Riddle me this. Q: What is a sure fire way to speed up the wedding process? A: Two blue lines instead of one. Meet Ester & Jason. Their I Guess I Do moments include an unexpected arrival and a groomsman's indecent exposure. Check out Ester's story in her own words below.
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“This CANNOT be right!”… I un-wrapped a third little wand that very quickly would become my destiny. “There has got to be a mistake…” I remember thinking over and over to myself. I waited for what seemed an eternity for the results, and checked for a third time to be sure. It was the same - - POSITIVE! How could this be happening to me?! This is not the way it was supposed to go! I had a plan… and this was not the plan I had in mind.
Back up two months… I had just made the move to Charlotte, North Carolina from Houston, Texas to finally live in the same city as my long distance boyfriend of three years. I had found the perfect apartment, a great job teaching at one of the best schools in the city, I was in love and I would FINALLY be living within minutes from my guy! Things were going so perfect for me and Jason... or at the time it was a “perfect” I had envisioned.
As I stared down at that little white wand, I realized very quickly my definition of perfect may not be so. Thoughts swirled through my head like a storm... I have so much left to do before kids!; Am I going to get fat?!; What is Jason going to say? And, Oh My God, what will my Dad say?!?! I grew up in an ultra conservative Southern Baptist family where, getting pregnant before you’re married is our century’s version of having the plague! Things like this did not happen to a perfect little angel like me, or at least... they weren’t supposed to!
The rest of the day progressed like normal – I just went through it on auto-pilot. That night, snuggled up on the couch with Jason, watching our ritualistic Tuesday night line up of primetime TV, I just blurted out without any finesse, “I’m pregnant.” I think what people say is true about being in true love. No little hiccup, or change in destiny can alter the love you have for one another. Jason responded exactly the way I needed him to, deep down... he grabbed me and held me as I balled my eyes out.
Clearly, this was not how either of us had imagined our future. I had just graduated from college and he was still in residency. There were so many things we wanted to do before we got to this point in our lives- like do some traveling, get married, buy a house, then have kids. But our destiny had taken a turn, with something a little different in store for us at that time - a blue bundle of joy!
Like most women, I had dreamt of the day I would become a bride since I was a little girl. Thoughts of flower arrangements, dresses, tuxedos, color combinations, and fabulous venues, had forever danced through my head. But ALL that changed the instant I held the first ultrasound of my baby. That moment, I realized I cared more about being a family than I did about my long fantasized teal and brown color scheme or the perfect fitting wedding dress.
Jason and I always knew we would get married, I guess this just sped up the process a little… ok, A LOT! There wasn’t much time to be picky, with things. Within 2 days of our announcement to our families, I had my colors picked out, bridesmaid’s dresses chosen, and selected a location for our “I Do’s”. This baby bliss I was in, caused me to operate in a serious “pregnant fog”. Invitations went out within two weeks, and my mantra this entire 4 month period was – “I trust your decision, whatever you think I am sure will be fine.” I never actually saw my invitation until my bridesmaid gave me a special custom framed version as a gift (which was the first time I noticed… there is a misspelling!!) There are details about my wedding that I don’t even remember agreeing to. I can’t even tell you what we served for dinner that night, much less noticed that the wedding cake wasn’t what we had actually ordered.
Most brides at least go and visit their reception venue to get a feel for the magical night sometime before the day of the event. Nope, not me! The first time I saw it was when the DJ introduced us on our wedding night. The venue manager actually said to my sister the day before our reception as they did the final walk-through, “I have never had a bride this relaxed about things in all my years of planning!” For me it was such a blur, and ultimately, I didn't really care about the details, I just want to walk down the aisle and start my new life! Funny thing is, it was all such a whirlwind that I was more focused on the perfect plan to reveal the sex of the baby. I had planned for it to happen immediately after the rehearsal on the beach, by giving our families their own framed ultrasound that read “Grandsons are the Best” and “I love Nephews”.
Believe it or not, I still had my own I Guess I Do moment, which I am sure is a little different than most. I didn't have that moment when the bridesmaids felt the need to impose their own fashion sense into what I picked out (like when my own sister bought the wrong pair of shoes to go with the dress), or when the head table seating assignments could not be accommodated because of space issues. MY I Guess I Do moment was getting so caught up worrying about what my family and close friends would think of me getting pregnant before I was actually married. At one point, I was hysterically crying to Jason, because I was certain that I would not have ANYONE sitting on my side at the ceremony. Because, who would want to come to MY wedding after what has happened to me?!
My wedding day went very smooth; at least I thought it did that day. I was completely in my own little pregnant world... now looking back my hair looked like a terrible style that was popular at an 80's prom, but that day I remember walking out of the salon and just thinking - Whatever! I’ll just have my sister fix it. And when the groomsmen got stuck with a flat tire at the grocery store two hours before the ceremony, it didn’t phase me one bit. And when our DJ clearly confused our “Do Not Play List” with his “Playlist”, I didn't even think twice because everyone looked to be having so much fun. And in what normally would have been a final straw for me, my brother-in-law (now ex-brother in-law), decided to whip out his dong during the groomsmen pictures!! But it wasn’t anything a little PhotoShop couldn’t fix (if you look really hard you can something is a little off with his pants!) All these things, they didn’t take me over the edge one bit – thanks to that pregnancy fog!
Forget the little details, at the end of the day even though I had to forgo the champagne and go with apple juice for the toast, dance to music I didn’t like, and eat a cake that I had not actually picked out – I got everything I wanted that day. There was not one empty seat on my side. Actually several family and friends travelled across the country to show their love and support for us. And most of all, I was with the love of my life and we were finally a family which was all I really wanted! My "I Do's" may not have gone the way I always thought that they would, but I learned through all this that the most important decision was not what flowers, colors or dress you pick, its making sure the one you are marrying really is "THE One". That little white wand that held my future, was a life destiny to be married to the man I love, with three beautiful healthy children...
Photographer: Blue Lane Studios Dress: Hayden Olivia Shoes: Arturo Chiang Venue: Boca Royale Golf & Country Club Cake: Publix Bakery Ceremony: Blind Pass Beach - Englewood, FL
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