Two weddings in two months are a lot to handle for anyone. It seems impossible when one is planned from Alaska and the other from Illinois. But the Good Chaplain and I pulled it off.

Illinois Girl’s wedding was outdoors in August at a venue about 90 minutes from home. The forum was a great choice — an alcove surrounded by cliffs. But that August, it was HOT. On the day of the wedding, it was 91 degrees and rainy.

The ever-optimistic Good Chaplain said not to worry about the rain. It would stop before the ceremony. And it did. Amazing. He is the weather prayer warrior. He prays for specific weather, and it happens.

Planning Illinois Girl’s wedding wasn’t as tricky as planning Mrs. Tech Sergeant’s because Illinois Girl was around to do a lot of tasks that needed doing. She and Soccer Stud took care of the venue, flowers, photographer, and cake.

Actually, Illinois Girl called me all excited one day and said, “We’re going to make cupcakes for my wedding.” At which point, I replied, “Cupcakes are a great idea, but we are not making them. Didn’t you watch that episode of Bridezillas?”

On Bridezillas, a bride decided to make cupcakes for her wedding, not considering they needed to be baked and decorated the week of the wedding. She also did not consider that her sister’s maid-of-honor was nine months pregnant. The bride was very indignant that her sister had her baby that week and couldn’t help make the cupcakes. So, no, we were not going along that route.

“But, Mom, decorated cupcakes are expensive,” Illinois Girl said. When I asked her how expensive, she said she could get them for $1 apiece, decorated. That worked out to about $200. I reminded her that was half of what her sister paid for her wedding cake.

My only disappointment with this wedding was that I missed the rehearsal dinner. And I blame the Good Chaplain for that one. We decided to camp at a nearby campground for the weekend, but we misjudged the amount of time it would take us towing the trailer to get to the venue, so we ended up pulling the trailer with us to the rehearsal. But afterward, the Good Chaplain insisted on setting up the trailer at the campground before going to the rehearsal dinner. So we arrived as most of the guests were leaving. Naturally, I was not happy, and apparently, it still bothers me today.

As we arrived at the venue on the wedding day, it was pouring rain. A big tent was set up for the guests to sit under and stay dry. Photos of the couple were taken earlier, a practice I was not familiar with. Apparently, the groom waits with his back turned until the bride comes out, and the photographer captures that first-time-he-sees-her moment when he turns around. It lessens the number of photos taken after the ceremony so everyone can get to the party faster.

As I mentioned before, the Good Chaplain is the weather prayer warrior, so he said the rain would stop before the ceremony, and it did about 30 minutes earlier. But the ground was still wet and many a high heel sunk in the mud.

But the ceremony was beautiful, my daughter was beautiful, and the reception was terrific. And 11 years later, they still live in Illinois with their two beautiful daughters, one Golden Retriever and one cat.

When the Good Chaplain deployed later that year, he said it was his wedding financial recovery deployment.

Next up, the blizzard that ruined Christmas.

Until then,

Vicki

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