Happiness...Love...and even a little Godzilla. Part 1

We just got back from the honeymoon tonight. It was a wonderful time and it will receive its own blogpost. But first, I wanted to go over the events of Nov. 8th from my point of view.
First off, two wonderful friends (Chris & Mark) took me out for a little fun at Fast Eddie's for a couple of drinks the night before the wedding. A kinda of impromptu bachelor party. It was a fun time, and they took good care of me and cut me off so as I wouldn't have that bad of a hangover. When I got back home, my son, Noah, who was one of my best men, was watching Godzilla 2014 with my friend Stephen. They both took care of me and made me drink plenty of water and take some Advil before I went to sleep to keep me from feeling bad in the morning.
I woke on time and with very little side effects from going out the night before. My daughter and her husband and her child were there at the house, along with my future stepson, Ian, and my son, Noah. To say that I was a little nervous would be a bit of an understatement. I could feel my heart racing as I tried to get ready for this very important day. I made coffee and had a couple of cups to get my energy up.
Mallory and Jonah asked me how the service was going to be done. I explained to them that it would be a full service in the Episcopal Church's tradition. This is one of the main reasons Elizabeth and I wanted this service. Our faith is important to us, and having our vows said before God was something we could never have in a courthouse.
After talking to them for a little while, it was time to get ready. After I showered and shaved and all that good stuff, I tried to wrestle the boys into getting ready. I had to tell Ian and Noah five or six times to start to get dressed, and as usual, Ian was outside with no shoes on. My God, his feet were so muddy! I had him go wash them off and made Noah get in the shower while I got dressed.
Thank goodness I fit in my tux and so did Noah and Ian. Both of them looked sharp as razors! And I couldn't help but cry tears of pride looking at the two of them.
Two more of my groomsmen showed up at the house. My two good friends, Patrick and Stephen, arrived to help calm me down and to make sure things were going smoothly. They could tell my nerves were starting to get the best of me, but they got me to calm down and finish getting ready.
   After we were all ready, we headed out to the Gardens at SIUE for photos. We got there early, which was a good thing. Because I forgot Elizabeth's shawl that her friend and maid of honor, Kati,e had made for her to wear on the wedding day. With the fear of death instilled into me, we ran back home to get it.
When we got back to the gardens, all the guys were there. Mark had picked up the flowers from the florist and had them waiting in the car. Frank was there, wearing his Cubs hat to poke fun at Elizabeth. Patrick was there, along with Ian and Noah. Chris was there, smiling and poking fun at me and the photographer, Tom Atwood, was there to start taking shots.
We went out on the bridge to start up the fun. Mark walked out on the bridge messing with his tie and asked for help to fix it. I gave him a hand with it like a good friend would. Then the guy KISSED ME! A LONG KISS DEAD ON THE LIPS! EW! Of course Tom took a picture of it! Ohhhhh....
After everyone got a good laugh about it, we started the business of trying to look cool for pictures. I have to say, everyone looked fantastic in the tuxes we had picked out. Tuxes with tails are classy! All of my friends and two sons looked awesome, and I really think everyone liked being dressed up.
Finally the bridesmaids began to show up, Mary (Chris' wife) walked over to me on the bridge holding a yellow scarf and told me it was time to be blindfolded. Elizabeth and I had decided to do a first look set of photos, so I had to have my eyes covered. I let Mary blindfold me, and I let Tom lead me out to the center of the bridge.
I heard Elizabeth laugh as she got closer to me. Tom informed her that a little porn had already happened with Mark giving me a kiss. I gave another 'Ew' when that was brought up. Elizabeth walked past me and I stood there while Tom snapped photos of me standing there with her behind me. At last, Tom told me I could take off the blindfold and look at her. I slowly took off the blindfold and closed my eyes and turned around.
When I opened my eyes... time stopped. Everything vanished and all that existed in the universe was just God, Elizabeth and I. Her beauty, standing there in the sunlight, in her wedding dress and her little tiara, shone brighter than the sun. I felt my breath catch in my throat and couldn't speak. Tears freely flowed down my face and Elizabeth smiled at me.
Tom told me it was okay to kiss her and I slowly kissed her in the morning sun. I could feel all of our friends and family around us smiling and sharing their love with ours.
After the business at the Gardens was finally over, it was time to go to the church. A bunch of Elizabeth's family had came into town and it was a complete blast meeting them and having photos taken with them. Most of my family couldn't make it for the wedding. But my son and daughter and her husband were there, along with my new granddaughter and my sister Theresa and her husband Don. I know the rest of my family was there in spirit.
We then finally had the one bad thing happen that they say always happens. Somehow, we were short one flower. A boutonnière for one of the ushers. Elizabeth and I were both upset, but we made the decision that the ushers would just have to go with out flowers.
After several pictures with family, friends, and our priest, Father McMichael, we got to the one photo I had been looking forward to. A special shot with all of my groomsmen and best men plus Elizabeth's father and stepfather. We had gotten all of them personalized cufflinks to wear with their tuxes.
Chris got a hot pepper. Mark had gotten a guitar pick. Frank had gotten a Cubs logo. (It was the last one to show up in the mail.) Ian had gotten the Batman logo. Elizabeth's dad Ralph had gotten golf clubs. Her stepfather had gotten a musical symbol. My son, Noah, had gotten Godzilla. Patrick had received a cross. I myself was wearing a pair of Godzilla cufflinks that my good friend Patricia Palm had gotten for me as a gift. I wanted us all to form a circle and show our cufflinks and get a photo of them all together.
Unfortunately, another bad thing happened. Poor Mark's cufflink lost both picks off of them! He stepped out of being in the shot because of it, and it made me feel bad that it happened. After all... the man kissed me. ;)
After that last shot it was time to start to get ready for the wedding to begin. Everyone went to their places as the opening music for the service started up. Our friend Sara, who was a bridesmaid, had her daughter there and she was our flower girl. Beatrice looked beautiful and had practiced all year to be able to spread the rose petals. Elizabeth's nephew, Sammy, was our ringbearer and looked sharp in his tux. So we were all set.
As the refrain for the trumpet music began, everyone started to go in. Elizabeth and I looked at each other and smiled as we stood there arm-in-arm. She made one last joke that we could make a break for it. Our friend, Donna, who was serving as bearer for the Gospel of the Lord, held the metal-clad book up to us and said, "I will hit you with this book!" I had a feeling she meant it and could take us both on. We laughed as the hymn started and we began to process into the sanctuary.
When I looked into the room earlier, it didn't look like a lot of people had shown up. But as we walked into the room now, Elizabeth and I were taken aback by how packed the room was! There were only a couple of empty places left in the pews. All these people had come to share in our special day and I couldn't help but feel a sudden rush of happiness run through my body.
The hymn that was being sung at the start of the service is my favorite one, it is also seven verses long. But it is a good thing it was long, as Father McMichael had a little trouble untying the rings from the ringbearer pillow. Sammy the ring bearer just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Lucky the father got them free and placed them on the altar. As the hymn continued, Father gave me a little bit of a look that said, 'You had to have all seven verses of the song?'. I smiled and just gave a slight shrug of my shoulders.
After the singing was over, the service finally began. Elizabeth and I each said our parts as they came up in the service. Our friends Geoffrey and Candace did the wonderful readings from the Bible about love and marriage. The service that Father preached was amazing and during his homily, I could feel the power of love begin to build in the room to new levels.
At last, the time for the vows came. We both stood up there, and as I repeated what was said to me, my voice broke with emotion and tears ran down my face. I was later told that when I started to cry, their wasn't a dry eye in the house. I pulled myself together and finished the vow with all of the power of love and strength I could muster into my voice.
   Elizabeth's turn was next. And despite what she might say, her voice did crack with emotion when she said my name during the vows.
We thought it was time to kiss after the vows, but our priest shook his head and told us not yet! Which got a laugh from the crowd. He still had to bless the marriage. After Elizabeth's father said the prayers for our marriage, Father wrapped our hands with his stole and blessed us both. As we knelt in front of the altar, I felt the love inside me reach to Heaven. I know my stepfather was looking down at us at that moment and smiled.
After we stood and he pronounced us husband and wife, I looked at him and asked him, 'Now?' He smiled and said, 'Yeah, go ahead.'
We kissed as husband and wife and the room exploded into cheers. As we said thank you to everyone down the aisle during the peace, it was overwhelming, all the good wishes we were receiving.
The rest of the service was fantastic, as all who wanted to come to God's Table to partake of his love came up.
The end of the service finally approached and we began to walk down the aisle as people watched us, with all the room full of smiles. As we made it to the front door of the church, we looked outside and saw the Cinderella carriage waiting for us.
Our wonderful priest came up behind us and touched our shoulders. We both turned around and hugged him and thanked him for a wonderful service. We made our way down to the carriage, smiling and laughing like children. We decided to wait for everyone to come outside so they could see the carriage and take pictures of us. What was really fantastic is that the horse's name that pulled the carriage was Jedi! We both laughed at that strange little twist of fate.
More and more people came out of the church and took pictures and were all smiling and laughing. It was by far one of the happiest moments of my life, being there next to Elizabeth waving at the large crowd of family and friends.
And this was the biggest reason by far why we wanted to do our wedding like this. This is what we wanted more than anything. That feeling, that energy, that power of love from God in our House of Faith as we became husband and wife was something that neither one of us could have gotten by just going down to the courthouse. And the feeling of having so many people show up at the church to share it with us was overwhelming and amazing to us both.
Jedi pulled away from the church so Elizabeth and I could have a little alone time, as we tried to catch our breath from the long day. Tom rode with us for a few minutes to catch a couple of pictures but then it was just us. We smiled at each other and kissed again. 'I love you, my wife.' I said to her with tears in my eyes. 'I love you, my husband.' she replied.
 We rode around downtown Edwardsville as I held her close to protect her from the cold wind of November. It was magical...like a fairytale. But the night was just beginning. To be continued in part 2.