A Wedding To Remember

When K and I got married, it was decided that the ceremony would be held in the church that my great-grandparents helped build/found. (Yes, it was ME that made the decision, but K was so much in love he would have gone along with just about anything! :)) It was a tiny church in one of the small towns that I grew up in--cozy, not elegant or elaborate in decor. So many people squeezed into the sanctuary that the basement door wouldn't close--the floor sagged under the weight. (We found THIS out several days later.)

The pastor who married us had a long history with both of our families. He was a student of my great-grandfather, a lay preacher. He married my parents and K's parents. He baptized me. He confirmed both of us. (There were many other family events he had a part in, also, but you get my drift.) So, we decided he should officiate at our wedding as well. At the end of the rehearsal, he made a point of saying that the ceremony will begin at 7:00 PM SHARP! We understood completely and vowed we would be there and ready on time.

On the day of our wedding, I was very aware of the time. I didn't want to disappoint the pastor in any way, so I KNEW I would be at the church early. As it turned out, I was at least an hour early. As the time crept closer to 7:00, I could hear all of the people filing into the sanctuary. I sent someone--perhaps my maid-of-honor--to make sure K was there. Once I was sure he wasn't about to bolt, I relaxed a bit and waited to walk down the aisle.

At precisely 7:00, word was sent to the organist to begin. My father and I climbed the stairs and made our way down the aisle. Of course, the only person I saw was K standing in front of the altar. Slowly I made my way to him, gave him my hand, and together we faced the altar. And that is ALL we saw--the altar. The pastor was not there. As a matter of fact, he was nowhere to be found. We started the wedding before the pastor got to the church.

So, what to do? At first, I panicked. Was I supposed to go back downstairs and begin again when Pastor got there? Were we supposed to stand there and wait for him to show up? The buzz behind us got louder and louder as the seconds ticked by. After what seemed like HOURS--it actually was only about a minute and a half, according to the tape--the pastor came running down the aisle. As he passed K and me, he pointed to his watch and said, "I told you 7:00!" And then he smiled at us. Everything went fine after that. Except for the fact that he called me by the wrong name when he pronounced us husband and wife. :D

(As it turned out, the pastor was halfway to the church when he realized that he forgot the marriage license, so he went back home to get it. It was a lucky thing he drove as fast as he did--scary man on the road--otherwise we would have waited much, much longer for him to get to the church.)