John and I were married on August 1st, 2010 at the Hilton hotel in Charlotte, N.C. The pre-ceremony and ceremony had a few glitches, but it was pretty close to perfect for both of us. The pastor may have been exceptionally nervous, which caused him to skip the opening prayer, fumble through the parents' blessings and communion, and may have pronounced us as "Mr. & Mrs. Decapitating" at the end, but I could have cared less. All I could see were these amazing blue eyes looking back at me with unrestrained love. I am not going to lie and tell you that I was cool, calm, and collected throughout the whole day. I definitely had a breakdown before the wedding ceremony. All morning it had been drizzling and my mom made an executive decision to have the ceremony set up in doors. My dreams of getting married outside on the dock were shattered. I truly wanted to get married in a church and I felt I had settle for this outdoor wedding. When it was moved in doors to a nice room, but slightly less flattering location, my heart sank. All the girls were still resisting in some way or another to do their hair anything like I wanted, which created a petty argument between me and my future sister-in-law. I was fearful about the ceremony going well and my nose was running! I thought everything was falling apart and I just knew everything was going to be a disaster. The more people tried to comfort me the more I wanted to cry. Through all the panic I felt I realized that it didn't matter what went wrong because I loved John and he loved me, nothing else matter, and everything else was just minor details.
I don't really remember walking down the aisle. I barely remember the 7 minute ceremony. I don't even care that I forgot to lower the train of my dress for my grand entrance into the ceremony room or that I left my bouquet of flowers in the hands of sister after I said "I do" and walked arm and arm down the aisle with John. I did not eat as much dinner as I wanted (until later that night without forks!) and I hardly drank the wine. I can not tell you how many people I talked to or how many congratulations I heard, but I know I did not reach half the room despite the fact that I tried. I know that I only danced to handful of dances, but I couldn't tell you what the songs were. But what I can tell you is that I had an amazing time with the man I love and I got to share it with the most important people in our lives.
