I woke up very early with butterflies in my stomach. The excitement, anxiety and anticipation feels so overwhelming. Today is my wedding day. I’m just realizing that planning for a wedding is one thing and getting prepared for the wedding day itself is a whole different story. Just as I stood up staring at my sparkling white dress hung on the wall, I could feel the mixed emotions coming from deep within. How will today turn out? Will he smile when he sees me walking towards him? Will he cry? Will I be able to hold back my tears? How will he look at me? Deep in my thoughts, I looked at my wedding dress. It is beautiful. Almost as beautiful as our marriage will be. I smiled.The photographer was already around capturing some wonderful scenes. I smiled – this is the perfect day to say “I do” and pledge my love, loyalty and whole being to you – the feeling is so real!
I love him. He has grown to become the highlight of my daily life and I can hardly be calm without seeing him. He’s very compassionate, thoughtful, hilarious, adventurous and handsome, but more importantly, he encourages me to always be my best self. He is the reason there’s so much happiness in my life. We have decided to spend the rest of our lives together and there is no one else in the whole wide world that I’d rather do it with.
The guests were already seated. My father walks in, pats my shoulders and scoops my arm into his, saying in his usual hilarious tone, ‘Marriage is a beautiful thing when you’re nice to your in-laws, now smile and whatever you do, do not trip and make me look like a fool’. As we walk down the aisle, countless feelings and emotions made me totally joyous with tears feeling up my eyes. Just as I am about to let it all go and to my wildest surprise, it is my husband-to-be who has those tears running down his cheeks. He is my everything. I walk up to him, hug and tell him how much I truly love him.
We’ve both heard many first rules of making a marriage successful, but the fun about it is after a few years we’ll be able to come up with our own. I look right into his eyes as we exchange our vows and I say, “I choose you to be no other than yourself, loving what I know of you and trusting who you will become. I will respect and honour you always and in all ways. I take you to be my spouse to have and to hold, in tears and in laughter, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward, in this world and the next.” I said these words with a deep feel of the journey ahead. With all our loved ones present, we have promised to love, respect and support each other till eternity. This is a day when two souls met and left together as one.
Alona Koenig Photography.
Vintage charm. Timeless elegance. French ‘joie de vivre’
