Heather's Wedding

I wake up the morning of my wedding and go to wash my face and feel like I have something in my eye. I did all the tricks you are told to do to try and get it out, all to no avail. After a half hour, I was getting really frustrated. One of my bridesmaids father is a doctor so he looked at it and said I must have scratched either the inside of my eyelid or my actual eye. Are you KIDDING ME? How did I live to be 21 years old and never have this happen before, ever, but on the morning of my wedding! So I finally figured out it did not hurt when my eye was open, but when I blinked it got really irritated. Well, that wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to ever blink!

At this point my mom is freaking out so we call the family doctor who is in town for the wedding and he goes to the pharmacy and gets this stuff called lacrolube. It's like a gel to put in my eye. I was really nervous because I didn't know if it would make my eye droop or look weird so I agreed to let him put it in after we got to the reception and had taken pictures. What was supposed to be a relaxing day with my friends ended up being me crying and holding a cold rag on my eye! I remember getting into the limo with my dad to go to the church and just crying! I even looked like I was crying all the way down the aisle, but it was just my eye hurting making it water!

So we make it to the reception where I promptly take two loratab for pain and the doctor puts the medicine in after the pictures. Well it worked! It completely numbed my eye so I couldn't feel it. (the medicine I am sure had something to do with it!) SO I was able to really enjoy my reception. I had a blast dancing and hanging out with my friends and family and completely forgot about my eye. Now we can look back on it and laugh, but at the time oh it was awful! Of course, to this day, after 2 and ½ years, I have still never scratched my eye like that again.

I can't wait to get to heaven and ask God why all of that happened! I am sure we will have a good laugh over it.

~Heather

Kristen's Wedding

My husband and I got engaged in April, so soon after; wedding planning took over my life! But nothing seemed to go right, everywhere seemed to be booked, I couldn’t decide what type of wedding I wanted (small, large, close friends, etc) I really couldn't even decide on a date.

My husband is a professional wrestler and at the time he was training in Tampa and his career was just starting to take off, so we had the whole long distance relationship going on, and trying to plan a wedding around when he could take time off. If you aren’t familiar

with wrestling, its 12 months a year, pretty much the only vacation they get is if they need surgery! We finally decided on December 13, although I really wanted a fall wedding.

Well, one thing started to fall through after the other. For example, I finally decided on having the reception at the Marriott downtown. Only to find out a few months later, they hadn’t penciled me in like they said! So there I was at square one again. I was reeeaally starting to get stressed at this point. In September, Teddy (my husband) was asked to audition for a movie, The Marine II. We found out a few weeks later they wanted h

im as the main character! It was very exciting, but....they tell him he will be gone November 10- December 20 to film the movie in THAILAND, just in time to miss the wedding!!

First, we decided to wait until he got back from filming to get married. But after LOTS and I mean LOTS of prayer we decided to go ahead and get married. Teddy's usually gone from Friday to Tuesday and there really wasn’t any time for him to take off for the wedding. So we got married on a Thursday night. The wedding was literally planned in two days and his mom's friends and my mom’s friends did everything! Cooked, decorated, everything! The only for sure thing about the wedding was my dress had actually come in!! I had planned on having 11 bridesmaids, 11 groomsmen, ordered 500 invitations. Needless to say we scaled down ALOT.

The wedding was October 30, smack dab in the middle of fall just like I always wanted. It was PERFECT, just close friends and family. The weather was absolutely beautiful (it was outside on a lake) and all the people I loved and cared about helped put it all together! Looking back, it is very evident that the Lord knew all along what would happen. Nothing seemed to go right; I was never completely satisfied with my plans because His plan was sooo much better.

And if I had to do it all over again, I would do it the exact same way.

~Kristen

Wedding Stories

Dear Readers,

Over the next few weeks I will be doing a series of wedding stories written by friends of mine. You may find a little inspiration in what they have to say. Some stories will be funny and some sweet, so enjoy.

Paige

Keepin It Simple

A few tips on how to simplify the wedding process.

1. The fewer the better. Limit your wedding party and the number of invitations. I understand that sometimes this is unavoidable. For your wedding party don't ask your mother's second cousin just because she's the only other female on that side of the family, put people in YOUR wedding party that are special to you and your fiance. I know in the South it is custom to send invitations to everyone and anyone that you have ever come in contact with. Ask yourself this question, do I care if they come??? If the answer is no, then why waste the money on inviting them, they probably won't come anyway. (Getting more gifts is not a good reason to invite people)

2. Hire versatile vendors. Try to find a company that does flowers and food and rentals, it's one or two less people to have to meet with. Get all your printing done at the same place and get to know them, so they treat you good. Try to get your wedding dress and bridesmaids dresses from one place. Etc., etc., you get the idea.

3. Invest in a Planner. Well of course, this is the most obvious solution. In all seriousness a planner can be a vital investment, because they can take care of all the little details, herd the bridal party (since your mother insisted that every 2nd, 3rd and 4th cousin be in the wedding party), confirm with your vendors and just take care of all the non-fun wedding stuff and figure out solutions to anything that may go . . . not exactly as imagined.

4. Don't stress and don't let others evoke stress. Easier said than done, yes I know, but try.

5. In general, be nice. The nicer you can be in the midst of the wedding planning to better it will be for you and your fiance. Things happen, it's part of the process. It's okay for things to go be a little different that imagined, just know that in the end you will be married to the man/women of your dreams!

6. Enjoy yourself! Don't let things become so elaborate and so big that they get out of hand and you can't enjoy it or you are too exhausted because you've stayed up for two weeks straight prior to the big day trying to decide . . . (you fill in the blank).

A Marriage Can Last

So often we focus all our attention on the Wedding Day and forget what it really means to spend a lifetime together. My husband and I recently celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary. I know it's not that long compared to many, but looking back it has flown by! My husband and I never hesitate to tell anyone that the 1st year was rough, absolutely the hardest thing I have ever done.

We both new that divorce was not even an option so we worked through the difficult times. We now know how to love one another and to get along.

I heard a statistic the other day from a Counselor that 1 in 2 of ALL marriages end in divorce, but if a couple prays together regularly that percentage decreases to 1 in 12,000. It's worked for us!

I encourage every bride and groom to enjoy your wedding day, stick with your marriage and pray together!