Then Comes Marriage...

I’ve always imagined I’d be a Pinterest bride, after all I’d been saving pins for quite some time by the time he proposed. Honestly, when it came down to it I was far more laid back than I’d imagined. When my sister got married I worked myself into a panic over everything. Everything had to be perfect for her! She’s my best friend. I got mean. I got determined. I got so incredibly busy I think I gave up sleep, it’s all a blur now, but she had a perfect day. So once I was engaged I’m fairly certain my Mama and sister got scared. I believe they expected full on bridezilla. While I’m sure there were some zilla-ish moments, I remember my Mama being surprised I didn’t care more. I was so happy. I was marrying my best friend. Yes, I wanted a gorgeous dress and gorgeous venue and boy did I ever land that. My dress was more than I’d ever dreamed it could be and the garden we got married in was stunning! But I wasn’t worried about too much else. Thank goodness! Once again God stepped in to show me my plans weren’t in control. The day of the wedding my ring finger was swollen and in a splint. I couldn’t get my engagement ring off or my wedding band on. The forecast had predicted temps in the 60’s but at 3pm when the ceremony started we were in the 30’s. We were married March 16th in Texas, that’s spring break. It’s never cold then. Pssshhhh. Wrong! The wedding was in a little chapel but the reception was outdoors in the garden under a large tent with chandeliers. They brought in large stand up heaters but the tent was open so they did very little. The heaters were so tall my brother was about the only one to benefit from them. He’s a giant. It was so windy that the wonderful friend who did our flowers couldn’t do the arrangements he’d picked out because they kept blowing over. He taped the vases down to the tables and did simple flowers in each vase. One of my Mama’s friends sliced her finger open on the cake cutter and got blood all over the table cloth. She required stitches, but she got the blood out of the table cloth! A true MacGyver, I still don’t know how she did it and she stayed for the wedding and went to the hospital afterwards! The flower girl was late and wasn’t ready. It was so cold no one wanted to stand outside to do photos so there aren’t too many of me with my bridesmaids. After all of that the moments I remember the most are when Clayton went to put my wedding band on he had to put it on my pinky. When I dropped my hand to hold his before the preacher introduced us as husband and wife the wedding band flew off back behind our preacher and my sweet husband had to go find it. We still laugh about that. I remember our first dance as husband and wife and my Dad taking off his jacket to cover me up so I wouldn’t be cold during the dance. I remember our Daddy/Daughter dance. We danced to Thriller by Michael Jackson, doing an abbreviated routine, and then the whole wedding party joined in to dance with us. My wonderful brother in law hadn’t realized we weren’t doing the full Thriller dance and he had learned the entire dance! That’s love, folks. I remember my Mama dancing with Clayton (most folks left early because of the cold temps so his Mama wasn’t there). I remember getting the wedding photos back and the photographer had shots were you could see my goosebumps. They are some of my favorite photos. Did the day go perfectly according to my plans? No. Was it a Pinterest perfect wedding? Heck no. Truthfully though, I wouldn’t change one second of that day. The laughs and the memories and the joy that day brought me are all that matter. That day I wasn’t worried about being perfect, I was in love and in the moment and that’s really all you need at a wedding. I will note though we went to Estes Park, Colorado for our honeymoon and it was warmer in those mountains surrounded by snow than it was in Texas the day we got married. 

Go Fund Me: The Stephens IVF Journey 

But Jesus responded, "He wrote this commandment only as a concession to your hard hearts. But 'God made them male and female' from the beginning of creation. 'This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.' Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together."

Mark 10:5-9 NLT

~Ashley~