Dan and I had a lot of fun at breakfast this morning telling our kids the story of our wedding day. I hadn't realized they had never heard the details. Then I realized that I don't think I wrote down the details of that day anywhere. I think it deserves an entry in our family yearbook when I print it out this year! Today I'm feeling very nostalgic about that day. It was wonderful. I can't believe it was 12 years ago. In some ways it seems like just yesterday, and in others it seems like we've been together forever.
The day before our wedding we had a ton of family and friends coming in from out of town. I had several friends from BYU coming up to be my bridesmaids. My other one was a dear friend I had known since 2nd grade who came over from Spokane. A couple of Dan's roommates from Provo were also coming up, as well as a bunch of good friends from Canada to be his groomsmen. The plan was that I would spend the evening before with all of my friends whom I hadn't seen in a couple of months, he would spend the evening before with his friends whom he also hadn't seen for awhile, then the next morning we would both drive down to Portland and meet at the temple with our family and friends. Sounds simple, right? Ha! My roommates flight got delayed, and I didn't have much time to spend with them after all. Thank goodness my friend Laura was there to hang out with me! :) Dan went to go ride go-carts with his friends and then to his basketball game. On his way home from the game (at 11:00 p.m.) he got a flat tire going over the speed bump on the way to our townhouse. They went to put the spare on and it was flat. :( His wonderful friends sent Dan to bed, then rolled his spare tire all the way to the gas station to fill it up for him so he could get some sleep. But he could not drive all of the way from Puyallup to Portland on his spare. So he drove up to his parents house to get a ride in someone else's car. Dan had a lot of family visiting too, and they were all staying with his parents. You know how it is when you're trying to get a lot of people out of the door at the same time, especially to go somewhere important? It was inevitable that they would be running late, right? Did I mention it snowed the night before? Not a ton, but a lot for Washington. The roads were a mess. It still makes me giggle (now...a few years later:) to picture Dan squished in a car with his family on the way to his wedding, getting more and more frustrated with every potty stop.
In the meantime (keep in mind that cell phones weren't super common) I woke up at the crack of dawn in my (very small) hometown to get my hair done and saw all of the snow. I went to my appointment, which was at a salon in this cute ladie's garage. It was very Steel Magnolia-like. I'm getting my hair done, and her husband (who was a typical small-town outdoorsman, sitting there in his flannel with his newspaper and coffee) scaring me with stories of he heard of I-5 (the main freeway from Seattle to Portland) being closed because of the snow. He was just kidding, but I was already nervous enough! I remember getting to the temple and feeling rushed. We had left in plenty of time, but the weather slowed us down and I thought we were cutting it close. I went in and changed and waited. And waited and waited and waited. All of my family was there, we had a lot of close friends who were there, but no Dan. I can't remember who told me, but somehow I knew he was on his way, but had no idea how far away they were. I remember sitting on a bench in the hallway waiting for someone to tell me that Dan was there and to take us into the room to get started. While I was waiting there, and older man (much older- at least in his 80s) came, tapped my foot with his cane, and said, "If he doesn't show up I'll be glad to stand in his place." and winked at me. I'll always love that man for giving me something to laugh about while I was waiting. (Funny sidenote: when we told Jacey this story today she said, "You should have married him. When he died you would have had all of his money, then you could have married Dad!" I promise I did not teach her to think like that!) Finally, two hours later, Dan showed up with his family and groomsmen:) I've never been so glad to see him! We were very grateful that our family and a few close family friends stuck around to share our special day with us. It was wonderful for so many reasons, and even better to share it with so many people we love.
12 years later, we still have days that are equally as, if not more, chaotic. I wouldn't trade them for anything!
1 comment:
That is a great story! Jaceys comment is hilarious. She is a smart little girl! I'm glad you waited for Dan -you guys make a great couple!
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