Best Day of Your Life

I’m going to try something new and share a bit about myself. I’m currently in between events and I have some down-time. This is difficult for me. I’m much better when I’m surrounded by people, checking off a to-do list and making sure the lines aren’t too long at the bar.

This month I celebrated my 19th wedding anniversary. Sometimes this sounds like an accomplishment but other times not so much. My parents have been married for more than 50 years and so were their parents. So, I’m just trying to keep up with the “Taylors”.

My wedding took place at Country Club United Methodist Church (CCUMC) on a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon. I walked down the long aisle to greet my new husband, Ted. I remember how happy I was and that it was the best day of my life. Fast forward to 2015 and the wedding coordinator at CCUMC decided to retire. I had started my own event planning business at this point and was busy with nonprofit events and parties. But there was a part of me that wanted to help others feel the same way I did when I got married. So, I offered to take the position of wedding coordinator.

Over the last nine years, I have helped more than 50 couples get married. My job is to set up the church and get all the details and people in place to walk down the aisle. Most of the time this is an easy job and things are seamless. But sometimes it is a difficult task. Here are just a few things that have happened over the years: wedding parties are tipsy, ushers are drunk, pastors aren’t at the church to start the ceremony, divorced parents of the bride/groom don’t speak to each other, relatives get boutonnieres by accident and have to be asked for them back, cats enter the church during the service, flower girls/ring bearers don’t want to walk down the aisle, best men forget rings, microphones don’t work, electricity and a/c goes out and hundreds of people ask where the bathroom is located.

So, I am happy when all the guests have arrived, and the wedding party is down the aisle. Then the only people left are the bride, her father and me. I stand behind the bride and flip her train and make sure it lays nice and flat on the carpet. Right before she and her father walk a few steps to the open door of the sanctuary I whisper to her, “Look around and take it all in. This is the best day of your life”. It sure was for me and getting to experience this over and over is pure joy!