Jared and I were at the tail-end of a nearly two week vacation where we made a giant circuit around the middle of the country, starting at home in Texas and making it to within an hour or two of the Canadian border. Our goal was to visit as much of Jared's family as possible in North Dakota and Minnesota and also hit up my parents and siblings on the way to and from the northern part of the country. Lucky for us, Nebraska was a perfect halfway point for our travels, and that knowledge helped us initially decide where we wanted to be married after we got engaged at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter; it was a good middle ground for us and family in the south and for other family in the north.
Now, I'm not going to lie, I'd been trying to convince Jared to elope for almost a year. I didn't feel like a big wedding with all the strappings was really us, and I wanted to actually enjoy our wedding day instead of being on a tight schedule with a hundred other people to worry about. We had plenty of reasons to do it the "right" way, not least of which was to get all of our family and friends together and try to convey to them how much they mean to both of us, but we were kind of at a stalemate regarding what, exactly, we were going to do. We'd already announced we wanted to get married on June 23, 2018, we had already established our wedding party, my sister and I had started looking at places to hold the reception, and we had a little bit of money set aside for our big day. So when I got back from my Grand Canyon Adventure at the end of May and Jared said "lets get married" I shot back that we already were. And then he said "No, I mean right now."
He meant it too. Both of us were tired of waiting, we didn't want to plan a big wedding (we'd both been stalling when it came to wedding planning and decision making) and as far as we were concerned the wedding was just a formality in our relationship. After making sure he was really, truly serious, that this is what he wanted and not just because I wanted it, that we were making this decision together, we got the ball rolling. We talked to our families and decided to tuck our wedding in at the end of our travels at the beginning of July, giving us just over a month to get what we needed squared away. We didn't need much: both of our immediate families agreed to meet in Lincoln, Nebraska on July 2, we needed a place for family and us to stay, we wanted to wear something semi-formal but nothing like a big white dress and a tux, and we needed to make sure we had the proper paperwork to make our marriage legal. A quick search on the internet got us the marriage license forms to fill out and told us where to go to file them in Nebraska, I found my wedding dress in a single day after trying on about thirty different dresses, Jared found his shirt and slacks in about an hour at the same time I found the shoes I wanted to wear, a long-time friend helped us out with hotel rooms for Jared's family and us on our wedding night, and Renee, Jared's mom, agreed to officiate for us. We were set. We were really doing this!
And then we travelled. We drove for 900 hours (according to Jared) and were able to celebrate our marriage with family that likely wouldn't have been able to come to us if we had stuck with the original plan. We got everybody together and had one big week-long celebration of love and laughter and family. At the end of our travels in the northern states Jared's parents, siblings, and niece followed us down to Lincoln and we waited impatiently for the evening of July 2 to arrive.
Even the storm couldn't dampen the excitement. Us girls took the morning to have brunch and mimosas at my sister's place then headed to the nail salon to be pampered. Jared and I met with his family for lunch and to discuss the details of our ceremony with Renee, then he and I parted ways for the afternoon so we could get ready, he with his family and I with mine. Pretty soon it was 5:30pm and my parents and I were loaded up and on our way to Sunken Gardens, the place where my parents got married 28 years ago and the place where Jared and I were soon to become husband and wife.
We got there just before Jared and his family and took the time to find a spot and take some family pictures. They arrived, and right at six o'clock we began. I stood with my family and Jared stood with his, and at Renee's cue my dad placed my hand in Jared's. From that point on I had eyes for nobody but the man who was standing in front of me, holding my hands with both of his, soon to become mine. I have to be honest and tell you I don't remember much of what Renee said. We have it on video and when I rewatch our ceremony I'm sure I will recall her words, but all I can remember right now is the surge of pure joy and contentment that overpowered me and drowned out everything but the feeling of my hands in Jared's and the look in his eyes as we vowed to choose each other for the rest of our lives.
As Renee pronounced us Husband and Wife and we kissed for the first time as a married couple our families burst into applause and it was all I could do not to throw myself into Jared's arms and never let him go. Instead, we broke apart and turned to greet our families, hugging everybody and thanking them over and over again for being there for us, for joining us, and for helping us pull off a wedding with a month's notice. The ceremony, thankfully, hadn't lasted very long. Being me and thinking more about the best lighting for pictures and video I picked the brightest spot in the gardens. The rain from the morning had given way to a beautiful day, bright and sunny, but also hot and humid. I hadn't considered the fact that all of us were in dress clothes, stuffy on any occasion but baking in the heat and humidity. By the time the ceremony was over we were all dying to find some shade, grab a cool drink of water, and otherwise get out of the evening sun.
After our hugs and greetings everybody scattered into the shade while Jared and I took five minutes to take a few pictures together before coming back to the group to get the marriage license signed by Renee, my sister, and Jared's brother. We had planned on dinner together as a family before everybody turned in for the night and one by one we headed to our cars to find a restaurant downtown. Jared took my hand as we walked toward the car. "Husband." I smirked. "Wife." He grinned back, and bent down to kiss me. It felt right.
You made me cry! What a beautiful recount of your day! I look forward to meeting you!
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