Thursday, January 20, 2011
The BIG Day
The date was September 18th, 2010 and it was a day every girl dreams about. The day you put on that beautiful white gown, walk down the aisle to become "one" with the man of your dreams. It was our wedding day. A day I had thought about and prepared for, for over a year. So many hours went into planning this special day, a day that in reality we had no control of once it all began.
The weather had been overcast and rainy for the few days prior to the wedding. Not good when you have planned an outdoor wedding. We had rented a huge tent though and nothing would stop us from having a good time. Our ceremony was to be held outside the tent in my parents yard, which we had landscaped in the spring. It was beautiful. God had other plans though. My mom kept saying, lets just hurry up and get the ceremony started, we should be fine. I was quite frustrated at this point, I continued to tell her, "just take the chairs into the tent, lets just do everything in there." My best friends husband had arrived shortly before we were to start and showed me the rain that was on it's way. I saw no point in even beginning when I just knew in a matter of moments that the skies would open up and we would all get soaked! As we lined up on the side of the house where no one would see us until the music started, I still felt anxious, knowing we wouldn't get through the entire ceremony before the rain. My sister could tell and as we waited there, she said she felt a rain drop and went and told Mom to pull everyone in. Just as our family and friends got the chairs under the tent, the rain came pouring down. Thankfully it only lasted a few short minutes and then slowed to just a sprinkle. We had a short walk from the house to the tent, so we carried on - rain and all.
I never imagined myself to be one of those brides that cried during the ceremony...boy was I wrong. As we were walking down the aisle, we slowed for a picture right next to my grandfather (my mom's dad), he is always full of emotion when it comes to his children and grandchildren, and this occasion was no different. He was already crying, wiping tears from his eyes, so naturally - I got all teary eyed as well. My grandpa is the one man throughout my life I could always depend on, my father was not around for most of my childhood as he moved out west when him and my mom split up. My grandpa means the world to me and seeing him cry, even though they were "happy tears" made me want to cry too. Somehow I held them back...I thought I was golden. Ha! Yeah right. As I joined hands with Jimmy, the love of my life, we listened the the message his cousin had prepared for us. It was beautiful. Now it was time for our vows. As I stared into his eyes, full of love (and also a little glassy - was he going to cry?) emotion just came over me. It was my turn. I started out strong, trying to speak loudly so our family and friends could hear. No sooner had I begun, did I start having difficulty getting any word out because the tears were flowing freely. So, in the end, I was indeed one of those crying brides.
The rest of the evening was wonderful, despite the muddy, wet yard. We tried to just take things as they came. We were a little disappointed with the photographers and some photo opportunities that we thought they missed out on. The DJ on the other hand I was completely irritated with. A father of one of my high school friends drove from the west side of the state to DJ for us. My friend had said how good her dad was, but in the end that was not the case. We had communicated through email for months, them asking me questions, and me giving them songs that we wanted. When it came down to it however, they forgot our song and the song for Jimmy and his mother. Luckily we came up with a way to get them fast. They had hardly any newer music though. They had claimed they had all these thousands of songs, but in the end they had all oldies rock. Lame! My youngest sister and her friend busted out their iPods and we had others downloading music to their phones, so we made it work.
Despite the things we felt "went wrong" or "could've gone better" all in all it was a great night. The food and cake were amazing and I got to marry my best friend and love of my life. September 18th, 2010 will be a day I could (obviously) never forget.
The weather had been overcast and rainy for the few days prior to the wedding. Not good when you have planned an outdoor wedding. We had rented a huge tent though and nothing would stop us from having a good time. Our ceremony was to be held outside the tent in my parents yard, which we had landscaped in the spring. It was beautiful. God had other plans though. My mom kept saying, lets just hurry up and get the ceremony started, we should be fine. I was quite frustrated at this point, I continued to tell her, "just take the chairs into the tent, lets just do everything in there." My best friends husband had arrived shortly before we were to start and showed me the rain that was on it's way. I saw no point in even beginning when I just knew in a matter of moments that the skies would open up and we would all get soaked! As we lined up on the side of the house where no one would see us until the music started, I still felt anxious, knowing we wouldn't get through the entire ceremony before the rain. My sister could tell and as we waited there, she said she felt a rain drop and went and told Mom to pull everyone in. Just as our family and friends got the chairs under the tent, the rain came pouring down. Thankfully it only lasted a few short minutes and then slowed to just a sprinkle. We had a short walk from the house to the tent, so we carried on - rain and all.
I never imagined myself to be one of those brides that cried during the ceremony...boy was I wrong. As we were walking down the aisle, we slowed for a picture right next to my grandfather (my mom's dad), he is always full of emotion when it comes to his children and grandchildren, and this occasion was no different. He was already crying, wiping tears from his eyes, so naturally - I got all teary eyed as well. My grandpa is the one man throughout my life I could always depend on, my father was not around for most of my childhood as he moved out west when him and my mom split up. My grandpa means the world to me and seeing him cry, even though they were "happy tears" made me want to cry too. Somehow I held them back...I thought I was golden. Ha! Yeah right. As I joined hands with Jimmy, the love of my life, we listened the the message his cousin had prepared for us. It was beautiful. Now it was time for our vows. As I stared into his eyes, full of love (and also a little glassy - was he going to cry?) emotion just came over me. It was my turn. I started out strong, trying to speak loudly so our family and friends could hear. No sooner had I begun, did I start having difficulty getting any word out because the tears were flowing freely. So, in the end, I was indeed one of those crying brides.
The rest of the evening was wonderful, despite the muddy, wet yard. We tried to just take things as they came. We were a little disappointed with the photographers and some photo opportunities that we thought they missed out on. The DJ on the other hand I was completely irritated with. A father of one of my high school friends drove from the west side of the state to DJ for us. My friend had said how good her dad was, but in the end that was not the case. We had communicated through email for months, them asking me questions, and me giving them songs that we wanted. When it came down to it however, they forgot our song and the song for Jimmy and his mother. Luckily we came up with a way to get them fast. They had hardly any newer music though. They had claimed they had all these thousands of songs, but in the end they had all oldies rock. Lame! My youngest sister and her friend busted out their iPods and we had others downloading music to their phones, so we made it work.
Despite the things we felt "went wrong" or "could've gone better" all in all it was a great night. The food and cake were amazing and I got to marry my best friend and love of my life. September 18th, 2010 will be a day I could (obviously) never forget.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
The Story of Us...
Many of you already know that Jimmy and I grew up with each other. I was good friends with his sister throughout middle school and high school and our parents worked together for a very long time at Lifesavers in Holland.
However, the real story of "us" began with a click of a button. After more than 10 years of not even seeing Jimmy, out of no where he requested me as a friend on facebook. I had a boyfriend at the time, but that didn't stop me from confirming Jimmy as a friend, while we had never had a meaningful conversation ever, I still considered him a friend. I mean come on, I had known him almost as long as I could remember. After that one click of my mouse...confirming him as a friend, we started talking all the time. It started with something as simple as me commenting on his wall "Hey stranger, how ya been?" From that one comment we became pretty much inseparable as far as technology goes. We talked all the time, about anything and everything. He became one of my closest friends in no time.
A few weeks after we started talking I broke up with my boyfriend for the second and final time. It had been a long time coming as we had already split up once.
Texting, long phone conversations and chatting on facebook filled my day. Jimmy had become the last person I talked to (and thought about) before I fell asleep and the first person I talked to when I woke up. My days were full of text messages and long emails. I was feeling a way I had never felt before when it came to the opposite sex, truly and 100% happy. If I was having a rough day, all it took was one text from him and my day completely turned around.
The first weekend we hung out was just as amazing as I had thought it would be. I went and stayed with his sister, my high school best friend. He was living with his parents, who happen to live right down the road. It was crazy seeing him for the first time. I had warned him that I would probably be super quiet in person, even though I rarely was on the phone. I get shy when it comes to talking to people in person. He reassured me everything would be fine, and he was right. Talking to him in person was just as easy as it had been that first night on the phone. Seeing him for the first time reminded me of all of those feelings from the past...like the HUGE crush I had on him growing up. This was so much more than a crush though. You get to know someone so much deeper I think only being able to talk to them for the first few weeks/month. At least that's how it was for us. No tension, no wanting to be physical, just talking and really getting to know the other person. It was the perfect way for our relationship to start.
Jimmy didn't have a car at the time, so I spent most weekends driving down to Kalamazoo for the first couple months, but then the greatest thing ever happened! He got a job in Lansing and moved closer to me! Things were still going great for us and we had already discussed the fact that this was "it." Someday we would get married.
Six months after we started dating Jimmy proposed and about a year and a half later, September 18th, 2010 we got married.
So that is the "story of us." Stay tuned to find out how the life of Mr. and Mrs. Edwards unfolds.
Xoxo
However, the real story of "us" began with a click of a button. After more than 10 years of not even seeing Jimmy, out of no where he requested me as a friend on facebook. I had a boyfriend at the time, but that didn't stop me from confirming Jimmy as a friend, while we had never had a meaningful conversation ever, I still considered him a friend. I mean come on, I had known him almost as long as I could remember. After that one click of my mouse...confirming him as a friend, we started talking all the time. It started with something as simple as me commenting on his wall "Hey stranger, how ya been?" From that one comment we became pretty much inseparable as far as technology goes. We talked all the time, about anything and everything. He became one of my closest friends in no time.
A few weeks after we started talking I broke up with my boyfriend for the second and final time. It had been a long time coming as we had already split up once.
Texting, long phone conversations and chatting on facebook filled my day. Jimmy had become the last person I talked to (and thought about) before I fell asleep and the first person I talked to when I woke up. My days were full of text messages and long emails. I was feeling a way I had never felt before when it came to the opposite sex, truly and 100% happy. If I was having a rough day, all it took was one text from him and my day completely turned around.
The first weekend we hung out was just as amazing as I had thought it would be. I went and stayed with his sister, my high school best friend. He was living with his parents, who happen to live right down the road. It was crazy seeing him for the first time. I had warned him that I would probably be super quiet in person, even though I rarely was on the phone. I get shy when it comes to talking to people in person. He reassured me everything would be fine, and he was right. Talking to him in person was just as easy as it had been that first night on the phone. Seeing him for the first time reminded me of all of those feelings from the past...like the HUGE crush I had on him growing up. This was so much more than a crush though. You get to know someone so much deeper I think only being able to talk to them for the first few weeks/month. At least that's how it was for us. No tension, no wanting to be physical, just talking and really getting to know the other person. It was the perfect way for our relationship to start.
Jimmy didn't have a car at the time, so I spent most weekends driving down to Kalamazoo for the first couple months, but then the greatest thing ever happened! He got a job in Lansing and moved closer to me! Things were still going great for us and we had already discussed the fact that this was "it." Someday we would get married.
Six months after we started dating Jimmy proposed and about a year and a half later, September 18th, 2010 we got married.
So that is the "story of us." Stay tuned to find out how the life of Mr. and Mrs. Edwards unfolds.
Xoxo
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