New Experience #28 - Always a Wedding Guest…
I’m sure you’ve heard it said, “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.” Well, even though I’ve been to my fair share of weddings, I’ve never actually been a bridesmaid. In fact, until yesterday I’d never had any role in the wedding festivities at all. It was as though I could create my own caption - “Always a wedding guest, never a part of the wedding.” But New Experience #28 changed all that!
This new experience has involved quite the roller coaster of emotions for me. April & Jeff are part of my Campus Crusade staff team and were my 2 best friends on the team before they started dating one another. I suppose one of the dangers of hanging out in odd-numbered groups is that people often pair up and there is an ‘odd man out.’ Anyway, when the Lord first brought Jeff & April together, rather than being happy for them, I went through a period of mourning the loss of those friendships. In retrospect, I realize that I wasn’t losing the friendships but they were necessarily changing. Being that ‘odd man out’ is a tough position to be in and I wasn’t really excited about being in the position once again.
Fast forward to December 2009. I’ve seen God refine both April & Jeff through their relationship and I’ve seen an example of what compromise in relationship looks like over the past 1.5 years of their dating and engagement.
Knowing me well, April realized that I most likely wouldn’t want to be a bridesmaid - that involves buying a fancy dress and wearing it in front of lots of people. Neither of those things is my idea of fun. However, I did still desire to play a role in their wedding as I am friends with both of them. And they found the perfect job for me!
Technically, I was one of the program-hander-outters with our friend Holly. But I was also in charge of getting the favors, cake stands, and portraits to the reception site for the caterers to set up. I organized getting some of the ladies on our staff team together before the wedding to help assemble the favors - Chinese takeout boxes with personalized fortune cookies and Hershey’s kisses. And I went with April to the reception site during the week leading up to the wedding to make sure everything would be set up just the way they wanted. I didn’t have to buy a fancy dress (even though I really liked her bridesmaids dresses) and I was able to organize and plan things - 2 definite gifts of mine.
On Friday night, December 11th, Holly came to stay with me in Greensboro and we went to the rehearsal dinner at Cafe Pasta. Our table was lots of fun and both the pasta and the cookie cake were yummy. But my favorite part was when April & Jeff exchanged gifts for one another. April, a big kid at heart, gave Jeff a children’s book that she had written for him based on their story. And Jeff gave April a keepsake box containing a love letter. Just like me, she loves words of affirmation and feels cared for through letters and notes. Along with the box, he made a promise to pursue her throughout their marriage through the medium of words, which speaks so clearly to her heart. Wow!! I have to admit that I was a bit jealous at that one - I pray God will bring me a Godly man who is that perceptive about what speaks to my heart.
Saturday, December 12th was the big day! Holly and I dropped off a carload of favors, pictures, and cake stands at the reception site. Then we headed over to the church - on the way, I think we hit every single stoplight red! But we got there and stood our post handing out programs as guests arrived. Then there was the ceremony. April’s dress was beautiful!! The ceremony was a great length. Ron, our Triad Metro director with Campus Crusade, shared the story of how April & Jeff got to this point. And the covenant nature of marriage was clearly highlighted. Then off to the reception. I had fun catching up with friends. The tables and cupcakes looked great. It was fun to be a part of celebrating their big day!!
2 more new experiences to go…
2 years ago • Notes