Gettin' Hitched!

The Hurricane passed the day before, temps were in the high 70’s, sunny with a slight breeze, everyone was recovering from an amazing rehearsal dinner and ice breaker gathering for out of town guests the night before.  The bridesmaids were upstairs keeping my Alex calm as the groomsmen kept me from doing anything stressful.  We sipped on beer while smoking cigars my father in law, Gregg provided as I noticed a big, beautiful yellow butterfly floating around us on the front porch.  The officiant, Josh, was making last minute edits as I could tell he wanted it to be perfect.  He left his wife and two sons, sacrificing a long weekend the Army afforded him and flew all the way from Louisiana.  I can’t think of a more honorable man to marry us. 

I told Josh not to go around back to the reception tent.  I wanted to put a special gift at the table of all my Army brothers that made the trip from all over the country.  Some of them couldn’t afford flights, but came anyways.  Some of them couldn’t fit in their own cars, but crammed in and drove hundreds, maybe thousands of miles.  Some of them were accompanied by very pregnant wives on their birthday weekend, but they sacrificed their time and comfort to be with me on my greatest day.  I miss them every day of my life and there are so many more.

I was relatively calm until 10 minutes before the ceremony as it was my best man, Mike “The Kuhn” and I in a suit upstairs.  I have tied thousands of ties in my life.

“Mike, is this good?” I asked

“No,” he smiled.

            The Kuhn had to tie my tie for me as Gregg, my brother in law Joe (who I think I called Josh because I was so nervous) and my Dad arrived in the room.  My hands were too shaky.

“The hell is going on?”

“Nothing. It just means you love Alex and want everything to be perfect for her.”

            The best man strikes again by calming me down.  I made sure I had my vows, gave Mike our rings, gave man hugs, took a shot of American Honey with Mike, grabbed a framed picture of my Mom and headed downstairs to the staging area.  I saw one of my groomsmen, Robert, coming back from the parking lot.

“Everything OK?”

“Lilly is changing Wyatt in the car.  We can go ahead and start.”

“We’re not having this wedding without her, tell her we’ll wait, there’s time.”

            Robert and Lilly are my friends and played a big part in Alex and I meeting in Alex’s cousin’s (Jeff) garage at a New Year’s Eve party.  Lilly brought Wyatt out in the stroller.  Show time.  Josh addressed the crowd and came back to me to begin.  I heard the violins as I escorted my Dad down the aisle with Mom’s picture clinched to my side and didn’t look up once.  Dad had told me to just take a deep breath, so I took several and didn’t see anyone’s face in the crowd as I put Mom’s picture in a chair next to Dad. I did get a glimpse of my sister, Heather, who was one of the bridesmaids, smiling and trying to keep it together just as much as I was.  A lot of people told me later on that there was a yellow butterfly floating around Alex and I during the ceremony and we all agreed that was Mom.

            Josh spoke clearly, eloquently, made everyone smile, laugh and come together in supporting our marriage.  Alex said her vows as I tried so hard to keep it together.  My face was already hurting from smiling ear to ear I was so happy.  I initiated my vows by unintentionally addressing Alex like she was a private in the Army that did something I didn’t approve of.

“ALEX!” I scratchily yelled to her face as she leaned back and eyes were wide.

            I had taken one too many deep breathes and let out all the nerves in that one beautiful name.  After I heard people laugh, I felt more calm and was able to get through the vows with just a couple of tears.  Then when Josh gave the word, I kissed my wife and dipped her as low as I could to show how excited I was to be a married man to a wonderful woman.  Josh joined the wedding party for pictures.

“How did it go?” I smiled as relief and joy took over my entire body.

“Great, everyone heard you laughing from behind these trees as I was directing traffic and then everyone else started laughing at your laugh.”

“Ha! I do have an obnoxious laugh.”

            There were too many highlights to put in this one story.  I only got to say hello to half of the people that came and didn’t even have the chance to say bye to my Dad, but I think people understand.  The thing about weddings that I’ve seen over the years is they go by really quick and mine was no different.  It did bring me great joy to take a step back at one point to observe just about everyone there was standing and conversing with people they had never met, but had a great story to tell about how they each knew Alex or I.  I enjoyed that moment very much.  The different tables represented a fraction of our lives that included people that loved us as much as we loved them.  There were no politics or grudges or drama.  Just smiles, laughs and a good damn time we’ll always remember and always be grateful for.  People keep asking me if I feel any different now.

“I’m a lot happier… all the time.”