On November 24th Lance, my aunt and I flew up to Maryland to get everything finalized. The Friday before the wedding everyone else flew up, the jitterbugs were settling in by that time. I had nothing to be nervous about. Everything was right and ready. I guess it was just the whole marriage tradition. That day things went smoothly after they all arrived. We had our little separate bachelor and bachelorette parties and went our seperate ways and wouldn't see each other until the big day.
"Oh god Oh god. I'm so nervous." I said as I paced the room.
"Jen, calm down. It's going to be fine." Alissa tried to comfort me.
It was now the day of the wedding and everything was about to get underway. All the guests were seated and everyone was ready to go. Lance and the rest of the guys were wearing white tuxes while the girls wore pale lavender beautiful long dresses. My dress was a modern wedding dress and very beautiful. Alissa was maid of honor. Tiffany, Alana, Kristin, Erica, and Emily were all bridesmaids, along with Lance's friend Amber. The best man was Lance's best friend Jordan. The groomsmen were Justin, Joey, JC, Chris, Ben, and Jeremy.
"Does everything look ok? Are you sure?" I asked for the millionth time.
"Yes, Jen. Everything is perfect. Now come on we have to go out here into the hall now."
"Do you think Lance is as nervous as I am?" I asked as we got out to the hall.
"Oh he is worse than you." Jordan answered. "Just the marriage jitters."
The wedding started with the ring bearer, Lance's cousin Tommy. He slowly made his way down the aisle making sure he didn't drop the ring. Next was Emily and Jeremy who joined Lance, Jordan, and the Priest at the front of the altar. After them was Ben and Amber. Followed by Kristin and Joey; Erica and JC; Tiffany and Justin; Alana and Chris. Now it was Lance's other cousin Becky's turn to walk down the aisle. She threw the flowers and made her way to the front. Then started the music everyone had been waiting for.
"Oh dad I'm nervous." I whispered.
"It will be ok, sweetie." He replied as he kissed my hand.
We slowly made our way down the aisle. I looked around to see a lot of people crying. I wished my mom was there in person but I knew she was in spirit. We made our way to the altar and my dad lifted my veil over my face and kissed me on the cheek and whispered to me that he loved me and everything would be alright. I replied with a kiss and a thank you and took a deep breath and looked to the left of my dad where Lance looked over at me. I smiled and he took my hand in his and we faced the priest who was ready to deliver his words.
As awful as it may seem I wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying. I was too busy soaking up the sights. The lace, the flowers, the scent, building memories that would always be with me. It came time for our vows which we had slightly altered to fit with the song “From this moment on” which was definitely a favorite.
“I Jennifer take you Lance as my lawfully wedded husband, through good times and in bad, weakness and strength, happiness and sorrow for better for worse I will love you....” I started to choke up and tears fell and with my nervously shaking hand I gently wiped them away trying not to smudge my make up. “with every beat of my heart, until death do us part.” Once again I took a deep breath for a moment as Lance began to recite the very same words.
“I Lance take you Jennifer as my lawfully wedded wife, through good times and in bad, weakness and strength, happiness and sorrow, for better for worse I will love you with every beat of my heart, until death do us part.”
After successfully being able to say those words we said “I Do”
“By the power invested in me I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride.” were the priest’s final words. We briefly kissed and the room filled with clapping. We linked arms and retreated down the aisle.
Soon after the wedding was over everyone headed to the reception that was being held approximately 10 miles away from the church. Lance and I had to finalize some things at the church before we left and the maid of honor, Alissa, and the best man, Jordan, stuck around to help out. Fifteen minutes had passed and we were finally ready to leave so the 4 of us got in the limo out front and the driver took off.
“You guys that was such a pretty wedding.” Alissa commented.
“Oh my god that was like the worst moment of my life.” I said.
Lance shot me an evil look, “What?”
“I don’t mean it like that, I mean it was the happiest moment ever but I have never been so nervous like that before I thought I was gonna faint.”
“I could tell. You almost had me crying when you started. I can go out and sing in front of thousands of people but I have to say I was almost more nervous doing that.”
“Well that’s all over now. It’s just us, together now and forever." I said. We leaned in and kissed each other for awhile.
Jordan coughed and we looked over and laughed.
"Don't forget you've got a whole 5 day honeymoon ahead of you. Plenty of time for all that...stuff from tonight on. Spare us now."