My Daughter's Wedding

Well the wedding is done.  The knot was officially tied Sat. Sept 24 at 5pm.  The wedding ceremony was absolutely beautiful - outside with the groom's father officiating.  The reception was incredible and quite a blast for everyone - especially when the wedding party danced into the reception ala the infamous Chris Brown viral wedding video. There has never been a bride as beautiful as my little girl - stunning looks enhanced by absolute joy at marrying her best friend.  The groom's facial expression when he saw his bride for the first time was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen.

From the day she was born, I had dreamed of and dreaded her wedding day.  Tears flowed from everyone last Saturday.  I don't know of one single person that didn't get teared up at some point.  The entire family was involved in this wedding - both Jenn and Justin's little boys were the ring bearers.  My Dad escorted the bride from the city center lobby to the wedding ceremony site.  Jenn's Dad and I escorted her down the aisle together.  Brothers of the bride and groom were groomsmen. The bride had a handkerchief passed down from her great grandmother to her great aunt pinned to the hem of her dress. Every single decoration, all the way down to the ceremony program fans to the bottles of water given to each guest to all the corsages & bouquets were put together by hand and with nothing but love.  The decorations at the reception were all done by hand and oozed the love for our little Jenn.  Even the decorations for the kids' table were handmade. There was a "memory" table at the reception with pictures of the family members who had to celebrate the wedding in heaven. The whole day was encased in a giant bubble of love.

Jenn did throw in a little curveball into the ceremony along with the help of her now father-in-law.  Before they were officially announced as man and wife, both me and Tammy (Justin's Mom) were invited up to the ceremony area.  It was announced that since we were the first ones to kiss our children when they came into the world, we were to give them one last kiss before sending them off into their married life.  I honestly don't know how Tammy and I made it through that part.

A truce was called between Jenn's dad, his family and my family.  Actually we all had a lot of fun together and bridges were mended.  Jenn's Dad and I marveled at how wonderful Jenn turned out with two dysfunctional parents like us (LOL).  We both commiserated at our stupid choices of 2nd spouses and how we both wish we could push time back.  Alas - that's not an option so we just settled for enjoying the day together.

It was a beautiful day and one I will never forget.  I
asked Jenn as they were getting ready to be driven away in the vintage convertible that Debi (a dear friend and the wedding planner) had wrangled up for them, if the wedding/reception was what she had dreamed of.  With tears in her eyes, she said "it was so much more".  No mom could ask for anything better than that.