GOD REMEMBERS Even Years Later

This story is true and took place a number of years ago.  It’s a story of our wedding day.  If you’re married, you may look back and remember details about your day very clearly.  For some, it may seem like blur!  I mean that kindly, but our nervous system may have erased some elements of the event.  

We were married in a church that could hold about 500 people.  Because our wedding was an open wedding, our friends, family and church family could all attend this occasion.  There were about 300 people present.

Every detail was handled beautifully and personally by a number of friends.  One detail you may find amusing is that I rented my wedding gown for $10.  Yes, you read right.  My desire was for a very expensive satin dress.  When viewing price tags, I made a “practical decision.”  I was only going to wear this dress once and I found no use in spending big dollars on a wearing-it-once attire.  As I look back, it was the smartest decision of the day.

In making plans for this special day, a friend of mine suggested a popular photographer in Columbus, Ohio.  This business came with a pristine reputation of thirty-two years.   WHAT COULD GO WRONG?     P L E N T Y!

Around 5:00 p.m., the photographer appeared with all his gear and lights…ready to “capture” all the activities of the evening.  I was fully occupied downstairs with the wedding attendants preparing ourselves for our grand entrance.

At 5:30 the organist began to play as people were entering the church sanctuary.  6 o’clock was the assigned time for my dad and I to share the red-carpet aisle for the “walk down the aisle.”

All of this went very smooth!  After the ceremony, while people were busying themselves with refreshment downstairs, my husband and I, along with parents were summoned for photos upstairs in the sanctuary.

A wonderful time was had by all!  A few hours later, we left for our honeymoon.

ABOUT TWO WEEKS LATER………………. the photographer contacted us advising that the photos of the wedding were ready to be viewed, and we were to look them over and decide which ones we wanted to keep and have prepared in a wedding album.

ARE YOU READY FOR THE SURPRISE???

Here we were, all ready to “re-live the event” and “choose our favorite glimpses” of our wedding day!  I’ll make this short and sweet.  There were six (6) photos of the aisle.  No one in the aisle, just the carpet.  If that wasn’t enough, when it came to close ups, our eyes were dotted with what resembled black pen marks.

Are you as shocked as we were?  We couldn’t believe it.

All of this pointed to one detail which we were not aware of.  The photographer showed up “drunk.” 

Needless to say, we were in immediate touch with the photo studio; however, the photographer never got back to us.  The only summary of this disappointing situation was we were offered a 75% discount.

So, as we look now at the few photos, it’s just a disappointment -with two people, dressed for an important event, with “black ink-dot eyes.”

YEARS LATER………….2026

A dear friend called my husband to announce she had a SURPRISE for us.  She asked us to choose week that we would both be available for about four hours.  A date was chosen, but we were told nothing, except to be ready for her to pick us up (with our little dog) and we’d be in her care for about four to five hours.

The day arrived and she drove us into the city of Vancouver, B. C.  We couldn’t have imagined what was coming next on her agenda.

She parked the car and as we exited the car, I was asked to close my eyes as she escorted us up a flight of stairs.  At the top, we were greeted by three employees of this WEDDING STUDIO.  

Our female escort took us to a room where we were told that we were both having a “wedding do-over.”   This included someone restyling my hair, then off for makeup and then my husband went off to one area, and I entered an area where there were at least 500 wedding dresses.

Before I knew it…..I was surrounded by all styles of wedding gowns.  I was instructed to choose one and then that would be the one I’d be wearing for the next one and a half hours.

What a flurry of activity.  After I was dressed, I came out to see my husband in full attire of black and white…..fit for a king.  Another employee came into view….it was their photographer and his assistant to stage us in dozens of areas and poses.  Even our little papillon dog was included towards the end of the photo shoots.  

It was at this time when it dawned on me that all this attention to detail, makeup, dressing and photos and the like, it was as though God “remembered all those years ago” and the disappointment we both felt, and was SURPRISING US BEYOND BELIEF.  God had planned His own photos…. years later…to surprise our hearts.

 As the photographer was taking his shots, it was all I could do to keep from tearing up.  We both were overwhelmed and reminiscent of what God did to remind us of His enduring love. 

A LOVE THAT REMEMBERED!

Thank you to our anonymous “friend” whom God used to encourage us in a beautiful and memorable way.   The photos remain a treasure to us.