Saturday the 14th I became Mrs Eliz77!
As some of you know, it wasn't an easy path. It never had to do with us, or our committment to being married, but there were enough stresses to deal with. Started off with some awkwardness about picking a Church/Priest, which made me question marrying in the Church (something I never want to remember even thinking about!!!!); then dealing with family illness (my Grandma is still hanging in there, but it's not looking good, FI's dad made it to the wedding, but was hospitalized for two days prior to the wedding) and some other pointless family drama (my cousin ended up in rehab so I didn't have to strss over not inviting her and her FI) but through it all, our nearest and dearest behind us with their unending support, love and failth.
The Deacon assigned to our wedding proved to be the most amazing addition, one I did not foresee. I love him! He has such a great sense of humor-one of the stress heading into this was the fact husband's divorced parents had not beem in the same room in 20 years. He knew this and was a total ice break at our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Another was FI was not brought up Catholic and was a bit uneasy with the unfamiliarlity of it all. Deacon was very patient, welcoming and never once made him feel uncomfortable. One funny moment right before ceremony began-Husband was a bit concerned about answering correctly during the vows exchange and asked him how he should answer the questions-I will? Yes? I promise? Deacon told him however you want, and how about a big "HELL YEAH?!" thrown in there?? Just a great ice breaker type of person. Wish he ahd been able to come to the reception, but he had tickets to the NYY vs Angels game (and being an avid NYY fan myself, I totally understood!). He was fantastic leading up to our day, always on hand when we called him, called to check in periodically to make sure we were on track, and further impressed me by getting what we were all about. His words during the ceremony really reflected that. So many people picked up on it. Every detail of our wedding was very simple, family oriented and just so...us...for lack of better word! It means so much that our officiator got that and didn't come off as just another wedding he was doing. Or that he was pushing more on us than we talked about. It was all seamless and I really believe made all our guests feel comfortable and just...getting it!
I made sure the photographer got a picture of the three of us, and will be sending him a framed copy with yet another "thank you". To whoever mentioned in another thread about it being her payment to her uncle-thank you for the idea!
SO, thank you, Catholic Board posters, for your many words of advice and wisdom! I know there were many debates and some heated discussions in some of my threads, but I do respect all of you and feel I walked away with at the least something to think about.
God Bless!