24 Years & A Wedding Meme

Taken from Tammy at Family Doin's back in April

A Marriage\Wedding Meme

1. Where/How did you meet? We met at a party. When we both got tired of the crowd we sorta wandered off for a walk and just talked. We ran into each other again a couple weeks later at a bar. Neither one of us were saved at the time, but oddly one of the first things we talked about on our walk was what we both believed.

2. How long have you known each other? 26 1/2 years
3. How long after you met did you start dating? 2 weeks

4. How long did you date before you were engaged? about 2 1/2 years
5. How long was your engagement? approx. 9 months

6. How long have you been married? 24 years
7. What is your anniversary? June 18
8. How many people came to your wedding reception? I believe it was around 130
9. What kind of cake did you serve? Fruit Cake. But I hate fruit cake and the wonderful woman who made our cake made us a wonderful one that was white fruit cake and didn't have that strong taste of a traditional fruit cake
10. Where was your wedding? The service was at a Baptist church we rented because our church was not picture friendly. The church at the time was renting a former bingo place. And the reception was at a local restaurant that catered large events downstairs.
11. What did you serve for your meal? Chicken cordon bleu
12. How many people were in your wedding party? 8 total.

13. Are you still friends with them all? Unfortunately, no. Life has taken us all in different directions and we've lost touch. The only one who is still friends with me is my sis who was my maid of honor and my brother in law who was a groomsman.

14.Did your spouse cry during the ceremony? I think he had a few tears as I came down the aisle. My dad who was walking me down, sorta lost it, and cried all the way down the aisle, and hubby said it was like a wall of tears coming at him because as we passed the rows, people would start to cry when they saw my dad crying.

15. Most special moment of your wedding day? Pastor Roy announcing us as husband and wife

16.Any funny moments? I'm sure there was. I can't think off the top of my head other than the "disasters" mentioned in the next question, which are now funny, but wouldn't have been at the time.

17. Any big disasters? Oh my yes! Most I found out about after the fact which turned it into a funny moment. But had I known at the time, I would have been majorly stressed out. Let's see, one major one was one of my bridesmaids stepped down because she became offended at something after we had already ordered her non-refundable dress. We won't even mention the circus that went on with the guest list. It still makes me cringe. About 3 or 4 days before the wedding our piano player went into pre-mature labor. The new youth pastor and his wife at our church stepped up and between the two of them learned how to play all our songs in that short time. Then when they arrived at the church to set up for the wedding, the ginormous wind we had that day blew the music out of his hands and down the street. He had to chase it for blocks. I laugh now, but seriously, I would have been needing smelling salts had I known. We had given my brother in law who was a groomsman a cassette tape to give to the sound man so we could have a tape of the wedding. While standing at the front of the church he touched his pocket and lo and behold there was the tape. Then came the longest handing of cassette tape from hand to hand until it got to the sound man in history. LOL! It did make it and they got every minute.18. Where did you go on your honeymoon? To southern Bristish Columbia, the Okanagon Valley, where they grow tons of wonderful fruit. The area is one resort town after another. Beautiful, full of lakes, sunshine and fresh fruit.

19. How long were you gone? One week

20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change? The guest list size. I'd make it a lot smaller and more intimate. I think I might even go for a wedding in Hawaii or the Caribbean with just my immediate family.

21. What side of the bed do you sleep on? Left

22. What size is your bed? Queen
23. Greatest strength as a couple? Forgiveness
24. Greatest challenge as a couple? Understanding what the other person is really saying (misinterpreting what the other person is trying to say)

25. Who literally pays the bills? If you mean the person, who walks up to the counter and hands over the money, it's my hubby
26. What is your song? After All These Years by Jim Brickman and Anne Cochran. I looked forever to find a video of the song for you but I couldn't find one anywhere.

27. What did you dance your first dance to? Now that I cannot remember

28. Describe your wedding dress: keyhole neckline, higher back collar, long sheer sleeves with not embroidery but that other stuff they either sew or glue on top. This covered the bodice also. (Sorry, I'm so not a sewer or crafter and can't remember what it's called. Barb would probably know). High waisted, plain with the sheer stuff on top down to the floor. Short train. It actually was much simpler than I had ever thought I would get. I tried on those big frou, frou dress with the 20 layers of lace I'd always dreamed of and thought "blech". As soon as I put this one on I knew it was the one. My mom was sad because she thought it too plain. I think she had dreams of the frou, frou stuff, too. :vD



On a sad note about the dress and little piece of advice: ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS AT YOUR DRY CLEANER ABOUT HOW THEY CLEAN THE DRESS! Just saying.


The dry cleaner ruined my dress. They failed to tell my mom that if they dry cleaned the whole dress, rather than just the hem, and freshening the bodice, there might be a chance of that flowery stuff all over it getting ruined if it was glued on and not sewn on. Who'd a thunk to check if they actually sewed the stuff. All that money on a dress to find out they GLUED it on. It came back all yellowed from the cleaners. So mom takes it back, they say they'll take it off and just dry clean the flowery stuff because they don't want to put the whole dress through another dry cleaning. Mom said that sounded fine. But when we got it back it looked like they had put glue on the back of them flowery things and just threw them at the dress and where they landed that is where they stayed. What a mess. So just saying: CHECK WITH THE DRY CLEANER! Ya.


But I'm over it. Really.


29. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding? My bouquet was of about 40 red silk roses, cause I wanted to keep it. Now I think: whatever for? :v) Bridesmaids carried baskets of pinky colored flowers. Fresh flowers were at the front of the church and at the reception.

30. Are your wedding bands engraved? They weren't

31. How old were you when you got married? I was 23, hubby was 29 . I won't tell you how old that makes us now. You do the math.





Look at us! My word, we look so young. And skinny. Our eyes full of love and hope and dreams for the future. Some of those dreams have come true, some have changed and God's blessed us with some brand new ones. But in every one of those dreams it is us, together, and that will forever remain the constant!



Thank you, Sweetie, for sticking with me for all the years. Through the early years where we really got to know each other, through the times we changed jobs and had uncertain finances, through the tough decision times, through the happy and light-hearted times. Through the baby years, and the crazy child rearing days and now through the even crazier teen years. You've stuck with me through 3 moves, 3 kids, I don't know how many pets, and the constant presence of pre-school toys all over our house from the dayhome. Through the faith - filled times and through the questioning times. Through all this we've come out stronger. And now after all these years, I've moved from the giddy new bride love to a deep abiding love for you.



So Sweetie, Happy 24th Anniversary! You're still the one and I'm so glad that it's been you, "After All These Years". To you, the lyrics from our song.

Jim Brickman
After All These Years

Here we are
After all these years
Face to face
Heart to heart
And I've loved you from the start
But I never thought that we'd be standing here
After all these years

Here we are
With another bridge to cross
All these days
Pass us by
As we watched our childhood fly
And I'm still the one to share your hopes and fears
After all these years

Chorus:
After all these years
We still have each other
One to another
After all these years
You're still the one
And I'm still here
After all these years

And here we are
With a final song to sing
Face to face
Heart to heart
And I loved you from the start
But I never thought that we'd be standing here
After all these years

(chorus)

Bridge:
And I've loved these days
All we've been through
And I'd just like to say I'm so glad it's been you
Here's one more song from the heart
For the laughter and the tears
After all these years

(chorus)

After all these years