My Wedding

Blog Prompt: Blast from the past. Pick a story from your past.

We dated almost four years before we both agreed that the time was right to get married. It was scary to have to break the news to my parents because it was the first time that I ever defied them. They felt that I should only marry someone who was Chinese and that wasn’t going to happen. Luckily my mom was willing to make my wedding gown and veil which turned out beautiful. At first my dad didn’t even want to come for the wedding, but since I was his baby, he gave in.

My mom rode a Greyhound bus alone from FL to SC at Easter time to pick out material and a pattern for my gown. She also met my future in laws and had a wonderful visit. Since my mom had made most of my clothes all my life she was able to make my gown with no fittings. I never saw my gown until 2 days before the wedding and it fit perfectly. After seeing the brick walk up to the bell tower, my mom realized that we needed aisle cloth so my gown wouldn’t get snagged on the brick. So she sewed up yards of aisle cloth just days before the wedding and we spend 2 full days ironing it and rolling it up on a broom handle so it could be rolled out along the path.

We were to be married at the Furman Bell Tower which was one of my dreams come true. The night before the wedding, Don wanted to get tents set up in case it rained and we had a big fight. The only tents I knew of said “Mackey Mortuary” on them and I didn’t want any funeral home tents at my wedding. I told him that it would NOT rain and if there were tents at the scene, I would turn around and leave. I even told him that I wasn’t sure I wanted to marry him if he was such a jerk to think it was alright. I didn’t know until years later they make tents without words on them!

It rained all night long and when I woke up the rain had stopped. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day (and very humid!). I was supposed to start walking down the aisle at noon right after the bells rang in the tower but my dad and the driver (Don’s uncle Calvin) wouldn’t let me be on time because they said it was bad luck. Don got nervous and thought I wasn’t going to show up. By the time I arrived, he was about to have a nervous breakdown and all our wedding pictures are blurry from him shaking. A nice breeze also arrived and my veil covered his face in every picture. Finally married on June 26, 1982! We had a wonderful wedding and I never regretted a minute of it. We’ve been married 26 years and I look forward to many, many more years.