Wednesday, August 18, 2021

The Time, Love, And Efforts From Many Prior To Our Wedding Day Made It Quite Spectacular

 

On July 28th, Lisa and celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary. About a week prior to our anniversary, a young lady reached out to me. We've been Facebook friends for years and years. She is planning her wedding. Small. Nothing fancy. 

Hi, Lisa!

We don't know each other personally except that we are Facebook friends. I absolutely adore your posts. From your daily life and hysterical memes to the food photos and your furry kid photos. 

My fiance and I are getting married in the Fall. I know that you and your wife had a rather incredible wedding with a 'Come as You Are' theme. If I remember correctly, it was potluck style and people didn't have to dress up all fancy. That's the kind of wedding we want. 

If at all possible, could you give me some ideas? I would love to have the same style of wedding. Potluck is no problem with our families because they all love to cook. In fact, more than a handful of family members said that if we hired a caterer they would disown us. 

I would appreciate tips and advice on decorations, wedding favors, etc.

I responded back in length and she was beyond grateful for my reply back. 

What I didn't tell her was that she inspired my Facebook post a week before our wedding anniversary. It accompanied the above photo...

A couple of months before our wedding in 2012, Lisa and I went for a walk in the woods. We discovered a small, rickety old shack. Abandoned. Probably a little unsafe to be in, but...

In one of the rooms, there were 2 medium boxes filled with antique mason jars. Most of them were the average size. A few were larger. I remember that moment. Because. For our wedding table centerpieces, we wanted wildflowers. In mason jars. Tied with mismatched ribbon. Our original plan was to purchase mason jars at Target or Walmart. 

We left the shack. Determined. To find the owner of the land. It didn't take long for Lisa to find the owner. She asked if they were interested in selling the 2 boxes of mason jars. No. They were not. Instead, they told us to just take them and congratulated us on our upcoming wedding day.

The day before our wedding, Mom Violette and her dear friend spent the afternoon picking wildflowers and made all of our centerpieces. They came out gorgeous!

A few people took centerpieces home. To this day, we still have about a dozen of the mason jars. We use them as drinking glasses. Because. Everything tastes better when sipped from a mason or jelly jar. 

What I also didn't tell her, nor did I post on my Facebook wall this year, was this photo. I posted it on my Facebook wall on July 24th of 2015. 

Three years ago. I remember it well. Several days away from our wedding day. We had just moved into our home a week prior. Lisa and I were on overload between work, moving, getting ready for the big day, and everything between.

This particular evening, when we were making our wedding favors, Lorraine stopped by. She brought us dinner and took over while Lisa and I ate. We cracked jokes. I ate fettuccine with my fingers. Lorraine and Lisa joked about "butching up" my delicately dipped and sprinkled pretzels. I lost count of how many times I 'bout near choked from laughing. Such sweet memories.

Sadly, we lost our friend earlier this month after her battle with cancer. However, when we think back to moments like this accompanying our wedding day, she's a part of it and always will be.

As our 9 year wedding anniversary approached, I thought of all of this and beyond...

I thought about our wedding day. 

All of it. 

And, how incredible it was.

Because. 

We kept it simple. 

Come. As. You. Are.

It was at my brother's house because he built it years ago. 

We invited everyone a bit early to mingle, have a drink, get to know each other. 

We provided a lot of the food, but most of our guests brought dishes that were near and dear to them, and that generated a lot of conversations.

After a sunny day, a storm rolled in and it poured buckets. 

A well-known local musician performed and everyone got up to dance.

In the here and now...

It doesn't matter how many years go by. 

We will always remember our wedding day.

But, more so, we will remember the time and love and efforts from all who made our wedding day quite spectacular in the days prior. 

No comments:

Post a Comment