Last weekend we enjoyed the privilege of attending a beautiful and intimate wedding at Surf & Sand Resort, an oceanfront hotel in fantastic Laguna Beach, California. I was quite impressed when the bride did not freak out as weather forced the last minute change of moving the planned feet-in-the-sand ceremony to another location at the resort.
Without further ado (I’ve always thought the word “ado” as quite silly)… I’m a guy, and I love weddings. I really do, especially when the bride / groom earnestly love and pursue Jesus individually and together.
Seriously people, I love weddings. I look forward to them. I enjoy them. I remember them. I hold my lovely close at them and tickle her knee. I “dance” at them. I am still not wholly convinced my animated gyrating qualifies as “dancing”, but it is fun. I intently listen to the vows, even moreso when they are self-written. In all honesty, and perhaps this admission is selfish, while it is certainly preferred if I do… I do not necessarily care if I know the couple that well. The scale and grandeur of the event is not important, just the atmosphere.
All for the low cost of something off a Bed Bath & Beyond registry, these ingredients are mixed together to cook up a wonderful evening for everyone:
- The privilege of being accompanied by a classy and sexy date.
- Romance, a leap of faith, and an optimistic love story with endless potential to impact the world for and to glorify God.
- A nice location with dressed up people.
- [Sometimes there is] flavorsome food and delicious drinks.
- Cake! (Although I always secretly wish I was served ice cream with the cake.)
- Funny and awkward sex comments.
- Dubious dancing to classic, awkward, funky, and confusing music.
- Often, the clash of extremely different families with a collection of wacky people that span the gamut of ages and personalities.
- Usually, people are on their best behaviors, especially when guests imbibe alcohol responsibily.
- An exchange of vows to passionately serve, love, and submit to each other and God.
- Silly and cute rituals… really, where did this cutting-the-cake performance originate?
Great times.
Attending other weddings, of course, makes me reminisce about the start and progression of my relationship with my glamorous wife. It is so funny looking back at our amazing engagement and wedding… despite our best efforts in “preparing for marriage” with lots of prayer, couples / singles discussions, small groups, church community, pre-marital counseling, books, videos, conferences, etc… we had little to no understanding of what we were getting into.
We were blessed with a ridiculously perfect wedding extravaganza, each of us longingly gazed at each other vowing to love and serve each other every day. Her vows were sweet and articulate, mine were literally 2 single-spaced pages that took 10 minutes to get through. The itinerary at our wedding was executed flawlessly. The only snafu involved me accidentally stepping on and ripping my wife’s dress on the way back from the gourmet buffet . Thankfully, the staff immediately and magically appeared out of the shadows of the facility like ninjas with a thread and needle to resolve the situation.
Our marriage is imperfect but so very beautiful. I honestly and literally thank God for my wife multiple times every single day. God bless her for putting up with and taking care of me.
I’m always turned off when people say “I love my wife today as much as I did the day we got married”… that has never made any sense because after years and eventually decades of marriage, your love should be exponentially greater. That’s definitely been our experience thus far, and we’re only a couple years into this gig. I love, appreciate, respect, and adore my bride so much more today than I did at our wedding, and look forward to what that love will be like if we are blessed with 50+ years together. I will love every single wrinkle on her mesmerizing face.
Invite us to your wedding… Ill get to know your friends and family, have a goofy grin on my face, dance, eat your food, be excited for you, pray for you … we’ll bring a gift and everything!
