yes, everyone had a great time, but it was SO juvenile. Looking back, I would have had at least a little bit of class and beauty to it. It was just a disaster. If I were to do it over, I would make my wedding intimate and romantic. It would be just our closest friends, and I would not have sacrificed any of my dreams. The ceremony would have meaning and the day would concentrate more on marriage than just a big party. I would change my dress, venue, food, music, bridal party attire. I would change almost everything except the groom....and the cake.
Good evening Diane! My husband saw a preview clip of your new show to air and suggested I share our story. Funny thing is today is our 10 year anniversary, yes I married my best friend the love of my life ten years to date and I have never second guess doing so...but my wedding day was unfortunately a day from hell My husband & I went out on our first date July 4,1998 and were unseperable from that day forward. We lived together for 2 years before we decided to take our relationship to the next level. Due to me already being married prior to and having the large extravagant wedding ending in divorce, I handed the wedding decision reins over to my hubby to be. We both agreed that a large wedding was not in need to show our love. My hubby to be only had one request, he would love to be married on the front porch of his grandmothers home were he was raised as a kid, with a reception to follow in the pasture under a tent... This also allowing his sick grandmother the ability to attend. Unfortunatetly these wedding dreams were shot down by his mother, still to date we dont know exactly why, but question if she at that time didnt approve of us. Anyway, we decided the next best option was to go for a full blown luxury honeymoon/destination wedding. So it was booked,Royal Plantation in Ochios Rios Jamiaca here we come!!! Excited we looked forward to this all inclusive resort, it was the perfect spot for our destination wedding, but minus no family or friends attending since no one could afford the trip, which was disappointing. We scheduled our wedding to take place late morning on July 12th, this giving us a couple days to get comfortable at the resort and tie up some last minute plans for our special day. The morning of I felt like a queen, as my assistant escorted me to get my hair & makeup done. When finished we went back to my room for her to help me get dressed. As I walked threw the door I knew something was terribly WRONG,the look on my husbands face said it all...fear! My husband proceeded to tell me that my oldest sister had a terrible accident, she was leading horse's out to pasture and one of the horses freaked and kicked her . The kick had caused some serious wounds, and at that moment the medical helicopter was transporting and they were not sure if she was going to make it.....after a terribly longggg 30 minutes, we were told they still werent sure were the bleeding was coming from and it was hit and miss.Thoughts of a wedding day was forgotten and the only thing I wanted was to be off that Island and back home in Jersey with my sister & my family. The staff at this resort was so thoughtful and bent over backwards to help my husband & I through the most terrible news we could of received. Needless to say 3 hours later the bleeding was found and stopped, when my sister was kicked the horses hoof severed her femoral artery in her groin area...she is very lucky! Our wedding ceremony ended up taking place, 5 hours later with red eyes & a sad heart.I only wanted to be home, but couldnt get home and was told by my mom not to come home, all was now okay...so enjoy what was left of it the best we could! We had 3 days left at the resort and managed to receive once again upsetting news, my brother in law was taking in for emergency surgery on his heart! His valve needed to be replaced. When we flew back home our first days back as husbnad and wife was spent in two different hospitals. I for some reason have managed to block our wedding date out of mind up until 2 years ago. During the first 8 years of our marriage if you asked me what day was I married on, I couldnt answer it, I didnt mean not to remember, I just couldnt. It was like I set up this mental block. 10 years later, we are closer then ever and we look forward to the day we can renew our vows in front of family & friends at a more happier time!
Here's one to remember. My husband is in the Army and is stationed at Fort Bragg. We had a whirlwind romance and decided that we wanted to get married before he deployed for Afghanistan. We knew we loved each other and wanted to get married, so instead of waiting until his deployment was over we decided to do it before he left. So everything was really short notice. My husband went into work and told his superior that we was going to get married at the court house. However, his superior told him that he could only do it during his lunch break (which is an hour). So he comes home and we rush to get ready and get all the necessary paperwork together. We called the magistrate to make sure he was in the office and he told us if we could get there before his lunch break then we could get married. This is where the story gets good. I had bought a destination wedding dress for the ceremony. Well while getting out of the car I ended up getting some type of dirt or car tar on my dress. So I had to walk around filing out the marriage license with a dirty dress. After the marriage license was filled out we headed to the magistrate office, but even though we had 5 minutes the magistrate wouldn't take us. He was determined to take his lunch break. So to kill an hours time we had to go and eat lunch at the local subway. It was embarassing becuase I was in my wedding dress. Talk about a nice reception. After that we went back to the magistrates office. We had to have two witnesses and were a little concerned that my brother wouldn't be able to get his lunch hour (he's in the army too). Now the magistrates office is not in the courthouse like I had thought...NO it's at the jail. So we entered the jail and were discussing our witness problem. Well one of the inmates waiting to see the magistrate overheard us and volunteers to be our witness if my brother didn't make it. I was like hell no...no way. Luckily my brother made it. Once we said our I do's we took photos, which needless to say were intersting since we were in an office. Our wedding pictures were in front of a copier with an office that had red, white and blue flag like curtains (very patriotic). Once we were done Andrew had to go back to work. Well he finds out at work that his boss was just joking about doing everything during the hour time frame and that he really had the rest of the afternoon off, Ugh! So my husband and I never got to have a first dance, my dad didn't get to give me away, my dress was dirty, I got married at the jail, had an inmate volunteer to be a witness, had my pictures taken in front of a copier (and you can see it)and the pictures were taken by the bailiff, had my reception at Subway, and never got a honeymoon, and my husband deployed 14 days after the ceremony. Talk about a wedding day disaster! Needless to say we are planning on renewing our vows on January 8 (our anniversery). But even though our wedding was a disaster I married the most caring, loving, generous man I have ever met and I couldn't be happier with him!
Hi Diann, My name is Crystel, I was told about this show through my little sister's friend. After much consideration about venting and re-living such a horrible and emotional day, I chose to write in and take a chance at changing my luck. I pray God gives me the nerve and words to properly express what's in my heart. I was married on October 12, 2002- my husband and I are approaching our 10 year anniversary next year. My husband and I both have really big families so our wedding party was pretty large. I can't say that a wedding planner screwed up my wedding at all, as I was the wedding planner and I devoted my all into the planning of my wedding day. The many unfortunate events that did take place were ones that were way beyond my control and wildest dreams. As does every little girl, I had many hopes and dreams of how beautiful my wedding would be. Unfortunately, this was not the case and I have been very bothered about the turn out ever since. There were so many mishaps I couldn't even list and till this day I still hear of so many events that took place, that I wasn't even aware of. I'll just make a list and briefly describe each event: Family feuds: 3-6 months prior causing so much stress!!! No wedding dress: Dress maker did not finish my dress; I had to borrow my girlfriends wedding dress. Luckily, she lived within running distance and by God's grace it fit!! Lovely dress-so not my style! I did not feel beautiful at all, nor did I have time to even look in the mirror at myself: (Cried so much, I got hives in my eyes. 3 hours late to church - many guest left, thought I was standing up my husband. Guest that did remain stayed in the church waiting; many started getting drunk in the church parking lot. After the very emotional service and after my husband's relief of not being stood up, we arrived at our reception, ate dinner and the fireworks began! I deliberately chose to have a closed bar with only champagne and wine for the toast. A family member decided to pay off the venue to have a full open bar. At this time so many uninvited guests were arriving out of the wood work, at a pace that none of the men or security could control. Apparently, someone photo-copied my invitations and handed them out to whoever they felt! (Who does this??) We just barely finished dinner and already the crowd was getting so wasted a fight began to start causing a huge crowd of people in the middle the hall. This fight only escalated and started a few more side feuds; many people started heading outside to continue the brawl. At this time...we chose to try to change to mood of the environment, we asked the DJ to start getting ready for our first dance. As he started to prepare, someone bumped the equipment causing a short in the lights and sound system. At this time it was starting to feel like a nightmare, I was almost not present in my body. We tried to move on to the cake, as we tried to cut the cake and feed it to each other, a family member insulted me in front of everyone. I ignored her rude comment. After this event the rest was a blur, the fight outside turned into an angry, screaming mob of 200 men running back and forth trying to attack a person and their friends, who had a lot to do with the several issues going on during it all? To make a very long emotional recap short, 4 people were stabbed, there was a shooting causing all of the women and children to hide in a back room with fear. The hall was forced to close the iron gates and keep out anyone else. By this time my husband decided to get me out of there. My parents were just telling me to leave and get out of there; I was concerned with the welfare of our 2 young boys. My mom assured me they were okay. We left at 7:30 p.m, needless to say..There was no first dance, father/daughter dance, mother/son dance, no throwing the bouquet/garder, no toast, no dancing, no celebrating at all..All of my invited guest, as well as the party crashers were kicked out by 8 o'clock. After the arrival of the police, I was called back to the hall to pick-up my kids. My mom's car was near the scene of the crime and was taped off, she couldn't leave. I changed the dress and went back to the hall to pick-up my boys. I was crushed! I couldn't believe the whole experience; I couldn't believe my boys were unable to leave out of all that drama! This was such a painful experience. After my kids and family were safe, my parents insisted we leave to our hotel. I couldn't enjoy my wedding night..My husband and I laid there in our hotel room in such despair, I couldn't stop crying!. The next day our phone was ringing off the hook, everyone wanted details..As if it weren't hard enough! This went on for months, the story made the paper..As embarrassing as that was for everyone to read and know. We even found out our wishing well was robbed for everything inside. There are so many more details but in efforts to keep people more unexposed than they did to me, I'll leave other equally hurtful details out. By God's grace my husband and I are still together, our families really put a strain on our relationship in the years after. But we love each other and refuse to let everyone pull us apart. I went through such a depression, with the help of therapy I am not as bothered by this but it still hurts very much. To this day it hurts me to watch wedding shows or hear about weddings and especially attend them. Yet, I'm obsessed with watching these shows. I've always dreamed of trying to replace those negative memories with positive ones. We hoped to renew our vows next year in a smaller manor, only closest family and friends. With only my kid's in the wedding and quite a distance away. We would be so grateful and blessed to receive such an opportunity to have happiness when we look back at our wedding pictures. I feel a lot better now that I've told my story; I hope you all can find it in your heart to bring joy back into my life, through making new memories, happier memories and possibly giving us the opportunity to properly finish our wedding. Thank you so much for reading my post!
Wow! I have always really loved your site congratulations on your television show!! I actually started The Posh Event Design Group in large part due to my disastrous wedding. From the hall decorators changing their price last minute, to my father falling the day before while trying to prep for the wedding and then being in the hospital and missing my wedding. It took me a year to actually look at the pictures from that day. I can't say that I was one to really dream about my wedding day, probably due to the fact that I had only been to my two older sister's wedding before meeting my husband. I figured that since most of my extended family lives in either Germany or Trinidad, that I would have a rather small, elegant, wedding with some close family and friends. But I ended up falling in love with a man who has a HUGE family. When I say huge, I mean HUGE! His mother is ONE OF NINETEEN CHILDREN and his father is one of six! He has OVER 70 IMMEDIATE COUSINS! And they are all close! They get together each year. So my small, elegant wedding that I had envision was out and I had to figure out where I could find a place to host over 300 people and be able to afford decent food for all. I had to figure out where I had to cut in order to accomplish this. My dream location of the Grosse Pointe War Memorial Hall was out and I had to go to a Metro Park indoor pavilion. I had to be really careful about how much I spent on decoration, invites, dress, the whole chabang. I didn't know much about weddings so I bought several books and got to work. Oh how I wish that I would have hired a wedding planner. I did everything myself. I was pretty trusting and didn't even think about contracts for everything. This became very clear when the band we hired told us a week before that they would be unable to be at the wedding due to getting a bigger gig. Our decorator that we had found at a wedding show told us that they had changed ownership and that the price had gone up 1200.00 three days before the wedding! I couldn't afford that so we had to come up with a new plan. My DJ forgot the CDs he had put together for the wedding and kept playing the same songs over and over again including the electric slide over 4 times! (I asked them not to play it at all). The Limo was over an hour late and then did not fit the amount of people they had promised. So some of my bridesmaids had to drive themselves. First communion was going to start right after my wedding. So for the little girls all dressed up in white like little brides looking at me thinking that I looked a little old to do the same was quite hilarious. But yes, I ended up finding out that I didn't have much of a leg to stand on with those vendors since the contracts either didn't protect my interests or we didn't have a proper contract. But the biggest blow came the day before the wedding. My father had hired gardeners to make sure that the house looked it's best of all of the guests that may pass by. He was going to take my family out to dinner and decided to clean up some of the things the gardeners left out. He tripped on a vine and fell face first into the pavement. His nose was practically ripped from his face and the tomato cage had stabbed him on the side. We came out to find him bleeding all over the place. Dave (husband to be) put him into my father's car and sped off to the hospital. We all then spent the night at the hospital with my dad. The next day his blood pressure was really high and they would not release him from the hospital. This absolutely broke my heart. I wanted to cancel the wedding but seriously couldn't not afford to do so. On the day of the wedding at the salon my stylist that I had already done a test run with, triple booked herself. She said that my hair was not turning out correctly and quit!! Another stylist had to step in and do my hair and my sister's hair completely differently from what it was supposed to be. Then someone in the salon said that they were me and took my makeup appointment while the whole drama with the hair was going on! So someone else had to step in to do my makeup! I was running so late I didn't even look at myself as I ran out of there. As I was driving to the church my sister kept staring at me. She finally spoke and said that I was going to have to redo my makeup. I looked in the rear view mirror and screamed "I LOOK LIKE A HOOKER!" Crazy makeup! I finally got to the church and people were like "whoa!" when they saw me. I understand making makeup a little heavier for pictures. But not to the point of making a woman look like a man in drag!" They rushed me into the changing room and before I knew it they had my dress on me. The dress was strapless and it went up super easy. I must had lost 10lbs before the wedding day. So we just figured a way to make sure that everything stayed up. My stockings on the other hand were two sizes too small! (don't leave that shopping up to your mother-in-law) So we did our best to squeeze me into them. On the way down the isle things were a blur. One of my dad's close friends decided to take a picture of me going down the isle but didn't realize that I had a 6ft train! He stepped on my train and I almost lost my dress! Ceremony went well for the fact that I got married to my love of my life. Even despite the organist having a cold and singing off key when he is normally crazy good to listen too. And also the readings were switched in the book and I ended up having a reading in there about obeying your man. Maybe they were trying to tell me something? The hall ended up being quite cute. My friends and family stormed that place with tulle, white lights and candles. I love them all so much. A musician called Music in a box came out to the wedding last minute and performed for everyone. The food was pretty decent no one ate the interesting cake that a friend had made for me (no matter how much a friend may say that it would be an honor to do your cake for you, DO NOT HIRE THEM!). The bar was out of control. My parents didn't want a bar at the wedding due to liability. My in-laws insisted so it was their project. It was the largest bar serving pretty much everything possible. Even margaritas. Of course it was inevitable that some people would drink too much. Dave and my last dance was broken up by a drunk friend of Dave's dad. Then that night my mother and father-in-law had an argument. I personally never even asked about clean up for the wedding. I thought that it was taken care of by the hall. Well, it wasn't. We had only a few people left so they had to help us clean up in their pretty dresses and suits. I myself, in my wedding dress was cleaning the bathrooms! We finally got out of there around 3am and went to our hotel. The hotel told us then that since we were not there in time for check in, that they had given our room away. That was about it for me. I totally broke down. We couldn't find another hotel. But then found out that one of Dave's cousins had to cancel. So we got her room with a baby crib in it. But hey, it had a bed at least. I pretty much slept in my dress. Needless to say, I have not (knock on wood)had a period of time with such extreme unfortunate string of events. I couldn't attend another wedding for some time without practically shaking. I couldn't believe that I could be so traumatized by something like that. But something positive did come from it. With me having to be so thrifty, I had to become a DIY queen. I used my paint program and microsoft word to create my programs, save-the-dates, and other paper goods. They turned out wonderfully. I had to be crafty. I bought a cheaper dress and then purchase crystal beads to add to it just like another dress that I loved for an additional thousand dollars. Beautiful! I made crystal picks for all of the beautiful arrangements which was great as well. A number of the other vendors when they realized how badly things were going down really stepped up and went above and beyond. But this helped me start The Posh Event. Where I designed affordable designer printables to add those extra details to one's event. It really makes me happy when I hear about how I helped keep someone's costs down for their big event. LOL, Wow! I can't believe how emotional I can still be about this day. This was back in 2004! I was young, I really wish that I had done what I wanted instead of trying to make everyone else happy. If I could do it over again I would love to have my dad there and also make it more about Dave and I and of course now our new additions to the family Yanna and Clara! My theme was Love is Friendship set on Fire! It really should have been more about that love that we have for one another. It is as strong if not stronger than ever between the two of us.
I got married August 6 2011 and I hate my wedding day. I settled on everything as we did not have the money to have the wedding I wanted. I bought my dress for 80 dollars. The DJ did not announce anyone, my girlfriend had to step in and make the announcements. The air conditioner at the church went out so we dont have pictures at the church. I picked my girls out of guilt and not because I wanted them to be in the wedding. My make up artist cancelled. The lady I paid to bethe planner did not know how to plan or cordinate. My family did not make it as my grandma is sick in Jamaica so all the funds went to her medical care so my family could not come. My mom did not make it because her boss would not give her the time off. My sister from Canada's mom died so she could not make it. My mother-in-laws dress the seamstress took in too much so it could not fit the day of the wedding. My junior grooms man's suit from Mens Wearhouse was tooo small. To top it off the hotel did not decorate the sweetheart table so we just sat a t a table with a dirty white table cloth on there and nothing else. The DJ took a list of songs from my aunt in law and played those songs all night without talking to the groom and I and when a friend of mine requested he change the songshe said he had to play those songs per my aunt in law. My wedding day sucked...my dress was 80 dollars from China. My hairdresser did my hair the way she wanted to do it and not like the picture I showed her.....I HATED MY WEDDING. For all that I could have went to the courthouse.......
My husband and I had a life changing experience 3 days prior to our wedding. His sister was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. She was our party planner, and my matron of honor. The day before our wedding, she had major surgery, and could not even attend. We were elated that she survived surgery because it was really unknown if she would pull through. Our actual wedding day was not nearly what was expected. We were all very tired, worn out, and the mood very somber. On the plus side(if there really is one when your sister-in-law, your husbands only sibling is not able to be at your wedding), the weather was beautiful, it was sunny and in the lower 70's. Almost unheard of for October 15th in Michigan. My dress was gorgeous, the flowers amazing. Our cake tasted great, but looked bad. Our DJ asked me a question every 2-3 minutes. It was almost like I had married him over my husband with how much he was next to me. Then, someone requested a song for my parents-in-law to dance to in celebration of their 35th wedding anniversary. Which would normally be a pleasure, though they had separated the month prior. It was more than awkward. My sister-in-law celebrated her 6th year cancer free. When that time of year comes, we always focus on her and her accomplishment. Our wedding anniversary gets pushed aside for everyone else, but us. We celebrated our 6th anniversary this year. I love my husband, and our kids, but that day will forever be one of the worst in both of our lives. It is truly a day I wish I could forget.
Hello, I writting you today because i feel like my mom and dad really need a wedding redo. I say this because when they first got married none of my mom family came and it was a really little wedding. They tried to do a redo a year or 2 ago and it didnt work because they were low on funds. They have been married for 17 years and together for 20, and I really think that they deserve it they are the best parents that i can ask for. Please help us!!!!!
My friend Anna and her now husband were together for seven years before he proposed to her last year. She had been planning for months then a week before her wedding hurricane Irene ruined her plans of a beach wedding. She wasn't allowed to have her wedding at her venue and was t even allowed to get her party favors or anything. When I spoke to her the day before her wedding she lost her voice and was a wreck. They ended up getting married at a church where not everyone was able to attend because we were still on hurricane alert. None of her wedding dreams were met.
Ok where do i start???I was married on December 19,1995 in the middle of a snowstorm. I was 8 months pregneant with my first son and we lived in philadelphia and did not have a car and we got married at my grandmother in law house so we had to catch the bus to jersey. Then when we got off the bus we had to walk about a mile to the house so me and my mother in law hitched a ride to the house because it was just to much for me to walk. The snow was coming down!!!!!! So it was about 10 people there and my mother was not one of them. A lot of people disagreed about us getting married because i had just graduated from high school in june and now it was december. I did not have a wedding dress or anything. I wore a white shirt and skirt and he wore a white shirt and black pants. His uncle married us in the house. We had no wedding song or anything. My dad bought us a small cake and some cookies that's it. The pastor stated that "he did not care what anyone said he was marrying us anyway"at that time i did not care but later it doomed our marriaged. So we got married and then caught the bus home;( We divorced 7 years later after a total of 3 kids. 9 years after being divorced WE GOT MARRIED!!!!!!I wish we could of had you for a do over. we did not have much money but we made it work. this time it was all about love. we have grown and matured and learned from our mistakes. unfortunately we did not have a honeymoon the first or second time. CAN U GUYS HELP US. I KNOW U DO NOT HEAR THAT MANY STORIES LIKE OURS. My second wedding was not much either but at least my mom was there and about 50 people and we got married in the church and ate dinner. so if you can help us have a honeymoon that would be great. we did not have a limo either time either. the second time we only had 3,000 to spend so we had to stretch it but the first time we had 0. we are morre than happy and so in love and the kids are sooo happy. it is a dream come true.true love exist. PLEASE GIVE US THE HONEYMOON THAT WE NEVER HAD. I KNOW THAT I WILL NEVER GET THE PICTURE PERFECT WEDDING BUT THAT IS OK I ACCEPT THAT BUT MY HUSBAND HAS NEVER EVEN BEEN ON A AIRPLANE AND THAT WOULD MEAN THE WORLD TO US. THIS IS FOREVER.TEARS.................
THE SECOND TIME I BOUGHT MY DRESS FOR 99.00 PICKED THE SECOND ONE I SAW I WAS JUST HAPPY TO HAVE ONE AND BOUGH A LOT OF DECORATIONS FROM EBAY THE SATIN RUNNERS FLOATING CANDLES ETC. I REALLY HAD TO HUSTLE. IT WAS NOT EVERYTHING THAT I WANTED I WAS JUST HAPPY TO GET MARRIED IN THE CHURCH SO IF I CAN GET A DOOVER IT WOULD BE FANTASTIC.
Hi, my wedding was not at all anything i wanted. everything was what my mother wanted yes i was young when i got and i am still young now but for the past almost 3 years now i can not stop thinking about how bad my wedding was the only good part to it was i got to marry the man of my dreams! I did not have the wedding that i wanted, it was a very small wedding, my husband could not even has his family there, due to the fact that my mother had made it a very fast wedding and did not give me and my husband who at the time was deployed to Iraq enough time to try to have the wedding that we wanted. my husband did not get to wear a tux he was told he had to wear his class a's and as for me i could not get the dress that i wanted i had to get something that matched him, which i did not agree with. we also did not get to pick out where the wedding was gonna happen that also was picked out by my mother. the way it looked was not decided by husband or myself. After the vows we had thought it was going to be smooth, but that never happened we were rushed to eat food then rushed into cutting the cake which was nothing that i had wanted, then right after the cake was cut family members found alcohol and started drinking and then left after they had a few drinks, me and my husband never got our dance never had a real reception, we did not have anything that would be considered a wedding besides our vows, and as for our honeymoon well i dont think you can call it that we were not allowed to leave the town due to the fact my father who came down to the wedding was watching her and they wanted us close by. so we ended up at a local hotel for the night, then by 7 the next morning we were getting phone calls to come back home so that we can pick up everything from the wedding. everything had happened inside my mothers home. the wedding itself was in her upstairs living room everyone ate in her dining room which was the next level up. and then everyone was allowed to roam the house drinking and talking. it was more like a big family get together than a wedding then about 4 days after that my husband had to go back to Iraq. So now after about 3 years of being married and having 2 kids together and having another deployment around the corner i would love nothing else but to marry him again and have the wedding of our dreams. i love my hero and i am very proud of him for what he does for me and our to little girls. Please help us have a wedding of our dreams.
HELLO,my name is mauricia causey and my older sister shakia fleming just had a wedding september 24th,2011 hear in ft wayne indiana, i really want to give her a dream come true wedding and honey moon. she has always gave her last to her our family and is resently living with our parents to help them because both of them are sick and are dying, and she deserves her dream wedding, IT ALL STARTED KINDA GOOD BUT THEN IT TOOK THE WRONG TRUN, HER HUSBAND AND HIS WHOLE SIDE OF THE FAMILY WAS 35,40 MINNUTES LATE BECAUSE HIS TUX WAS THE WRONG SIZE, WAY TOO SMALL, AND THEN HE SHOWS UP WITH THE WORST ATTITUDE EVER, MAKING HER WHOLE WEDDING DAY DEPRESSING, ONE OF THE GROOMS WAS DRINKING WHILE MY SISTER AND BRITHER INLAW WAS DAOING THERE VOWLES, THEY WASNT ABLE TO SAY THERE OWN VOWLES THAT THEY HAD WROTE TO EACHOTHER BECAUSE THE LIMOW WAS OUT SIDE WAITING FOR US, AND THEN WHEN WE GOT INSIDE OF THE LIMO, IT WAS TRASHY, FALLING APART, THE WINDOWS WOULDNT ROLL DOWN, HOT AND STUFFY, THE GROOM AND BRIDE COULDNT EVEN SIT NEXT TO EACHOTHER BECAUSE IT WASNT ENOUGH ROOM FOR THEM TO SIT ON THE SAME SEAT, SO HE SAT BEHIND HER, MUCI PLAYER WOUDNT PLAY, IT WAS LIKE THEY TRADED THE LIMO WE SAW AND PIKED OUT FOR A COMPLEETLY DIFFRENT LIMO, ONE OF THE GROOMS AND I KEPT ARGUING DRUING THE LIMOE RIDE AND RECEPYION, IT WANT ENOUGH FOOD, ENOUGH DRINK, ENOUGH BEVERAGES. NOT REALLY GOOD PICTURES TAKEN, THEY WANTED A VIDEO OF THERE WEDDING AND DIDNT GET IT, THE TABLE PEICES WAS WRONG, WRONG COLOR OF BLUES AND SOME JUST PLAIN OUT WRONG COLOR ALL TOGOTHER, THEY HAD TO STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THERE FRIST DANCE BECAUSE THE GROOMS UNCLE WAS BEEING RUDE AND DANCING BEHIND MY SISTER AND WOULDNT GIVE THEM THERE SPECIAL MOMMENT, AND THEN THE GROOMS MOTHER DECIDED TO DANCE WITH MY SISTERS HUBAND ON A SONG THAT WAS ONLY MENT FOR OUR DADDY AND HER TO DANCE TOO. ALL TOGOTHER THE WHOLE WEDDING WAS WRONG. AND MY SISTER REALLY DINT GET A CHANCE TO SAY HOW SHE WANT HER WEDDING, I MEAN SHE PLAINED IT AND THE GROOMS MOTHER JUST TOOK OVER EVERYTHING FROM DAY ONE TO THE END AND HER HUSBAND WOULD STICK UP FOR HIS MOM AND WOULDNT LISTEN TO MY SISTER., PLEASE HELP MY SISTER OUT WITH HER DREAM WEDDING, THIS WOULD MEAN ALOT TO HER AND SHE DESERVES IT, SHE RAISE LOTS OF KIDS AND EVEN HELPED MY PARENTS RAISE ME, AND SHE HELPS MY PARENTS TAKE CARE OF MY DAUGHTER TOO, THANK U FOR READING
My husband and I were to be married on May 12 2011. We made all arrangements to a small destination Wedding in Mentone AL. With a small group of 12 family and friends, quite wedding in a rustic wedding chapel followed by a reception in a very rustic restaurant. My father (86)who wanted to remember the wedding, he has Alzheimer's, and just found out, now has bladder cancer...was to give me away, wearing his US Air Force uniform. My mother passed a year before. Other important details...we were not able to get our tiny dream wedding, due to a mini van hitting my husband (he was on our motorcycle) two days before the date on our way to the destination wedding cabin we had rented. We did get married a week later in a gazebo outdoors in local park, all wearing blue jeans, and only 2 family members were there other than my father...who also disappointed wore blue jeans. My husband was on a walker, but stood on his own during the service. We all wore blue jeans because of the brace on his leg, nothing else would fit over it. And we did not want him to be the only one to sport jeans. We were unable to have a Honey Moon, due to his recovery. But understand how blessed we are, and how the accident put things in prospective. I will never forget how the motorcycle looked laying on the ground just minutes after the wreck...thought he was dead or least with broke back. The crew tending to my husband would not let me near him until they were about to load him in the ambulance. With me and my father in car following... Off to the hospital, and all I could think of...please do not turn on the sirens. My husband just suffered a broken knee cap and lost a good bit of skin, recovered in 12 weeks. But needless to say, with us being in our 50's, finally found each other, best friends thought our lives together was going to be cut short before we were able to say "I do".
Hi, My name is Lisa Fodor. My parents wedding was horrible! Well first of all my dad proposed to my mom in his car. once he proposed to her he asked her if she wanted to get married. she said yes so they went on their way to Reno to elope. At Reno they got married and didn't even spend a night there they drove back home and theb something happens to the car. because they got married in March and in March at Reno it snows. So they were stuck there for a few hours and got back home. They didn't even get a honeymoon! They couldn't afford one. As far as i know we are having a really hard time with money right now. If you can please help my parents dreams come true.
Hello my name is Adrianna. My wedding didn't quite turn out the way I had wanted it to. December 10th 2011 was the big day, I had everything planned and ready and was so excited that I'd finally be walking down the isle in a beautiful white dress in front of all my friends and family, but just before thanksgiving I fell I'll. I was told I had the flu but that wasn't it. The following week they said I had cat scratch fever. Then they said I had tic fever. With all these different diagnosis we decided to go to hospital. They didn't admit me right away because I wasn't sick enough despite having a fever of 103 for the past two weeks. I was also very weak and in a lot of pain. They sent me home and my family did all they could to try and control my fever. The big day came and I was still not doing good. We decided not to cancel the wedding since everything was already in place and secretly I hoped that I might, just might have enough energy to walk down the isle. I didn't walk down the isle, I ended up going to the emergency room. While at the ER the wedding party and my family were all there, and then our Rabbi showed up. We ended up having a wedding after all in the waiting room at the ER. After 10 days in the hospital and numerous tests and biopsies I have been diagnosed with lupus an auto immune disease. I'm currently recovering and am doing much better having been discharged from the hospital on the 21st dec 2011. A road of recovery lies ahead and a wedding I never got to go to lies behind. I would love a do over. I would love to get to wear my dress. Well that's my story of my wedding. Thank you for reading, Adrianna West
i was married in april 3, 2006 and to me it was a hotmess on the day that i got married i had to find someone to marry me in south carolina after looking around for someone we finally did we found a lady at a funeral home so mt soon to be huaband went in to ask and the lady said yes but i was not going inside the funeral home to grt married so the lady come out and we stood in the parking lot and she said the most important parts and we said i do and that was it ,it took about 5 minutes for the whole thing and that was it the other part of the story is that we got a divorce for this reason we were trying to get home through usda and he,s cridet was bad so we were using mines but the sad thing about it is that i did,nt get the house i,m divorce and we can.t afford to remarry again at this time one good thing about the situation is that were still holding on to each other.
I am writing this is hopes for a do over wedding for my daughter and son in law. She had the wedding of her dreams planned which was ruined by her trying to do the right thing. She took a shot to prevent her from becoming pregnant. She became very ill. Unable to get out of bed, had multiple pulmonary embolisms, and back in the hospital for pneumonia. She has a 3 year old daughter who she was taking excellent care of who has also suffered from her mother's illness. She was such a good parent. She really amazed me with the care she did for my granddaughter. Had to cancel her dream wedding for May of 2011, which she had been planning for months and lost thousands of dollars. She was in nursing school and had to drop out twice due to her illness and now fears she will not be able to return to nursing school. She married in October 2011, but it was nothing like she had dreamed or previously planned. My mother has passed away in July and was unable to be there. That was one reason for the wedding being planned in May, because my mother has been ill for a long time and she wanted to make sure she was there. Our family could not make it due to the change in date and late notice. There were 5 people out of 60 there from our family. Due to all the money lost, she was able to have an outdoor wedding, but it was not what she planned. She had to pay for a second wedding dress, because she lost all the money for the first wedding dress. She is still depressed over this and is not fully herself due to the shot. I want my daughter back and think giving her the wedding she wants will help. If you could please help her dream come true and believe this would brighten up her life and their future.
Hi My name is Jennifer, I will be 27 on Dec.30th. I have four wonderful childre two boys and two girls ages ranging 10 to 4. I have been married to my awesome husband for 10 years. We didn't get married the traditional way we were married at the courthouse and had no one there and no photos. The most terrible part of it I got married on September 11, 2001. When we had got married on that day we had no clue what was going on until we were married. In the past year I have had 3 surgeries on my knee cause on 9-25-2010 I shattered my knee in 8 different places. Also in the past year I was diagnosed with numerous things including fibromyalgia. My husband has lost his job having to take care of me and our children. He cooks, cleans, bust firewood daily and really deserves happiness. He has always told me that I take his breath away everytime I step into the room. He also wants to renew our vows. He said that he wants to see me in the dress of my dreams. So when that he see's me it takes his breath away. They tod me with some of the diagnoses that I might not be able to walk when I reach my mid 30's. We were planning to renew our vows on the day we meet 12 years ago April 14. My dream before I get worse is to renew my wedding with my children involed. Thank so much Jennifer and Charles Evans and Family!
Hi my name is Brandy Kremer and I wanted to share my story. April 7th, 2001 Me and my husband Eric were married and let me tell you it was by no means the wedding I imagined growing up and it crushed my moms wedding dreams for me as well. to begin I was 4 months pregnant with my 1st child we got married in the night club were we worked (during the day before opening) our friends did their best to decorate it and tried with a hundred candles to get the smell of ciggarettes and other smells to go away but it just didn't work so I was so embarrassed. My dress wasn't himmed up right so I kept stepping on the dress which ripped :( we had to hurry the reception which was a meat and cheese tray and beverages so they could clean up before they opened for work. I had gorgeous wedding pictures done but I couldn't even afford 1 so I have none from that day. The whole wedding was so embarrassing that I feel after 10 years together it ways on us that our start wasn't like we had wanted oh and a honey moon wasn't even possible my husband had to go back to work the next day since we had a baby on its way. We have had some rough patches in our marriage with now 3 kids but our love has always got us through we just would love to have a dream wedding just something we can look back on and smile and not be emarrassed from. Thank you for taking the time to read my story and if you even consider me it would be a prayer answered!
My husband and I was married November 26, 2011. The day should have been a joyous occasion but it was a disaster! My sister and I got into a great argument and almost came to blows if my husband and brother did not intervene. My dad walked me down the Aisle but was not feeling well because he is a diabetic and did not attend the reception therefore, I never had the opportunity to have a father/daughter dance. I cried at the alter not because I was happy because I invited 150 guest and only 20 attended. Grant it it is not easy to plan an out of town wedding and rely on people who say they love you; it is really sad how others jeaoulsy can affect someone's joy. My DJ showed up 4 hours late, the cake was not cut, the caterer was was late with setting up the food so my guest sat around for 3 hours just chatting. My sister did not attempt to help me get dressed and dropped out of the wedding at the last moment because of jealousy. I had to find a new Reverend to officiate the ceremony because someone past away at my mothers church and her Pastor decided to do the funeral when he knew well in advance and chose not to let another of his ministers do the funeral. I did not have a limo and ended up paying for half of my girls dresses and still have not been reimbursed and I did not have a professional photographer so my pictures are not great. My wedding day was a disaster and when I see wedding on TV it brings great sadness to my heart and the tears began to flow. Me and my husband Are very happily married my family adores him. He is hurt because no one from his family attended our wedding because thy could not afford to travel from detroit to Rochester, ny. I ended up donating the cake/food to the open door mission the very next day and no we did not have an honeymoon.
We had 3 weeks to plan our wedding! We culdn't find a venue, so we got married in a public park, there were peole walking through the entire time. We didn't have actual bridesmaids dresses so they all wore something they found in their closet. My mother bought me a wedding dress, but it didn't fit me, so she altered it herself and it looked awful and came undone halfway through the reception. My father couldn't make it to the wedding so my grandfather walked me down the aisle and kept making smart comments through the whole wedding. We didn't have a reception location so we had it in my mothers dirt backyard. The cake was leaning and half the music on my wedding list didn't play. It was at night and my aunt did the pictures, so they all came out very dark. There was no wine or cocktail hour, and people were walking around with bottles of beer through the entire wedding. We now have 2 beautiful children that have gotten us through our darkest times and would love to share such a joyous occassion with them. We would love a do-over so we have something we can look back upon and smile. Please consider me for a do-over, it would be greatly apreciated. Thank you for reading our story.
Me and my husband got married back in 09. we were both so young and had a beautiful daughter together we figured it would be the thing to do. after planning and him losing his job we never got the chance to have our wedding until October 2009. It was the most depressing wedding ever. i had no say in the planning except what i wore. it caused so much stress i ended up arguing with my mom which then did not show to my wedding. it was in my husbands aunts back yard my maid of honor was his sister... everything was all about them! i hated it i wanted to run away and not look back. The sun was in my eyes we couldnt even look at eachother because of it. It was so hot and my dress was suppose to be my prom dress back in high school. my cake which my mother in law made. wasnt even enough to feed all of us we had to cut it so small for everyone to get some. i had no honeymoon we just stayed the night in a hotelroom and didnt even use it as our honeymoon. Shortly after the wedding we didnt even feel married it was the same feeling as when we were engaged or even dating. I pray that someday i can just have the wedding i wanted in the first place and not have my in laws incharge of it. maybe someone who knows what they are doing. I dont talk about my wedding at all this is the first time i have told the story since the wedding happened. It was the most upsetting day of my life and they say it was suppose to be the happiest. not much more to the story unless i give the littest details which im sure you guys dont want to hear. They say it was a wedding Thx for reading Tricia
My husband and I had been together for almost 16 years with three children before we agree to get married. We tried to decide on a date so we both would rememeber. So we had two dates in mind which was 11-11-11 and 9-10-11 but I didn't like 9-10-11 and 11-11-11 were my twin son birthday. So we just decide just do it. So we went to the courts and got married on 3-17-11 which is St. Patricks Day. Because I love the color green. We got to the court and everything was great. So after the court I said so whats next, my newly husband says to me I have to go to work. I could not belivie it. So I go to our local DMV to change my last name to my newly last name. I spend the rest of the day telling everybody we were married and change our name on facebook. When my newly husband got home we went out to dinner and my sister bought us a cake and that was the end of our celebration. We were trying to have a real wedding this year but money is so tight that we are unable to do it.
1year ago me and my husband got married through civil, we were on a tight budget so we got married and celebrated in a backyard. One week before my wedding I got an email saying my dress wasn't going to arrive on time, so I decided to cancel and go buy one. That week seemed to go on with bad news; my husbands step-dad decided to turn a gun on himself and shot himself in the head for personal reasons. Regardless we kept on with the planning, the day arrived and since we live in laredo its one of the most hottest place on earth everyone was sweating. We got married,but his mom wasn't there due to her boyfriend being dead. Later she arrived with along with family members all dressed in black. She was still mourning over him. She decided to leave and on her way out she fainted, had evryone run over to her had the ambulance called to check her out. Might sound disrespectful but he rapped a young lady and he deserved what he did to himself and much more. I just wish we could redo our wedding and have nothing but happy and wonderful moments remembered. Since we do have two kids and only him working we don't have the time and money to make it happen. Thank you for taking your time to read our story.
When my husband and I met, we were both going through military training. I had been very sheltered growing up... sheltered to the extent that my mother had already made plans for me to marry a family friend (who had shown no interest in me at all... the whole arrangement had only been between my mother and his.) SO, when I fell head over heels for my dream guy (literally... I had a dream about him - his face exactly - back when I was about 10 or 11), there was a whole lot of strife from my family. When I graduated from my training before he did from his, I went to my first duty station, hoping that he would end up close by... He didn't... BUT before he left to go overseas, he made it a point to go, by himself (since I couldn't get approved for leave), to meet my family and stay with them for a couple weeks, trying to make a good impression. All to no avail... but, he still asked my father for my hand in marriage. Not really getting an answer, and not daring to ask my mother, he decided to propose anyway... Shortly after our engagement, he was informed that he would be getting sent to Iraq on deployment. I was scared. It was hard enough having a fiance' across the ocean, I didn't want to know what it would be like having one in a war zone. So, in spite of my mother's arguing, and friends of the family (most of whom I hadn't heard from in years) calling to tell me what a huge mistake I was making, I told him to take leave, fly out to meet me, and we would go to where his parents lived and get married. There was no way I was going to let him go to Iraq without being married to me! (Not very logical, but since when does love have anything to do with logic?) So he flew out. I called my family to give them one last chance to be a part of our special day, but they refused. So he and I drove 18 hours to his parents to get married there... His mother mostly did the planning for me... we got married in a bed and breakfast... the honeymoon suite was gorgeous! the chaple where the ceremony took place? Not so much... I didn't get any say in any of it... Everything was very tacky. My mother in law even wore hot pink, baggy pantaloons to the event! And the part I hated the most was the fact that I had sprained my ankle pretty badly the week before, and because I had no time or money to alter the dress, I had to wear 5 inch heels (I can't walk in heels with a good ankle... forget about a sprained one!) So my father in law was the only one available to walk me down the aisle. Before the ceremony, I pulled the minister aside, and begged him NOT to ask who gives me away because my father wasn't there, and, since I had only met him 3 days prior, I really didn't feel my father in law had any right to give me away... But... I'm sure you guessed it... As soon as we got to the alter, the minister asked the question, and my father in law's natural response was "Her mother and I do." *sigh* The only thing I could think at that moment was "If my mother were here right now, and heard you say that, she would be ringing your neck!" After the ceremony, we all headed back to his parent's house... Along the way he, his sister and I stopped at a local burrito place and picked up food for everyone. When we got to his parent's we all sat around the living room eating burritos and trying not to breathe in too much of my father in law's cigarette smoke, then cut into a walmart sheet cake from the "day old" discount shelf in the bakery section. And that was my wedding day... The magical day I had been dreaming of since I was 5 years old... I cried when my husband and I were alone after the ceremony... When he asked me what was wrong, I had to tell him honestly: "It's supposed the be the most wonderful day of my life! And the only good thing I got from this whole day is you!" That's when he promised me that one day, for a milestone anniversary, he would give me the wedding of my dreams. A wedding where all my friends and family are around to join in the celebration. One where my father walks me down the aisle, and where the girls (including my mother in law) are wearing pretty dresses, and where naked babies with wings and arrows and ugly crucifixes are NOT allowed! So I have been planning my dream wedding ever since! Now, my mother still gives me strife about going against her wishes when I married him, but she admits that he is a good man and that she is so glad that he turned out to be such a good husband for me. So I am sure my family will now have no quams about attending our 10th anniversary vow renewal I have so many details already figured out... Every time he goes on deployment, I use my spare time to do research and plan out what my dream wedding will be to keep myself from getting lonely... So far I want a midsummer night's dream meets happily ever after theme. So far I'm hoping for an outside ceremony under a big beautiful tree (right now I am having huge trouble finding a good venue).... lots of friends and loved ones in the wedding party... Pastel colors... walking down the aisle to Fairytale by Enya... a Faerie Flame candle for our unity candle... a "wishing" tree instead of a guest book... a big fairy feast with all sorts of enchanting foods, and English country dancing at the reception... a scrapbook with wedding photos of us, our parents, grandparents and great grandparents for people to look through... Moss runners, mismatch colored glasses with candles, gormet lollipops, or flowers in them, and apothecary jars with flowers submerged in water in them for the tables... "firefly" jars around the dance floor... Lily of the valley, Lilacs, forget-me-nots, Columbines, Grape Hyacinth, Delphinium, Hydrangea, Bleeding Hearts (NO carnations)... A new ring to replace the gorgeous one that he proposed to me with (and I feel so guilty about losing shortly after the wedding)... And so much more!