My son got married last weekend!  I am still glowing with warm memories of the event.  They got married in the evening and it was one of those nights that I will go back to in my mind over and over.

The bride was lovely, the groom handsome (no bias there!).  Actually, all wedding couples are wonderful to watch as they have an aura of love, of happiness, of hope for the future that envelopes them.

I would love to post pictures of my son and his bride, of the wedding and of all of us having a wonderful time but as I try ever so hard to be anonymous and be “unsearchable”, you will have to imagine as I describe what I saw.

The bride was blond-haired, and a salon had put her hair into a gorgeous “up do” with a low bun at the back intricately woven with pieces of her hair.  I have no idea how that was done but the effect was stunning.  The veil was mounted onto a hair comb that was set just under the bun and then draped all the way down her dress and onto the ground, white, gauzy and romantic.  The bride’s dress was an ivory satin “shoulders bare” (I’m unsure what that is called) dress with a fitted corset that tied in the back.  The bodice and upper part of the skirt were covered with tiny lacey appliques on a gauzy top layer (chiffon I think) with the solid ivory satin underlayer peeking through the filmy layer.  The effect was ephemeral, lovely, and timeless.

My son wore a black suit and vest, white shirt and black tie, set off with a white rose boutonniere. I have a favorite picture that was taken just minutes before the wedding started.  In the picture, he is striding up the path (from picture taking) with his groomsmen behind him, like an entourage.  He looks confident, happy and enjoying the moment.

As I looked at him, I had a quick flashback to him as a baby…our first born little one.  Here he was, about to be joined in marriage to his fiancé and those first few week middle of the night periods as a newborn when I was desperately sleep deprived and walking the floor with him, trying to get him back to sleep after nursing…led to this moment in time.  I would tell my “young mother” self now, “Don’t worry, he is going to turn into a wonderful man and you will wish later to revisit this late-night time period, just to hold him as a newborn one more time”.

The wedding venue was out of state and outside on what was formerly a farm.  It was green, grassy, surrounded by 7 ft high corn fields and there was a wooden arbor which the florist turned into a picturesque backdrop to the ceremony with interwoven flowers.

The rain was off and on all day but around the time of the wedding, there was a period of “sort-of” clear skies and my son and his bride were able to have their outside wedding.  I was praying a lot for that as I knew the bride really wanted to walk down the little garden path toward my son and get married in that bucolic setting, rather than inside the barn where the reception would take place.  They got their window of time (thank you, God!) and about 10 minutes after the wedding it started raining again.  We are still thankful for what we got.

The reception was a lot of fun and there was an extra special moment that I had with my son that I will remember always.  You know how there is often the father of the bride dance with his daughter?  My son asked me months ago if I would do a mother of the groom dance with him.  For anyone who knows me, I am super shy when it comes to a lot of things, including dancing.  I don’t really know how to dance…fast, slow, whatever, I don’t do it enough to be comfortable doing that.

My son suggested a song… Michael Buble’s “You Got a Friend in Me” which is really a cute song.  We practiced a grand total of two times in the days before the wedding so while I was slightly more comfortable, I wasn’t by any means an expert.  When the time came to dance though, it was so special to dance through the song with my son.  It was as if all of the years with him were bottled together and expressed in the length of dancing to that song.  The pictures show me looking up at him while dancing and he is looking down at me, singing the words of the song to me through a lot of it.  I’m pretty sure that if I lose my memory when I get old, I will still remember that moment.  I’m so glad my son asked me.  I’m so glad I did so despite my anxiety over dancing in front of others.

The rest of the night, there was a live band and we danced.  A LOT.  I wasn’t planning to but my younger sister dragged me out there and I thought, well if I’m going to look like a dork while dancing, I might as well do it thoroughly.  I have no idea if I had any rhythm (unlikely) but I had a great time.  We dragged my other sister out onto the dance floor and my brother and his wife were out there and most of the cousins and we just danced in the joy of the moment.  I probably won’t do that again until another one of the kids or cousins gets married but what fun that was!

The older daughter that we have little contact with was not at the wedding, nor was she invited.  That will be another blog but suffice to say that weddings are about the bride and groom and not prodigal siblings.

The best part of the wedding was that my son and his bride had their friends and relatives there, filled with joy for them and celebrating the beginning of their life together.  That’s really what it is all about.

To my son and his bride…though you don’t know I write a blog…I loved every moment of your wedding: being part of the bridal group getting ready, dancing with my son, out on the dance floor with my sisters, brother, in-laws and cousins, celebrating that joy filled night.

As I write, I always know that someday you kids might still find this blog.  If you ever read this after I’m gone, know that I will be looking down from heaven at you and always rooting for you both.

Now I will end this blog with a 1800’s wedding carriage and couple riding away to their life together.  Make sure you see the Cupid on the right side of the carriage.