My Best Friend's Wedding

I bet you're all thinking of that MOVIE that came out the summer of 1997, right? That seemed to be the summer of wedding movies, if I recall. Or maybe the few summers of wedding movies, but this post isn't really like that movie at all. 

Well, except that it's about a wedding.

But it's about so much more than a wedding, too. Because anybody on this side of a wedding knows that real life starts after the wedding. And it very rarely ends with "Happily Ever After".  At least not the "Happily Ever After" we imagined.

My sweet friend, Stephanie (below left), got married way back on June 8th. (That just goes to show you how far behind on this ole blog.) The other two are Rebekah and Jenny. :)

Don't be fooled by that 100 watt smile and that darling dimple. This gal knows about pain. She knows about heartache. She could write the book on grief and unfairness and a broken Happily Ever After. Beneath that pretty exterior is a core of pure steel. One forged on the fire of early widowhood and single motherhood and all the other "hoods" the rest of us only think about when facing our worst fears. 

You see, her first husband passed away before she was even 30, leaving her with a 6 month old son and a broken heart to mend. (You can read her story in her own words HERE.) From Stephanie I learned what it meant to hurt for someone so much it makes you sick to your stomach. From Stephanie I learned what it meant to pour out my soul in prayer for another person. From Stephanie I learned what real grief was. From Stephanie I had my first glimpse of someone struggling through the bitterness and pain of living a Plan B life and living it with grace and a sense of humor and still clinging to a hope in the God she made herself trust...even when she had to make herself cling to that hope when all she wanted to do was give up and turn her back on Him and all the promises He seemed to have broken. 

So when the rest of the "girls" (JENNY, REBEKAH, MARIA, and myself) heard that she was getting married again, we knew there wasn't anywhere else we'd be come June 8th. These are the best friends I don't get to live very close to. The ones I pick up right where I left off with. The ones we've walked through weddings and babies and infertility and parent's divorces and cancer and death with and we'll just keep walking with as life keeps dishing out the bad stuff. The ones I can share my all my ugly, selfish, un-spiritual thoughts with and they won't hate me or judge me or stop being my friend. They might offer comfort or advice, but I know they'll just love me and pray for me and and they'll just be there no matter what. It's kinda awesome. 

Apparently, we also dress alike. 

The rest of us decided to put together a "blessing basket" for Steph and her new family. She was marrying Dallas, who also brought a 9-year-old son, Garrett, to the marriage. They didn't need a lot of "stuff" since they were combining two households, but they needed blessing. 

This time around, they both knew how hard marriage is. There wasn't any of the innocence and ignorance that comes with a first wedding. They know what it really means to be a family and all the hard work involved. They weren't wearing their rose-colored glasses this time. We wanted to bless the new life they were going to build together. And we know it called "building" because it takes time and sweat and elbow grease. 

So I made her an apron to help keep clean. :)

Mostly I just thought the dish running away with the spoon was cute in a kitschy kind of way. 

These two boys have no idea what kind of gift has been given to them. 

A mom and a dad who will fight and work with everything they've got to give them a strong, Christian home full of love. At the wedding, they even said vows to the boys. It was beautiful. 

We even remembered to take some group shots at their new house. We always say we will and we never do!!

Friday, the day of the wedding, we got to spend quite a bit of time with Steph actually. I'm telling you, when it comes to weddings, we did it wrong! The wedding was held in an old church in Tomball and the only decorations were simple buckets of flowers at the end of the pews. Simply beautiful. There were no attendants, no crazy schedules to keep. Just a simple ceremony surrounded by the people closest to them. Stephanie and Dallas did take photos before the wedding so we were left to our own devices for an hour and half or so. We ended up at a couple of junk stores and an old-timey soda shop. 

Go figure.

A big storm did roll through right as the wedding was starting, though, thus prompting some creative rain gear. 

But it had cleared off by the time the reception rolled around. It was held at a local Mexican food restaurant. These girls humored me with a photo on the rather rickety train caboose out front. 

When I say the wedding was beautiful, that isn't just a word I'm throwing out there because it's used to describe weddings all the time. The dress, the food, the flowers, the music. There was something else about this wedding. As the four of us sat on the rickety wooden pew watching the fifth make her second vow to love and cherish until death they do part, it felt more real and raw than when the four of us watched the first wedding. Now we know what those vows mean. Now we know how tenuous and fragile those good times are. Now we know that life can change in an instant. Now we know what it means to cling to God in those dark, dark days when all you want to do is give up. Now we know how powerful those words are. 

Now we know the true worth of this friendship. 

And there would not have been anywhere I would have been on that rainy Friday night. 

Happy (Very Late) Wedding Stephanie and Dallas!!