Rachel's Viewfinder
“Next time I see you, I’ll be a married woman!!!” I shouted to the Charlotte skyline as Robo and I drove to Ohio two days after his car accident. It was the final week to a crazy, whirlwind ride that would culminate in our wedding. The old saying says the “darkest hour is before dawn.” Little did we know what the next week held in store!
The week before the wedding was a flurry…literally! My parents arrived in Ohio just a few days ahead of us to help with the wedding preparations. They were to first meet Robo’s parents Sunday evening. Come to find out, our parents bumped into each other Saturday afternoon at a health food store in Mansfield. Having already met, all the awkward, “These are my mom and dad, this is his mom and dad,” stuff was out of the way. We laughed, and began figuring out to launch the final plans for the wedding.
That’s when the biggest snowstorm in 30 years started to hit most of the Midwest! The clear skies and bare ground of the weekend was replaced Tuesday morning with clouds and white. While central Ohio was covered in snow, Robo and I watched as all our carefully laid plans for the week began to blow apart with every gust of wind. We manage to make it to my cousin’s—and officiating pastor’s!—house that evening, but we had no word on the flowers we were supposed to pick up that day.
The storm continued into Wednesday. My parents made it over to Robo’s parents house again, and we spent the day doing the only thing we could: making the decorations for the wedding, and doing the final fitting for my dress. I had put on a bit of weight (too much stress eating), but it still fit! Still no word on the flowers. And my maid of honor called to say that she was coming down with a cold and had no car insurance on her car, and that one of my bridesmaids was stuck in jury duty the Friday they were supposed to leave for Ohio. Oh Lord!
Thursday, the dust settled only for a few hours. While driving to another cousin’s house to use her huge kitchen space to begin food prep, Robo slid our only car into an icy snowbank. Mel’s road had become one solid sheet of ice over the past two days. Thankfully, a plow truck came by 30 minutes after we landed in the snowbank. He kindly pulled us out and we continued to Mel’s. I again called for my flowers. And again, I got no answer. I began to resign myself that I was probably going to have to use the silk flowers we bought for the decorations. Egh! The other bad news was that my maid of honor was too sick to travel. I made a quick change of plans, and asked my mom to be my matron of honor instead. The good news was that my bridesmaid had gotten out of jury duty.
T-minus One Day and counting, otherwise known as Friday, came too fast. Everybody was going everywhere. That morning, Robo had to go to the chiropractor, my parents hunted down the place for my flowers and found them waiting, and then they and Robo’s mom went to the church to start food prep. Robo and I had to get my car aligned. We finally made it to the church about 3:00 in the afternoon. I got started decorating my cake, while Robo left to go pick up our cupcakes in Mansfield. While he was at it, he had to stop at the chiropractor’s again. And search for a special audio cable. And find DVDs. And make it back to the church by 6:00 for our rehearsal.
I had one thing I wanted to complete that day: making credits for our wedding ceremony. I didn’t start them until 5:00pm. Frazzled, tired, and frustrated, I stopped to go over final details with my violinist, learn my part for the ceremony (basically, just stand here, walk there, say this, etc…), and nearly broke down crying in frustration. And the credits weren’t done at all. But at least I had my flowers!
My bridal party, violinist, and sister Emmalee had made it to Willard, Ohio just in time to help Friday with decorating the sanctuary. We all went out after the rehearsal for supper. I was staying with my parents my final night as a single woman, so we parted ways. But my cousins wanted to see me that night. A sort of, final-night-as-a-single-woman celebration. Exhausted, my parents and I showed up at 10:30pm. We hung out, chatted, laughed, but I was getting more and more tired. Finally, at about 11:30, I collapsed behind my Dad as he was playing the Wii. All I wanted to do was go home.
The BIG DAY came, cold and brisk. My parents picked up my sister Janine and her boyfriend from the train station in Sandusky at 3:30am. By 7:30 we were on the road to the church. I was riding with my sister, working on the credits I hadn’t finished the night before. We got to the church, and I went to the bride’s ready room to finish the credits from the night before, and to relax. Meanwhile, everybody else was flying around me. Robo was about putting the finishing touches on everything, my sisters kept me supplied with food and updates about what was going on, and my mother and bridesmaids kept a countdown and plan in place to get everybody dressed in time.
I finished the credits with a hour to spare. My bridesmaids got me ready, and before I knew it, Mom was peeking out into the hall to make sure the Groom and his merry band of men has left to stand at the front of the sanctuary. Dad took one look at me and gave me a kiss before we stepped down the hall together. There was a part of me feeling overwhelmed that all the hassle, stress and prep leading up to the day came down to just a few short moments. The movies always make it seem bigger and grander. But, walking down the aisle I realized that the day—and all the hassle before and to come—was just another part of life. Special and grand, and indeed worth all the stress.
And yet… Our wedding wasn’t big or spectacular. Neither was it skimpy. All the food was gluten-free (YAY!) and great. We had the flowers, cupcakes and glass bottled soda we worked so hard for. The music was provided by my record player and Robo’s computer. Robo and I danced and he wowed everybody with his newly acquired moves. All that happened on one Big Day, February 5, 2011. Just another day. But still…a very special day. And—to coin a phrase—it was good.
