I do, I do. . .write wedding stories!
There’s no denying it, folks. I’m head-over-heels crazy about weddings. Love ‘em. In fact, I love them so much that I plan to spend the entire month of May “talking weddings” every day! I hope you will follow me as I explain the motivation behind many of my wedding-themed novels. I’ll be sharing stories from several weddings that I’ve catered and/or coordinated over the years. Some will have you laughing; others will make you shed a tear. All will help you better understand why I spend so much of my time crafting novels for (or about) brides.
Keeping it in the family…
I must ask my four daughters to forgive me in advance. I plan to tell quite a few stories from their weddings. All four of my girls got married within four years of each other (from 2004 – 2008) so I have plenty of fodder for books, trust me! Can’t wait to share some of our family tales. In the meantime…
Wedding Story Contest!
I recently held a contest in my Facebook reader’s group. Folks were asked to submit wedding stories to tickle my fancy. Here are the two stories that I chose as winners:
From Emily:
My dad (a pastor) officiated our wedding. When we got to the vows, he asked me to recite: “I Emily take you, Scott, to be my wife” with the straightest look on his face. I looked straight at Scott and said “I Emily take you, Scott, to be my HUSBAND” rather loudly, and then started howling along with all of the guests and our attendants. It took my dad a little bit to figure out what was so funny, and when he did (and we all calmed down), he read it to me correctly. To make it even more funny, he actually had “wife” in his order of ceremony. He offered to fix it before he gave us a copy, but we refused. We never, ever want to forget that!! 
From Kimberly:
Several years ago my brother and sister-in-law had their wedding in the Florida Keys…on the beach to be exact. Both being ocean lovers, this was their dream wedding. My brother wore a cream jacket and pants with an ocean-blue shirt underneath, untucked for a casual but classy look…my sil wore a beautiful 2-peice wrap cream dtress and flowers in her hair. Both were barefoot and so were several of the guests.
Family walked up the aisle to a steel drum melody and the wind was strong but the sky was beautiful. We all sat watching the ceremony while my brother and sil stood just at the water’s edge. The colors, the blue of my brother’s shirt that matched the ocean and the sky, the serenity of those moments was just perfect.
Until…
After the wedding we all had to carry our chairs a ways down the beach to where the tent was set up for dinner and more dancing afterwards on the beach. It was to be a fabulous dinner with specialty foods and then a big beach party. Well…the winds were increasing and the grey skies were out the tranquil blue. With the winds of course came the cooler temperatures. All of us before who had been in cute and coloreful sundresses, were reaching for lightweight sweaters. But it wasn’t long before even sweaters weren’t warm enough. Anyone who had a coat was donning it…no one’s festive outfits coordiated any more and no one cared. Women wore men’s coats, blankets from their cars and anything they could find to keep warm.
The dinner went on. The toasts, the speeches, the traditions all continued amidst the changing weather. The winds got so strong that you couldn’t keep up with the many things were blowing off of tables. When our glass wine glasses (with drink in them) started blowing over, I knew something big was coming and I didn’t want to be there for it.
We finally posed for a quick group photo with everyone’s hair blown way off of their faces before dashing to cars as the storm came in. Only after the bad weather passed did we join back up at a restaurant to finish the wedding celebration. I’m happy to say that my brother and sister-in-law danced a few dances on a teeny sliver of beach outisde of the restaurant. I even got a brother-sister dance in for a few bars before the rain started up again.
While their event wasn’t perfect as far as weather and how the evening was supposed to go, everyone in attendance loved it. I don’t know what it is about glasses blowing over and plates full of food blowing off of the table that somehow bonds everyone together but we shared enough laughs in the chilly weather that night that it gave us just one more happy memory of such a special occasion for my brother.
JANICE SAYS: Fun, fun! And More to Come!
I’ll be tickling your ears with wedding stories over the next month. In the meantime, let me leave you with a little promo for my updated Bride-to-Be journal. If you know someone who’s getting married, this is the perfect shower gift!
