Wedded bliss

At the wedding this past Saturday, I was a bundle of nerves. And here’s why:

• I saw, but did not speak to, an old flame. There was an opportunity to break the ice while standing in line for hors d’ oeuvres and I should have taken it, but didn’t. I am such a wimp.
  
• I chatted with an almost-boyfriend, if I can call him that. Maybe it would be better to say he was my date to senior prom? Or ever better to classify him as the “rebound” boy who, though we never even kissed, reopened my heart after the old flame broke it? You get the idea.
  
• And I randomly—surprisingly—bumped into (well really, he bumped into me) a crush from elementary/junior high/high school. The experience took me aback and made me an awkward mess. Seems those butterflies can still come back after even 10 years.
  

Ok, enough about my boy drama. On to the wedding.

It was a lovely wedding. Very personal and intimate. Stephanie looked beautiful in her dress and I think she was just glowing with happiness. It felt a little surreal to me that one of my longtime friends is now a married woman—a wife. But at the same time, I am very happy for her and Ryan, who I both consider good friends, and I can only hope that one day I find the same true, deep, lasting love that they have found in each other.

Here’s some photos from the day: (sorry, no pics of the guys mentioned above!)

The wedding at Cornerstone Church.

The reception site. Can you believe this is a backyard? Gorgeous.

The first dance.

With the happy couple.

With my friend Anna.

With my mom and dad.

Me and the boy.

Finally, because it probably took an hour to wrap, I have to share this photo of my wedding gift (which were a pair of floral throw pillows) to the happy couple. Orange and watermelon were their colors, so I wanted to jazz up the somewhat boring black and white wedding paper with tons of ribbons.

Though they can be a bit stressful, I do love weddings (I have another one to attend in September, in Canada of all places, yippee!). I count Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? and Say Yes to the Dress as some of my favorite shows! But even though they are celebrations of love and happiness and bring out the sap in me, I can't help but feel a little down after I come home and slip off my heels. I think, when will I get married? Who will I marry? 

Though I have tons of ideas of what my wedding dress, hair, makeup, reception site, etc. etc. should look like, I have no idea about who I will wed and when it will be. Yeah, yeah, I'm too young to worry about it and in time I will be able to fill in those blanks, but the truth is, with so many friends getting engaged or married lately, I have started to feel like the clock is ticking. Next year I will be 25 and when I was younger I thought, naively, that I would be hitched by then. But as I have come to realize, as we get older, we have to shift our expectations. One thing is for sure: Nothing ever goes as planned.

So, do you ever worry about these things, too? And on a lighter note, what would your dream wedding look like?