Have Wedding…
Check
Go on Honeymoon…
Check
Get married? For us that came after the Honeymoon!!
Our wedding was set for Saturday November 29, 1997. We had planned everything in advance and was all set, except for the marriage license. We were taking the week before our wedding day off and planned to get our license during that week. That was our first mistake…
On the Monday before the wedding we went to Orlando for the day to visit with family. We actually spent the day at MGM Studios at Disney World. All was going well, but we came home sick. We still had so many ends to tie that week even though we were sick. I had a manicure and pedicure scheduled, facial, massage, had to pick up the dress, pack for the honeymoon, pick up the tuxedos, etc, etc… To top it all off, we were getting married on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. So, we had that big family get together to attend that week as well.
By Wednesday evening we were exhausted and still sick…both of us! We had not yet gone to get our marriage license but since they would be closed for the holiday on Thanksgiving, we thought we could just go get it on Friday. Nope…turns out, all government offices were closed both Thursday and Friday. Now we started to panic! The wedding was done. Most of the guests were in town. The honeymoon was set…non-refundable. And, our pastor had repeatedly reminded us not to forget the license for us to all sign the day of the wedding. So, we did what any other couple in that situation would do…Have the wedding anyway.
We called the pastor in a panic. He said he would perform the ceremony anyway and we could make it “official” after we returned from the honeymoon. In the eyes of God and us, we would be married on November 29th. The state of Florida wouldn’t know until the next week. None of our guests would have to know. Besides, we decided that if the honeymoon didn’t go well, we didn’t have to actually get married when we returned! Maybe more couples should try this!
We returned from our honeymoon and decided that we should go ahead and make it official. The trip was a success. Maybe we should try marriage! On Monday December 8, 1997 we went to the clerk of court to get our marriage license. It turns out that our pastor was at Sarasota Memorial Hospital performing his chaplain duties and asked if we could meet him in the lobby. We met him there that afternoon, signed the license and we were officially married! Ironically I was married in the same hospital where I was born and would later give birth to my own children!
I guess our system worked because we have been married for almost 12 years now. When I think back on those events I remembered being so worried about our predicament. Now, I just look back and laugh…it is a great story to tell!
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
