24 Years Ago Today

Paul and I were married on December 28, 1986. It was three weeks after his mom died, 9 days after final exams, and 3 days after Christmas. Talk about stress. But I was mostly calm for the wedding. I remember praying with Paul before the ceremony and the sheer love in his eyes when he looked at me as he held my hands in his. It's a look a woman never forgets, the look that says "You are the most special person in the whole world and I love you!"

My Granny had come from California along with my uncle Doug, who designed my bouquet.

My sister Rachel was my maid of honor. She attended well to the details that I wasn't concerned about. (I just wanted to be married.)

Bad surprise: the guy who promised in September to make my wedding cake for free could not be tracked down.
Good surprise: The day before our wedding, when I was far too busy to do one more thing, my friend and bridesmaid went to a bakery, ordered us one, had it delivered on time, and paid for it as a gift to us because we hadn't figured on needing cake money in the budget.
Bad surprise: The girl who agreed in August to do my hair, didn't call me at all for four months.
Good surprise: She remembered the date and showed up an hour and a half before the wedding.
Bad thing: Danny (Paul's nephew, our ringbearer) picked his nose during the ceremony.
Another bad thing: He wiped the booger on the pillow.
A good thing: Someone flicked it off before I found out.

A funny thing: my baby sister, Jill (the flowergirl) kept putting her arms all the way through her muff during the ceremony. I'm sure she got more attention than we did for at least 10 whole minutes.
Another funny thing: my bouquet got stuck on the front of my dress while we were singing, "O Come, Let Us Adore Him." Somehow Paul got it unstuck. He's always had the ability to fix stuff, one of his many admirable traits.

Sweet thoughts: Gary and Kim Bull were in our wedding party. They are still in our lives, and go to the same church.

Something you can't tell by looking: my sister Andrea (the blonde) had a migraine.
Something you can tell: Paul's dad was crying from grief during the ceremony. (See him in the aerial photo, second row, second from right.)

A romantic touch: the snow falling on our kiss in the parking lot.

A funny touch: the words "JUST MET" put on the back window there by my Paul's side of the family who had run out of masking tape and couldn't finish the whole word ,"MARRIED."
A touch that should have tipped me off about Paul's neatness tendencies: He took all the balloons and stuff off the car before we drove away.

I took these pictures from my wedding album, which has fallen apart. (A friend dropped it about 15 years ago and broke the spine. She offered to put it back together with duct tape.)
The recessional shot is blurry, but you can see how eager Paul is that the wedding is over, he gets to eat, and then get the show on the road!