the wedding story
How will yours story be told?
The year is 2076.
A young girl and her fiancé are visiting her parents for dinner one cozy fall evening. Setting her wine glass on the coffee table, she notices a leather-bound book underneath the tabletop. What’s this? Her heart quickly and warmly reminds her of the answer her mind was searching for. She feels an overwhelming sense of nostalgia along with that fuzzy feeling that happens when you step back in time for a bit.
Carefully, she pulls the book from its resting space and lovingly opens to the first page. There, she sees a photograph of a woman, sitting before a vanity mirror in a cream satin robe, wearing a long, cascading veil over her lose curls… with a beautiful comb of delicate flowers with tiny pearls in their centers, holding her hair back just above her ear. The look on her face is calm, sweet, and content, with a hint of anxious excitement. She looks exquisite in her stunning natural beauty, so much that it takes the girl’s breath away.
She turns the page to see the woman walking hand-in-hand with a handsome man with green eyes and a little bit of stubble in a sharp tailored suit, and shiny shoes. They’re both overflowing with happiness and joy in the photograph, like nothing else in the world matters but each other. The colors of the page are still so rich after all this time; she can just smell the sweet scent of the garden roses, and hear the cheers from the guests as they toss flower petals in the air…
Her fiancé comes in to sit down next to her, sipping an Old Fashioned and munching on some olives and cheese. “Is this Gram’s album you were telling me about?” he asks, sitting his cocktail plate on the table and puts his arm around the girl.
“Yes,” she says proudly, “I just can’t believe I’ll be wearing her veil at our wedding in just a couple weeks…”
“She’s going to lose it when she sees you walking down that aisle… I’m sure I will too,” he replies, giving her a little kiss on the forehead.
“I’m sure Pop will hand her his kerchief from his side pocket once her tears start, just like he always does…” says the girl with a smile.
They sip their drinks while tenderly looking through each page together, reliving such a special day that took place over a half-century ago. With each page, the girl finds herself appreciating just how much her very own style is so similar to that of her grandmother’s, even back then, timeless, tasteful, and true. She also cherishes the way her Pop looked at Gram, both so young with their whole lives ahead, as he guided her down the church front steps, held up her train as they stepped into the getaway car, and playfully topped her nose with icing… Protective, loving, caring, and playful.
The girl closes the special book, sweetly sighs, looks at her fiancé and says, “I knew you were the one for me because you remind me so much of him.”
Sigh… Don’t you just love all of the nostalgic feels? I do. They get me every single time!
A wedding day is so special for each couple, their friends, and their families of course, but also for the future generations who will one day yearn to discover their history, heritage, and the “real life love” from which they came. Seeing what that really looked like can give such a strong sense of authenticity, belonging, and even healing. It shows how preserving and celebrating moments in time like this can allow for the roots of one’s past to nourish the blossoms of their future, just like it did for the girl in the story.
Oh and by the way, the woman in the story… the bride in that very special book… She is you.
So putting yourself in her shoes, how will you now choose to savor your own love story for not only yourself and your spouse, but for those who may come thereafter? What will future generations have to look back on and relive the emotion you felt, that may one day inspire them to seek the same for themselves? How will your history influence the kind of love they seek for themselves?
These are the questions work asking…
