My family on my dad’s side of the family — also chose not to come. After sending out the invitations, my grandmother on my dad’s side called me to tell me, in no uncertain terms, that they would not be attending if my dad was not walking me down the aisle. Despite informing her that was his choice — she stood firm on the matter. So, except for my cousin, the one closest to me in age, not one member from my dad’s side of the family was in attendance. This cousin was the one I mentioned earlier, the one that I fought over who got to be the Pink Ranger when we were younger. She was one of the candle-lighters in the ceremony, as well as one of Bryce’s sisters.
We decided to wait another few months, ultimately settling for August of 2007. We ended up holding the wedding at the Church that Bryce and his family attended at the time, while the pastor from the Church my family had been attending at the time, officiated for us. My momma worked so hard to help us pay for the wedding along with Bryce’s parents — and it paid off. My momma will never know how much I appreciated all she did to ensure our special day was special after everything that had transpired with my dad and his entire side of the family. My incredible momma, in addition to working her regular teaching job, also worked two small jobs on the side, as well to help pay the wedding expenses off.
(The wedding planning was finally finished, and before we even knew it — the big day was finally here. Our wedding party consisted of the following:21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmRMTT6QZwJ
Bryce’s Best Man — Bryce’s brother, Mike21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3j7zelCpDP
Bryce’s Groomsmen — Bryce’s friends, Paul and Eric, and my brother, Caleb21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwjvkpx4rQZ
Bryce’s Junior Groomsmen — friend of the family21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQp5IBWimz
Bryce’s Ringbearer — Our photographer’s grandson — also a friend of the family21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQEyPUamFw
My Maid of Honor — my childhood best friend, Jennifer21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr1Piiwv0Sk
My Bridesmaids — my friends Marie, Sara and Stacey21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP1tvqSc49S
My Junior Bridesmaid — a friend of the family21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqSkh3k6jz
My Flower Girl — Bryce’s niece (we had two at the time, this was the one that lived the closest)21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFzGB9aNPGI
Our Ushers — Bryce’s friend, Brock, and my cousin, Charlie (who both tower over Bryce and me — there’s a photo of us standing in between them, who are both super tall)21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUPsz0BdAWb
Our Candlelighters — My cousin, close in age to me on my dad’s side, previously mentioned, as well as Bryce’s sister, Ella.)
The rehearsal dinner was first, and if it tells you just how country we are, had a local chicken place cater. My hometown has this chicken place that has some of the best fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy that I have ever eaten. So, for our rehearsal dinner, we served fried chicken out of baskets lined with red and white plaid cloth (our colors were red, white, and silver), with sides of mashed potatoes, gravy, coleslaw, baked beans, and hot rolls. (For social media post, include #TellMeYoureCountryWithoutTellingMeYoureCountry in description) I sported a red and white plaid sundress that showed off my legs… and my spray tan.
I’ve already mentioned just how incredibly pale my skin tone is, but do you want to hear just how pale others view me? Brock was one of Bryce’s friends who ushered alongside my cousin, Charlie. Brock was also friends with Bryce’s groomsmen, including Eric. I noticed Brock and Eric were both eyeing me down all night, so I finally asked them what was up. They asked me if they could ask me something, but didn’t want it to come across the wrong way. I told them to go ahead and ask, and they inquired as to how I got so dark so quickly. After I finished cracking up laughing as I found this hilarious, I assured them not to worry about melanoma or sun damage… that it was just a spray tan. We already know that I wouldn’t tan naturally anyway… I’d just end up burnt, blistered, peeling, and freckled.
I was in beauty school during my last two years of high school, as I’ve already mentioned. Because of this, I became good friends with the hairstylists at a local salon where I used to get my hair done, The previous owner of this salon used to help me practice for boards and general practice whenever she had the time to do so. I would alternate between all the stylists whenever I would get something done there. One of the stylists, we’ll call her Leah, and she was relatively closer to my age than the other stylists. Because of the closeness in age, we hit it off well as friends, hanging out together from time to time. I had paid Leah almost four hundred dollars ahead of time to do the hair and makeup for me and all the girls in my wedding party.
The night before the wedding was probably where things started to get shaken up, so to speak. None of the things that happened were big disasters, by any means… just small little things that went wrong or could have gone better. But — there were quite a few of them to tell you about — so let’s get started!
I stayed the night at my friend’s house, a friend from school that I grew up with who was also one of my bridesmaids, we’ll call her Marie, as well as my three other bridesmaids. That morning, we were supposed to be at the salon at a certain time and were told to wear button-up shirts so we wouldn’t mess up our hair and makeup when it was time for us to get ready for the actual ceremony. Fortunately for me, my friend whose home I was staying at that night, was around the same size as me at the time and had one I could borrow. It also just so happened to be white and sparkly — perfect for the bride-to-be!
We made it to the salon in time for our appointments, even a little sooner. This is probably a good time to tell you about a few things that happened before our prepaid appointments with my hairstylist “friend” at the salon I went to. Just days, not even a full week, before the wedding — Leah had already spent the payment made to her for the event ahead of time yet made a few attempts to get out of it.
One day, I received a text message from her asking me if I was sure I really wanted to go through with the wedding. Keep in mind, she knew Bryce by this time and had never said a word about him prior to the big day… knew him well and had no issues with him. The night before, she sent another text message to me along the same lines. I made it clear the wedding was, for sure, happening and that I would meet her at the salon at the agreed appointment time.
She finally made it to the salon… forty-five minutes late. If you’ve ever been part of a wedding party — you know that time is limited, you’re on a time crunch trying to get every last detail taken care of. Our hair and makeup appointments were no different. In between her being late combined with her going out back to smoke on numerous occasions, taking her time each cigarette that she took a break to go out back and smoke, we were losing precious, valuable time.
The other stylists noticed what was happening, and knowing today was a big day for me, stepped up and helped in between their clients… for which, I am eternally grateful. When it was clear that Leah would only have time to do my makeup but not the other girls’ faces, I went into cosmetologist mode. I went over to their cosmetic station and got to work, prepping my base and doing a full face of makeup on all my bridesmaids with their little makeup stand they had at the time. Once hair was done or setting up, she finally got around to finishing up my makeup. I had what I wanted in mind for my hair, which I had told her all about in detail ahead of time. I wasn’t in love with my hair, it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind — but we were on a time crunch. She did end up stopping by the wedding, but only long enough to make a change to my hair — then promptly left. I understood, I knew she had to get back to work… and I wasn’t exactly very happy with her by now.
My Mom, bridesmaids and I all showed up to the Church around the same time, about an hour or so before the ceremony was to begin. Bryce, however, did not show up on time.
Nope.
He showed up at the Church three hours early. If anyone watches the American Version of The Office, I’m sure you remember Michael’s reaction at the beginning of the Goodbye Toby episode, the last episode of season four. Michael ran through the office like a child running off that sugar-packed candy he ate earlier. It was Toby’s last day working at Dunder Mifflin, and Michael was ecstatic.
Bryce said that’s how he felt the day of our wedding — saying that he was so psyched to marry me that he showed up three hours early just from sheer excitement. That specific episode didn’t come out until almost a year after we got married, but after it had aired, he told me that’s how he felt on our wedding day.
I don’t like math; my brain doesn’t brain when it comes to math. But combining romance with an Office reference, those are equations I understand and can get behind!
My girls and I all started getting ready as soon as we arrived at the venue, rushing to make sure everything we had to do was checked off the list. I gave the girls the jewelry I bought to go with the dresses I got them for the wedding. We sprayed ourselves down with some body glitter spray I got for us to wear, made sure all our curls were in place, etcetera and so forth. My cousin Annie helped me slip into my wedding dress while her and my momma helped me finish everything else. We got my jewelry on, touched up my makeup, put my decorative pearl and rhinestone headpiece in, put my shoes on, and so on. As my girls and I finished getting ready, I heard a commotion across the room.
I walked over where I saw some of my wedding party girls along with my mom standing by Marie. When I joined the commotion, I saw that Marie’s skin now matched the crimson-red bridesmaid dress she was wearing. She had an allergic reaction to the spray-on body glitter that we all used just beforehand. I asked her what she wanted to do as we scrambled for baby wipes to wipe her down the best we could. After wiping her down as best as we could, her skin started to turn from the red allergic reaction color, gradually making its way back to its relatively normal color. She told me she was good, and we continued. Should that situation have changed, luckily, we had Bryce’s mom there, who is a registered nurse.
As I previously mentioned, I’m not big into shoes like most girls are — that’s why I ended up loving the shoes I got for the occasion. They were slip-ons that looked like white ballet slippers without the ribbon, so they were not only cute but super comfortable. The shoes I got for our send-off were also cute and comfortable — I’ll be telling you about them when I get to that part later.
We let my Papaw know that we were ready to go, and with his tuxedo we got him pairing perfectly with his cowboy boots — we were ready to rock and roll down the aisle. We arrived at the door leading to the sanctuary where Charlie and Brock were waiting to usher for us. Upon arriving at the giant double doors that were closed until we were ready for them to open, Charlie and Brock both made sure to tell me how radiant and stunning I looked. That truly made me feel so much better — I had been nervous and feeling self-conscious about walking down the aisle, and it was almost like they picked up on that energy or something.
I don’t know. Anyways, my niece was our flower girl and walked down the aisle before I did. If you recall, this was the same niece who had just lost her dad not even a week prior to this. She is Bryce’s niece by blood, but I’ve considered her my niece ever since Bryce and I got engaged. She made her way down the aisle, basketful of fake rose petals in hand, dropping them by the tiny handful all the way down. Once she reached the front where Bryce and his groomsmen were already positioned, she had run out of petals and turned around to go back to the back to get more. Bryce had to stop her and tell her that it was okay and that she did a good job — I only heard about it and didn’t see it as I hadn’t walked out yet.
But my niece is adorable — so I’m sure what she did was, also. All eighteen of our nieces and nephews are adorable and do adorable things.
I made it up to where Bryce and our wedding party were standing, the vows came and went in a flash right before our very eyes. But, not before a few notable things occurred that, in hindsight, are hilarious… not surprisingly, I guess I just have bad luck with weddings. I missed my momma’s wedding to my stepdad even after showing up before it was to begin, and my dad ended up getting married after his and my mom’s divorce was finalized once or twice, I can’t recall, without knowing anything about it.
So, these really should have been red flags for me… jokingly, of course.
First, the pastor dropped the ring… I don’t think that requires any more elaboration.
Then, before I knew it, the pastor was announcing us husband and wife… but completely forgot and skipped over the whole, “You may kiss the bride,” part of the ceremony. My photographer spoke up and reminded him so she could get the shot of us kissing officially as husband and wife. Looking back, these things are hilarious — but what happens next — tops them all.
Back when we got married, Hilary Duff’s music was relatively popular, so much so that Bryce had bought her With Love perfume for me when I showed interest in wanting it. I ultimately ended up choosing this song, With Love, as our song to walk down the aisle together as official husband and wife.
The person controlling the music for us, however, accidentally played the wrong song — that’s not the funny part. The funny part was the song on the same CD that was played instead of With Love. They instead played her song Danger, which came right after With Love on the album’s playlist. When I say this was hilarious, it wasn’t just the mere fact that they played the wrong song before rushing to play the correct one — it’s the song and its lyrics that cracked me up.
Imagine for a moment you’re attending a wedding. After the actual ceremony concludes, along with all the little hiccups, the couple begins to walk down the aisle together as newlyweds, and their exit music begins to play over the loud, booming speaker system… when you begin hearing the start of the song. So far, so good. But then, you realize what the lyrics are saying… lyrics along these lines:
’Cause I see danger, danger, danger in your eyes21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjHdPf51kRO
’Cause danger, danger, danger, you disguise21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfv1laox1n
So baby, lift your head up to the light21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPJ5dt2WUc
There’s danger in those eyes21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjV5eFNORY
There’s danger in your eyes
Lyrics like that are gonna get your attention when you’re at an event like a wedding. But the song kept playing as the sound technician fumbled around to play the correct song. With that, you hear the next set of lyrics.
You belong to my darker side21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFqfHIxZhIk
You’re a guy who sets a girl on fire21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjNyY7X8aiW
I could see myself falling in line21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYvL4Fx50ID
Like a hundred girls you had over time…
This was promptly followed by the chorus once more.
’Cause I see danger, danger, danger in your eyes21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmBQhe0K3R
’Cause danger, danger, danger, you disguise21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLnFgFnIr3l
So baby, lift your head up to the light21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnt0sCATmkC
There’s danger in those eyes21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDFWsg0prKU
There’s danger in your eyes
I think you probably get the point by now.
Apparently, I didn’t have to worry about any danger. I heard that couples that get married before the age of twenty-two, have a 78% chance of divorce. Well, I was under that age, Bryce wasn’t at the time, and we’re still together! We’ve had our issues over the years, that’s common in relationships.
Soon after the music issue was fixed, the correct song played while Bryce and I finished making our way to the back… both of us beaming, smiles radiating from one ear straight across to the other. I think the excitement overwhelmed the both of us considering we both felt the need to assure one another that we were, in fact, officially married. Because we were already behind schedule, we had to book it, taking photos of us and the wedding party, before quickly making our way to the reception. We didn’t want to keep our guests waiting longer than necessary before the send-off.
The reception, much like the ceremony itself, was a blur. Before we knew it, we were making our way to our honeymoon after an amazing send-off consisting of bubbles, this biodegradable stuff that you use in place of bird seed, rice and/or confetti… and balloons. Lots and lots of balloons adorned our car in addition to Just Married and the like emblazoned with car chalk written like graffiti on our car windows.
In a cute little white sundress paired with white flip-flops with the word BRIDE etched into the bottoms of both shoes, or BRIDE TO BE etched between the bottom of both shoes, and glitter straps. We had to make a stop at the bank before we left for Branson, Missouri, where we chose to go on our honeymoon.
I love Branson, it’s a regular vacation spot and it’s like no other place I’ve ever gone. That isn’t exactly saying much though, considering I’ve never been out of the United States… ever. But, even if I did, I’m certain one of my favorite go-to spots would still be Branson. And it truly is a small world, I tell ya. On two different occasions at almost ten years apart from each other, I ran into two different people from my small hometown, in two different stores in the Branson Landing shopping mall, at two different times. One girl was one I attended school with, and she was a grade below mine. The other was one of my former teachers that I had in high school who was waiting for his wife outside a shop in the same shopping mall. So apparently, I’m not the only one obsessed with Branson.
Upon arrival at the bank, the balloons that were still attached to the back of our car pummeled a lady that was walking past our car, before we could apologize, she cracked up laughing and told us congratulations.
This was obviously before the whole “Karen” era and all their “Karen” antics… or maybe she genuinely was just a nice lady — that’s not out of the question, either.
My mom babysat Zoie for us while we were away. We promptly made our way to Missouri from the new hometown I now shared with Bryce. We stopped in Springfield for the night to get some dinner and some rest before waking up and finishing our drive to Branson.
Sure, the drive wasn’t a very long one at all, but we were exhausted after all the chaotic festivities throughout the past few days. Not to mention, all the excitement and nerves being in full force. We stopped at this little hole-in-the-wall style authentic Mexican restaurant and stayed in a cheaper hotel for the night. The next morning, we checked out, stopped for some breakfast, I think — if I remember that correctly… before arriving at Lambert’s restaurant — home of the quote/unquote “throwed” rolls.
It was summertime, so not only was school out, but that meant a lot of tourists, as well. That was clear as day upon arrival at Lambert’s, where we were given an hour and forty-five-minute wait time.
If ya know what I’m talking about… ya know.
Finally making it to Branson, we checked into our hotel and stayed for about a week… enjoying the sights, shopping, scenery, good food, and just overall, spending quality time together. We brought along our swimsuits to enjoy the in-room jacuzzi, went to Silver Dollar City and had a lot of fun there together, did a little shopping at the Branson Landing and the Tanger Outlet mall.
We packed up, checked out, and decided on-the-road that we wanted to stay another night — so we got a room at a hotel on the cheaper side, leaving to head back home the next afternoon after picking Zoie up from my mom’s house. There’s not much more to tell as far as the wedding and honeymoon goes… onto the next few chapters of my life.
