My Perfect Day

$30,000.00. That's roughly how much my wedding cost. To be honest, the number blows my mind, especially when I think of all the ways we cut corners, and all the things we didn't have. I never would have believed beforehand how quickly those numbers add up! However, our parents (mostly my husband's parents!) paid for everything, and without that I'm certain our wedding would have been very different. Quite simply, I didn't need a $30,000.00 wedding, with over 300 guests, and before the actual day, I was actually dreading it a bit.

However, my wedding day turned out to be my fairy tale day, and my fairy tale had nothing to do with flowers and steak dinners. I remember every minute of my wedding day as nothing but pure, unadulterated joy, and completely free of stress; all self-consciousness left me (by what I can only believe was an act of God!), and for that one day I knew in my soul that I was the most beautiful woman in the world. I'm sure there are plenty of moments, and small details, that have already left my memory completely, but the little moments that stick out in my mind are simple and fantastic: a private moment outside the ballroom before being announced with my brand-new husband, looking out over a sea of loved ones who were all there to celebrate with me, dancing my heart out with all my friends and family to every last single song, riding the glass elevator up to our hotel room at the end of the night, with a last look at the scene of the festivities. The first thing we did we did when we got to the room? We ate cake, carried up to our room on napkins, because I had been too excited to eat more than two bites of my dinner. I never wanted to take off my "princess" dress, and when I finally did, birdseed showered out of it that had been thrown at us earlier in the day. For me it was, quite literally, the perfect day. I've seen many a bride filled with stress and displeasure on her wedding day, and so I feel particularly blessed.

I've heard weddings described as "the happiest day of your life". It sounds nice in theory, but what about the next 50+ years? For me my perfect day was just that ~ one perfect day. I think that to have one perfect day in a lifetime is truly amazing in itself, and I'm grateful for the gift. But since then, I've certainly had many days filled with happiness. I like to think of that day as the day the rest of our happiness is built upon. A beautiful memory, but simply one step along our path. Every marriage has its ups and downs, of course, and we've already had plenty, but I look to the future for more happiness and joy. I like to believe that each happy day is simply leading to the next, and that my happiest day is forever still on its way.