A Wedding Story Pt.2

One of my favorite things to do is to watch the sunrise from the beach, so that morning, after a sleepless night and as nervous as ever, I drove to the beach with my friends to watch the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen in my life. The morning of a new day, a new season, a new life. It was as if God was rejoicing with me on that special day. We prayed, we laughed, and enjoyed the beauty all around us. And as the sun became brighter and brighter it was time to go home and get ready. Surprisingly, having my friends with me and getting ready together helped me loosen my nerves and just enjoy this time with them, as if we were just getting ready for another girl's night out. It wasn't until I had my dress on that everything became extremely real.

And then it was time to make our way to the venue. Everyone had arrived, and everything was ready to go. My nerves were up to my throat and my heart was pumping a thousand miles an hour. When suddenly I felt my dad hold my hand and I couldn't help but start crying. I couldn't believe that after everything we went through and all of those years of waiting the day had finally come. And as we arrived to the venue I could see everyone was there, and everything looked even more beautiful than I had ever imagined. Pastor Pedro came out to meet us as we were ready to make our way to the altar, but the words that came out of his mouth stopped me cold, "Don't worry, Duce is even more nervous than you are." What? Duce! Nervous? I couldn't even picture that in my mind. It just didn't seem possible that this confident, strong man, I'd known for 5 years could even be as nervous as I was at the moment. He prayed with us and as he finished it was time to make my way to the altar.

But what happened next, I couldn't have predicted in a million years, and it is a memory I will guard in my heart for the rest of my life. As people started moving away and our eyes finally met, my strong, football player man's eyes swelled up and tears started running through his face, but as I stood in front of him, his cool guarded face broke down and he began to weep. He tried so hard to control his emotion but even the strongest man I've ever known broke down at the sight of his bride. I wanted to run and embrace him, but I couldn't since he gave me the most beautiful picture of when one day Jesus will finally be reunited to His bride, the church, and he will rejoice to see her as beautiful as she was always meant to be.

And as he wiped his tears and gathered his emotions together, he embraced my father and took my hand. This was a moment I had prayed endlessly for years and it had finally come true. I let go of the hand of my father and I joined the hand of the person I would be joined to for the rest of my life.

And of course so typical of me and my tardiness to process things, this is when I began to cry. The ceremony was short and to the point, which is so my husband. Pastor Pedro spoke about the importance of our commitment to each other and for the rest of our lives. We shared in communion together, always placing Jesus in the center of our relationship. We promised to be there for each other through sickness and health, for richer or poorer, and till death do us part. And finally he got to kiss the bride!

And that day I proudly became MRS.WILLIAMS!

Oh but wait! Remember how we decided to not have a reception? Well, we did feed our guests. With lots and lots of candy! :)