17 years…with the backstory
Ok. Here is the story. First of all, I have a couple disclaimers. We were teenagers. We did NOT know Jesus as our Lord and Savior at this time. Ok, here goes…
We started dating in November of 1995…goodness I am old.
August 14th, 1998 – Aaron and I decided that Friday we were going to get married. We did. We went downtown to the courthouse, got our license and were married by a justice of the peace. I even got my concealed carry permit and applied for my new name all in the same building! Ha! It wasn’t fancy. It was me and him and a few strangers. We had no witnesses except who the court provided. It was simple and it was honestly PERFECT. As I look back over our years of marriage…I would totally do that style of wedding again except maybe in a tropical place.
See we didn’t have supportive families. We were TEENAGERS, remember? What did we know? We certainly had NO business being married. Gasp! So we went against it all (which is very typical of us) and got married anyway. We knew we were forever. There was NEVER a question of that.
Fast forward 1 year…August 14th, 1999 (Saturday). It would have been a perfect day for a wedding. We did plan to have a beautiful wedding someday. We just wanted to be able to pay for it all. One year wasn’t enough to cough up the cash. So we waited….
Fast forward another year, August 14th, 2000…oh crap…leap year happened. This would be a MONDAY. No one has a wedding on a MONDAY! So we opted for the next best option. Sunday, August 13th, 2000. It actually worked out rather well. Prices were really discounted for a Sunday wedding. We were “wed” at Oak Hill Mansion in Carmel. We had the reception there as well. I had my day as a princess (albeit a fat princess….no really…I was).
Now we came to know Jesus in 2003. We have since invited Him into our marriage. As I reflect upon the secret we kept for NUMEROUS years…we actually didn’t tell my in-laws until our 10th wedding anniversary which just so happened to be 2 weeks before the birth of their first grandchild..hehehe. I realize it was all kinda dumb. We didn’t need to hide it. We should have been proud. We REALLY should have skipped the whole wedding shibang….it cost a FORTUNE and I never really got a honeymoon! Boo! If I have any advice for my children, it would be when they find the one they love….have the reasonably priced ($200 or less) pretty dress and GO somewhere and be married! Have a party when you return with your family and allow them to congratulate you that way but DON’T spend TONS of money on a day that really belongs to you and your spouse (and this is coming from the potential mother of the bride and/or mother of the groom someday).
Ok. There is the story. Not really cool just our silly way of starting married life together…oh, did I mention we were actually “married” 3 times with no divorces??? Seriously! We were married at postprom in 1996 and then by the justice of the peace in 1998 and then again in 2000 by a wonderful minister who wasn’t the least be bothered that we were already LEGALLY married! How many folks can say that???
