Marital Strength
It all started at 7am on Saturday September 27th 2014. My groom and I awoke to a grey cloudy sky. I had been checking the average rainfall dates and watching the weather for months. The chance of rain skyrocketed from 20% to 90% overnight. There was no way to post-pone the wedding, it was happening if it rained or not. I had planned my whole wedding by myself and asked my parents one favor. I asked them to book a church in case of rain but they shrugged it off and said not to worry about it raining, that it wouldn’t happen. But it was happening. I had to keep telling myself it would all work out, I had to stay positive for our big day.
I checked my cellphone to see if my best friend had texted me the time she would be coming over to help me setup. There was a text from her saying “Sorry, I’m celebrating my nephew’s birthday with him this afternoon, I can’t come help setup. See you tonight.” I brushed it off and headed outside to start setting up. I had already strung the fence line and every tree with lights weeks prior. The property was dazzling and magical, it looked as if it could be a scene in a movie. My parents yard had been groomed by my husband and I a few days before and it looked immaculate. I had planned the ceremony to be in the front yard so that is where I began to setup and decorate. Pulling chairs off the trailer, I felt rain drops brisk my nose. I pushed the worries out of my mind and kept working.
When the ceremony was set up I headed to the backyard where the reception was to be held to see how things were coming together. Because of the weather I had to improvise and change the dining arrangement. Canopies were placed over the dining area and the banquet tables in case of the rain. I had just started decorating all the tables when the wind started to pick-up. I decided to go inside to see how all the food was coming along. My older sister and my grandmother were preparing the dinner menu as fast as they could. My mother was supposed to prepare most of the food many days prior, but as always, she couldn’t accomplish her task. Everything was coming along steady which was a good thing because it was 1pm and I had to leave to get my hair done.
My mother-in-law picked me up from the house and dropped me off to my hair appointment. While I was getting my hair done, she had to go pick up my dress from the dry-cleaners and pick up rolls from the bakery for dinner. While sitting at the hair salon I had a moment to take in everything that had gone wrong that day. I began to ponder about the ceremony that was going to happen in a few hours. Anxiety began to build in my chest, my husband and I had been legally married for 9 months, but only my parents and close friends knew. We spontaneously got married for our own reasons but still wanted to have an actual wedding with both our families, so we didn’t tell anyone. We weren’t ever going to tell anyone, we were just going to have a normal wedding and say our vows as if it were the first time. As the stylist added final touches to my hair she spun my chair ‘round so I was facing the window. I watched as the rain bolted down hard on the pavement. I knew I had to think of another way to make the wedding still happen, and I only had 3 hours to do it with my make-up still needing to be done. With a bag over my head I ran through the pouring rain to my ride.
Once home, I sat while my make-up was being done and told my husband and his best man what to do and where to put things. I decided to move the ceremony onto the dance floor in the backyard with the dinner canopies overtop to keep everyone dry and bring the reception inside to the basement living area. Many parts of the night had to be sacrificed in order to do this, but I had no other choice, it must go on! My husband came to me frantically as the final touches were being done on my lips. He looked at me with tearful eyes and said, “Babe, the minister just called, he is ill and cannot say our vows .”
I closed my eyes and pursed my lips together taking in the news I had just received. “Call your family and tell them the truth. When the guest’s get here we will walk down the aisle together and tell them all that’s happened today” The words left my lips with a sigh. Could anything else go wrong?
“Okay, I’ll go call them.” My husband replied with relief.
My best friend arrived an hour before the wedding and helped me throw a makeshift reception together in the basement. We threw a tablecloth over the Billiards table, brought down tables for the dinner and displayed some of the wedding décor around the room. As I was running through the house scrambling to bring everything together, guests started to arrive. I wasn’t even in my dress yet! I pulled my bestie into my bedroom to help me put on my dress. I was just affixing my tiara when my mother-in-law came knocking on the door. “Come in” I called.
My mother-in-law entered, exasperated. She explained, “I don’t want to stress you out, but the canopies out back just collapsed from all the rain.” My heart sank low in my chest as I ran to peer out the window. There, by the pile of bent aluminum stood my husband in his tuxedo drenched in water. All of the guests were arriving, and my father had directed them to the basement. My husband entered our room. As our eyes met my head ceased to fall into my hands, he rushed to me and propped his fist under my chin. With his thumb caressing my lips he said, “Hey baby don’t cry, you look so beautiful and you’ve been so strong today.” He held his hand out to me and said, “Come, let’s greet our guests.”
“Hello” we both exclaim to our guests. “We’d like to thank you all for your attendance tonight. We never thought it would end up like this. We have had to stay strong, face challenge after challenge and improvise to bring us all together tonight. We have been legally married for about 9 months now, but we chose not to disclose that to anyone because we wanted to have the real wedding with all of you. Due to a last minute cancelation and the current weather conditions we are only hosting a reception in our honor. Please help yourself to the delicious meal we have prepared. We are so happy you all could still join us in celebration tonight. We love you all”
As I watched our two families mingling, laughing and having a good time a sense of serenity came over me. No matter what challenge we were faced with that day, we bonded together and came up with a solution. That is the true meaning of marriage, fighting for one another and refusing to stop. I had been worried all day about how things were going to turn out, when really all that mattered was celebrating our marriage with our family. It has been said that rain on your wedding day is considered an omen… I sure am blessed.