There is no perfect wedding day.  There…I said it.  The truth is that I lived it, too.  

After waiting until my mid-40’s to find THE ONE, and having been in the wedding industry for over 10 years, the day that I had been waiting for was beautiful and had meaningful moments, but definitely had its regrettable moments as well.  Though I have multiple coordinators that I love, I didn’t think I needed one and thought I could get hair and makeup done, pack up from the B&B, lead decorating the reception pavilion and have our first look, prayer and other portraits all before a 12:30 mid-day ceremony.  I was delusional.  Everything was rushed.  They guys showed up later than expected to move tables.  I lost my husband’s tie.  After getting my dress on, I tried pitching in to set things in their places for the reception only to pick up the modeling clay that I had for the kids’ table only to have Crayola blue clay rub across the bust of my dress, then scramble to use a Tide stick then white nail polish to try to get it out (it’s still faintly there even after the dry cleaners).  

Thanks to friends helping decorate, it all came together in time and it was time to walk to the chapel.  I was almost there when I could hear my friend playing the Patty Griffin song I chose to enter to along with my daughter saying that she couldn’t find my other long-time friend who was reading scripture and should have been seated on the first row.  

I kicked off my shoes, ran back to the cottage, ran to his truck, looked like I was running away, was on the verge of panic thinking he had a medical episode just when my daughter came back out to tell me he had been there the whole time, they just didn’t recognize him with a suit on instead of his usual cap and tie-dye t-shirt.  Sigh!  Meanwhile, all of our guests are baking in a chapel that’s more like a greenhouse as it’s full of windows and an air conditioner that was not blowing cold air at all in the middle of June.  

We ran out of ice during the reception and felt like we ran out of time to visit with everyone.  The afternoon concluded with our family formal groupings to which my photographer managed to (even with a shot list emailed and printed) not get a photo of my husband and I with our 3 children or me with both of my daughters who were also my bridesmaids.  Not one in our dresses, just earlier in pjs.  She also left out my watercolor painted deckle edged cotton invitations from the flat lays.  How?  I still wonder. 

  Here’s the thing…I have an album of all of the beautiful moments and special people that we shared our commitment among, a photo with my daughters created by an editor later, and 3 beautiful portraits of my husband and I hanging in our living room.  One is of us praying together (our faith is truly what brought and holds us together), one is of us standing in the archway of the antique French blue doors of the chapel holding hands (him in the tie I had there as a gift for our pastor, me in the dress that my daughter picked out with embossed magnolia blooms looking like we don’t have a challenge in the world, and one is of us sitting on the porch swing of the cottage, me resting in his lap with my favorite flowers in mine, him with his jacket off and sleeves rolled up looking as handsome as ever, both of us looking out toward the future of our lives together.  

These images serve as a reminder that even though the day was not perfect and our marriage isn’t perfect, we pray together, we celebrate joy together, and we rest on each other.  

   In my career, I have had the super windy days, the rainy days, the dress clasp broke day and the guest slipped outside and was carried off by ambulance days.  At the end of the day, my hope is that you have more great memories than chaos, more cherished photos than you even imagined and more than a beautiful wedding, but a beautiful marriage.