My Summer Wedding: September 1, 2001

My favorite season is actually autumn, but, at the time, I couldn't wrap my head around a fall wedding, so having the wedding before Labor Day and using summer colors of pink and mint green seemed like something of a compromise. In 2001, I was leaving the University of Alabama without a diploma because my father's illness had drained my parent's finances and I'd begun to doubt that my major in Television Production was a good fit, even though I was a senior, mainly because I could not even program a VCR. The wedding, although took place in Birmingham, Alabama, marked the end of my life there and the beginning of my life in Huntsville, where my husband-to-be had just gotten a job in missile defense.

The weather in late August 2001 was heavy rain and even though the wedding took place mostly indoors, we had planned on dancing on the outdoor patio of Café de France at Birmingham's botanical gardens and I was worried. I had picked the venue because my family had always loved to go to the gardens and it was the only place my fiancée and I could find that would do a sit-down dinner at a somewhat reasonable cost for my father. My groom to be and his family were from New York and I had loved the receptions of the weddings I had been to there. On the morning of the wedding, the rain was pouring down, but suddenly cleared in the early afternoon and was replaced by stifling, muggy heat.

Lots of glitches came together to disrupt the wedding, but, somehow, it came together and happened beautifully. The bad weather had delayed my pastor's trip from Nashville and he arrived at the wedding rehearsal about two hours late, but the rehearsal seemed fun and happy. The pianist we had hired arrived late, and we hadn't been sure if he was coming at all, but my friend Doug Storm filled in for him beautifully and reluctantly gave up the piano when the pianist finally arrived. I was left at the salon because my mother was trying to decorate the reception area and forgot about me and I did not have a cell phone (it was a lower tech era.)

When my father walked me down the aisle, I forgot all the pre-wedding drama. My father would not have been able to walk a few months because of complications from diabetes prior to the wedding and I was so happy that he was able to give me away. The flowers from Norton's Florist took my breath away and my dress and hair were just what I had dreamed about. My bouquet was made of white roses, stephanotis, and mini-calla lilies and smelled heavenly. Mostly, I saw the look in the groom's eyes and I knew everything was just perfect.