Flowers by Leonard and Jenny @ Always in Bloom, Catering by All Occasions Catering and music Jim Ogle.. even though you  can’t hear it!! Jim gets the party rocking.. just ask my girls!!

So there was this patient I took care of in Jan. 2009. And said patient had told me of her son that quit his job, sold his house, and moved back here to take care of his very sick mother (she wasn’t pushing him at me or anything, we were just chit chatting). At the age of 27. Who at the time was 29 and in engineering school at UT.

I met her son the second night, who was beautiful. He looked up at me in a way no one in my lifetime ever had. I bounced out of the room and told another nurse I was going to marry the beautiful engineer that took such good care of his mom. I had no interest in men, I did not date (I had been in a relationship that had not worked out and had no desire to go through that again~but something in that look told me he’d be around for the rest of my life). That nurse told me I was crazy, I told her “you wait and see.”

Two weeks after she went home, I found him on facebook and sent a message entirely asking about how she was, no other intent. A week and a half went by with no response, and then I walked into work to find her on my floor again. She was not well…

He came in, and I told him about the message he could now disregard. He went home and wrote back he hadn’t been on in over a month and apologized for not writing back sooner.

She got past her emergent phase, went home, we continued to write back and forth. He eventually asked me for coffee. I went March 1, and at the end of that meeting, he asked me for dinner. I was shocked and stammered out “um, ok.” He thought I didn’t want to go, I was thinking “oh crap, now he’s interested, and I don’t know what to do!”

Dinner came and the more the weeks went by, the more we saw of each other. Sometime towards the end of April I asked him “are we together together?” Neither one of us had exactly mentioned being exclusive, although it was definitely implied. He responded with a very surprised “yes” and said that he thought we’d been together since our first date.

By April 23 I had five wedding dresses picked out I loved, and he didn’t even know he was going to marry me yet. (I did not tell him this).

All through May last year he hinted at being together long term. The first time he told me he loved me was May 24. May 25 he asked “So how long do you think someone should know each other before getting married?” I told him that with him it didn’t matter because I had dresses picked out since April and that I had known since the night I met him I was going to marry him. He thought it was hilarious.

I asked him two days later when he thought he wanted the wedding to happen, and he said “Well, since you want an October or April wedding I guess then.” I choked and said “THIS Oct. or April???” I had no idea he’d want to get married so soon~I expected it to be a couple of years from then. So April it became.

As the months went by, it seemed the wedding would never get here. Judy McMillan and Crescent Bend made wedding planning so easy, and I had so much fun reading the magazines and looking at “all things wedding” and everything else that comes with a big wedding event. Then it was time for it, and it all happened so fast that I was sad when the day was over!

Our wedding was beautiful. My dress was amazing. My groom looked incredible in his tux. The weather cooperated, the flowers were gorgeous, our photographers were great and professional, the food was good and the cake beautiful, Jim Ogle was a fabulous DJ, and we have the best friends and family ever. Judy made our wedding so easy that I was completely stress free and recommend Crescent Bend and all it includes to anyone that asks.

My sister managed to drop the wedding band and the site of her crawling on the ground to get it was hilarious! The “ping” of the ring hitting the ground magnified by the microphone cracked us all up. Our preacher handed David the wrong ring to begin with, which had us all laughing once again as I stood there repeating “wrong ring Jerry, wrong ring Jerry” until he finally realized it. The crinoline in my dress had me tripping all over myself climbing the stairs at the end of the ceremony. I managed not to cry until my sister made her speech during the cake cutting, and then I bawled. At the end of the night, my bridesmaids, flower girls, and me all climbed in the fountain as Jim the DJ played “U Can’t Touch This” by M.C. Hammer.

Every day David and I find new things that show us we are meant for each other. Our preacher had even told us that during our premarital counseling sessions, “In talking to you and listening to you I have to say I think you are truly made for each other.”

We realize that a relationship is hard work~lots of commitment, understanding, and everything that goes into making anything worth it, but somehow we make it easy. It’s nice.

I tell him that he’s everything I never knew I always wanted. And every day I realize how true that is.

From their wedding site in Russell’s words:
200 tea candles, two dozen red roses and two boxes of rose pedals. Sounds pretty romanic to me.. Once 6:45 came around I lit the tea candles and waited in her bedroom with the door shut and no fan on.  I did not take into account how much heat 200 tea candles would put out!!! She saw everything and walked even slower into the room… making me all the more nervous.  I winged my speech, figuring from the heart would be the best way to make this moment special.  I got down on one knee and asked… she didn’t miss a beat and said “Yes!”   We hugged for a moment… then she asked if she could go wash her hands before putting the ring on.  We had a good laugh then decided to go blow out the candles… it was really hot in there!!!

A few more fun images from the wedding day…