December 11, 2006
"I do."
One of the first things I remember as I walked down the aisle towards Andrew, was his reaction. He just had this look of amazement on his face and a big WOW came out of his mouth. You can actually see him say it on the video and Stan captured it so beautifully in the recap video. It made me feel so special and truly like a princess.
I couldn’t stop smiling. I was so happy. There had been times, especially about 3 years ago when I had just about given up hope and thought this day would never come, but we worked through the bad times, and here we were, standing in front of God, our Pastor and our family and friends. What an amazing feeling. My dad just hung on to my hand and arm the entire time, until Pastor Scott asked, “Who presents this woman to be married?” My dad says, “I do.” He hands me over to Andrew and says, “She’s all yours.”
The ceremony was beautiful. Our friend Judy read my favorite Bible passage, I Corinthians: 13. I actually have that tattooed on my back also… I made sure to have her read the entire chapter though, because I don’t think it means as much if you don’t. She did a beautiful job.
I really enjoyed how Scott put us into that passage. It really was touching and made me think about it in a different way.
When it came time to say our vows, we had decided to say the traditional vows and then say something more to each other afterwards. Andrew and I had talked about this several weeks before the wedding and he told me he wasn’t going to formally prepare anything because he wanted it to be in the moment. So, when he said he hadn’t prepared anything, I was ready. But he is amazing and made me so happy. He could have said anything and I wouldn’t have minded.
I, on the other hand, am not as blessed as him with improvisational skills, so I had prepared mine and changed them up until the morning of. I had given them to my brother earlier in the day to give to Pastor Scott. I read mine and I started tearing up.
I couldn’t believe we were really standing here, at this moment, in Disney, getting married. It was so surreal.
It truly was a once in a lifetime experience. There were a few more formalities and then we were able to kiss as husband and wife.
Now, we are huge movie buffs and leading up to the big day, all I could think of was The Wedding Singer and how Julia (Drew Barrymore) and Robby (Adam Sandler) practiced the wedding kiss… I wondered how we would kiss that day but never actually said anything to Andrew. I had told him it better be more than just a peck and he agreed, but not too sloppy either. He swept me off my feet with that kiss. It was just like our first kiss, way back when. I don’t think I could have felt more love and adoration for him at that moment in time, or the entire day for that matter.
Then we were announced to our friends and family as Mr. and Mrs. That was such a great feeling!! The final song we had chosen was the Hallelujah Chorus because, seriously, after 13 years, that’s what most of the people there were already thinking. Lol…
We walked out and kissed again and again and again…. And then we walked to our staged flower throwing. Now, I knew this wasn’t going to just be a pretty flower toss over the married couple… not our friends, but I didn’t expect to get pelted either. I love our friends and once we got a handful of flowers in the face the first time, I just braced myself for the rest. It was hilarious and I loved every minute of that walk.
Then it was time for more pics!! No rain had fallen as of yet, but the sky sure looked like it was getting ready to open. So, Randy moved us along quickly to make sure we got out of there before we got wet.
All the other guests, including the parents, were told they could go to the bus for the ride to the reception. The rest of the bridal party and ourselves were going to take some more pics. And then, the clouds started to empty. Thankfully, it was pretty light at first, but then the drops started getting a bit bigger. So, that quick trot down the boardwalk towards the Flying Fish turned into a full out run!!!
Man, that dress was heavy… I was so out of breath by the time we finished running I could barely stand… but, we had our rain, which everyone had told us meant good luck.
It held off for the ceremony and after we were under cover, only lasted for a couple more minutes. We took some more pics and the bridal party was told they could go to the bus. Now it was just Andrew, me and Selena. We had decided to let her ride in the limo with us over to the reception and then she could ride to the DP and back to the hotel on the bus.
We took a few more photos in front of the Boardwalk, and off we went to the backstage entrance of our reception at the Living Seas…. Until the next post…
I try not to think about it. I'm surprised Jeff and I made it through that year together too. Congrats to everyone who was able to make it through those tough times... it takes true love 
