Wedding Tales

I've written a little bit about our wedding on the blog before. Becky is doing a link up and asking everyone to share their wedding stories.

Chris and I planned a wedding in a month, with $800 borrowed from his parents.

We had been dating for seven months when Chris proposed. We had pretty much been talking about getting married since the night that we met, but our lives, outside from each other, were up in the air.

Chris had just moved to St. Louis after getting a divorce from his college sweetheart. After being together for four years, the marriage only last six months before they realized that it wasn't what life had planned for them.

My friend, Betsy, was calling me over Christmas break wanting to hang out. She had a met a new guy, and like most of her relationships in college, I got to be her chubby third wheel. To make a long story short, Betsy had accepted a job out of town and was moving. Another friend and I drove across St. Louis on New Year's Eve to say goodbye to her.

At the bar, I was introduced to Chris. He was the best friend of the guy Betsy was kind of dating.

You can read a little about that first impression HERE.

Betsy didn't tell me about Chris just getting divorced. I am so glad she didn't. She wanted me to get to know him for him, without any judgment. I remember on our first date, which included two of my girlfriends, he got up and went to the bathroom. While he was gone, she told me about HIS BIG SHOCKING DIVORCE back story. I think at that point, I just thought he was so cute, that I didn't care.

About five months into dating, we found out I was pregnant. We both broke our leases and got a place together. In the meantime, he had proposed. He still tells me that he wanted to anyway, but the pregnant, hormonal Holly just felt like I had trapped him.

After extreme backlash from my family, especially from my mother who has been married four times, we decided to get married in October.

We had just enough money to have a small, 50 person wedding.

We were married outside, at dusk, in front of a pond.

I found the pastor and violinist on Craigslist.

Then we took everyone to a winery for dinner.

After dinner, we stayed at a local casino. {Am I fitting the stereotype yet?}. We sat in the car and opened up all of our cards, just hoping to have enough money to pay for a room. We mingled with our friends a bit and then went up to our room. I asked Chris to go get me a piece of cheesecake. By the time he returned, pregnant Holly was asleep. Such a classy bride.

The point in me sharing my story is that happily ever after comes in all different ways.

Like a quote from my favorite movie... "Look, in my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what-have-you. The right person is still going to think the sun shines out of your ass. "

I love you, Chris. Thank you for making me feel beautiful every day.