Articles: Our Wedding - The Ceremony

March 31, 2004

Our Wedding - The Ceremony

Stepping out of my sister’s black Saturn, wearing jeans, a baggy gray sweatshirt, no makeup, and my hair loosely tied back in a ponytail, I was preparing for the biggest day of my life: my wedding day.

So I wasn’t quite looking the princess that I would later on, after getting my hair and makeup done, but I still floated around the mall, feeling like the luckiest and most beautiful girl there was.

The person doing my makeup couldn’t believe I was getting married. I was so calm and assured. I honestly didn’t feel the slightest bit upset about getting married and my stress level about the actual wedding going well and everything was very, very minimal. I did at one point call up Michael in tears at the mall because Bon-Macy’s (where I was supposed to get my makeup done at) opened an hour later than I thought. But that was the only incident.

I kept worrying while we were driving to the church that I might run into Michael. I didn’t want him to see me before walking down the aisle and I’m so very glad we decided to do it that way. There was nothing more exciting, exhilarating than walking down the aisle, breathless and overwhelmed from the magic and flurry of the event, and resting my eyes of the man of my dreams, locking my gaze to him for comfort as I walked down that aisle.

The church was so beautiful when I arrived. I was told when I got there the train service had been cancelled for that day, which was a big relief. One of the worries that kept me up late at night, unable to sleep, weeks before the wedding was the thought of our vows being drowned out by the piercing sound of the train whistle.

I sort of let everyone figure out what was supposed to happen after I arrived. Carolyn (Michael’s sister) fixed me a plate to eat. My sister went over and talked with Pastor Steve, Michael, and Christopher to find out how the ceremony would go, then came back and informed me. Michael’s mom watched the clock and helped me get my dress on.

One interesting thing about our wedding, since it was held three hours away in a church we rented only for one day was, there was never any practice runs. We never practiced where people would stand, how I would walk down the aisle, how we’d get our rings from the pillow to our fingers, what order we’d say our vows in, etc.

This is another thing I wouldn’t change at all. I’m really glad we didn’t have a practice run. It made walking down the aisle incredibly amazing and magically. I didn’t know what to expect, what to do, what it would be like. I walked into the church and took everything in, amazed and awed by it all. I think if we had practiced in some way, that amazement, that wonderful excitement, would be diminished. Cinderella didn’t have a practice run when she met her Prince Charming and danced the night away, after all.

So Dani (my sister) went over and got all the information about what would happen, where we’d stand, how the ceremony would go from the guys and Pastor Steve. We all decided that Dani and Christopher would hand us our vows and rings when the time came (we didn’t have a ring bearer) and that Michael would help me with knowing where to stand when I walked down the aisle and met with him.

I got made up in my dress. I was wearing the family pearls (they were so beautiful), a tradition for the Kent family, and I was very honored to continue it. I posed for a couple pictures with my bouquet.

“It’s time,” someone said and soon the reception house was empty, except for Doris and me. It happened so fast! I couldn’t believe how quickly events were unfolding. Faster than I could think, the lady signaled for me to start making my way toward the church. Doris walked with me, carrying my train, and as I made my way toward the church, a car of people in the parking lot drove by me at a slow pace and starting taking my picture! It was so surreal!

I’m sure they came to see the historic Elbe church and found it was closed for our wedding, but I still find it strange that they would instead choose to hang around long enough to take some pictures of me as I made my way to my wedding. I would actually like to see those pictures. It would be neat to see our wedding from a completely different perspective. I wonder what they do with the pictures… it’s very strange to think about.

Anyway, back to the wedding. The music floated out from the church and the feeling of surrealism washed over me again. I truly did feel like Cinderella entering the grand ball, not knowing what to expect, maybe feeling a little out of place and overwhelmed by the beauty and spectacular of the event.

When I walked into the church, I stood there for a moment and took in everyone standing, the room, my sister crying, and then finally, my groom, looking so incredibly handsome. The church looked so much larger than I had remembered from our short visit a few weeks earlier and there were a few unfamiliar faces in the audience, not to mention the organist we rented from the church turned out to be male, all of which surprised me the first few moments I stepped in. Someone whispered “You look beautiful,” as I walked down the aisle, though I’m not sure who it was.

I had practiced my walk in my head countless nights, telling myself I was going to walk slow with surety, but when it actually came to doing it, I think I just walked without much consideration. I remember thinking I was going too slow and maybe the organist was going to stop playing the music before I made it up to the altar, but I’ve watched the wedding on video, and I was going a steady pace. Everything just felt like it was going in slow motion from the time I stepped out of the reception house, to the time I took Michael’s hand at the altar.

Michael was there the entire walk I took. It lasted a lifetime, me walking down the aisle, looking into his eyes, being guided to my destiny. It lasted seconds, over too soon, only a tiny fraction of my entire life, but still to this date the greatest walk ever taken.

Words are not adequate in conveying the trueness of the wedding. I’ll never feel the way I did when I took that walk, so there’s no comparison. Imagine falling through a cloud and slowly floating to earth, capturing all the stars in the galaxy and holding them in the palm of your hand for a split second, and maybe you will begin to understand the level of feelings, or surrealism I was going through. It was magic.

When I arrived at the altar, Michael took my hand and we stepped up on the platform at the front of the church. Pastor Steve was the first to speak. He weaved in a lot of the concepts of marriage that we had talked about in our counseling sessions with him and he even tried to put in our own stories that we had shared with him.

After he talked it was Michael’s turn. My heart raced and I flushed as Michael read off his heartfelt vows. They were a novel, not only in length, but in the brilliance of capturing our love story, from start to end. I’ve never heard such beautiful words, such a wonderful story, and I never dreamed I would be a part of it! Michael finished his vows and slipped the ring on my finger (which already had my engagement ring on. Oops. I forgot to take it off.)
I was so nervous when it came time for me to read my vows and I had written my vows so they were short. The message I wanted to convey with them was how we were really joining as one, one life, one dream, one heart, and how that was everything I always wanted.

I don’t remember who Pastor Steve asked “Do you take this person…” first, but I do know when I said yes, my heart truly said yes to every single word. Sickness. Health. Richer. Poorer. My yes was a promise of unconditional love and support, a vow to stand by him through the best of times and the worst of times, a life of dreams that are only together, forever.

The sweetest, softest kiss sealed our “I do’s” and then we were introduced to the audience as Mr. and Mrs. Michael Kent!

As great as the first walk to the church was, there’s something special that doesn’t compare to walking out of it, holding the hand of the man that I just married. I entered as a single, 18 year old girl, and left Mrs. Michael Kent, the wife of one of the strongest, smartest, special men in the world. I’ve been so lucky to have my dreams come true!

There’s so more things I could include. There’s the reception, the small little details of my bouquet, my dress, my hair. There’s so much I want to write about this day. And I will. But right now I want to share my magical, beautiful, perfect wedding ceremony.

Posted by December at March 31, 2004 12:00 PM

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