Our Dream Wedding Turned Circus

After nine long, grueling months of planning our dream wedding, right down to the tiniest of details, nothing could have ever prepared us for what happened that day. Several weeks prior to April 26, the weather forecast was predicated to be 91°F that day. Which had me terrified of passing out in the long sleeve, vintage, wedding gown my Mother and I had restored.

Then just a few days before our wedding the weather forecast made a drastic change. Now there was a good chance of thunderstorms and the high for the day dropped to 71°F. The rain chances sent me into a panic for we were to be married outside at a mountain preserve with our reception to follow there as well.

I had remembered from an old Jewel song that rain on your wedding day wasn't a bad omen. So, immediately, I hopped on Google where I quickly discovered it was indeed good luck. The panic subsided and I got the perfect umbrella just in case.

After several hours of hair and make-up the morning of our wedding day I truly felt like a princess with my entourage of favorite ladies surrounding me. Suddenly someone realized the time and we made a mad dash out the door as we raced to my wedding.






The first thing I noticed upon arriving was that nothing was decorated. I was puzzled because I had a whole team meet that morning to decorate for me. Well, as soon as I opened the car door to get out I quickly realized why. My veil flew out of my hair and my beautifully sculpted hair was just a mess. There were 30 mph wind gusts! I laughed at the insanity and said, "Well, at least the rain has stopped."





Kenny, my soon to be husband, had been setting up there at the preserve that morning and was running behind himself. I didn't stress once because it was our day! Besides, we're always late for everything anyway. tee hee So, I just decided to have an impromptu cocktail hour before the ceremony began.

Then, all of a sudden I heard my step-daughter, Sonnie, yell, "Hide! Dad's pulling in!" So, I took off running in my hot pink heels with the long train from my gown bunched up in my hands up an embankment no less. Well, what else was I supposed to do? It would have been bad luck for him to see me before the ceremony so I had no choice. God must have been carrying me because I'm in a wheelchair quite often. Later I was told how hilarious the sight truly was.

As I'm hiding off to the side our minister, who is a dear friend of mine from high school, drops a major bomb on me. He insists that someone has to give me away. (My Father and brother had already declined months before.) Thankfully, another childhood friend jumped at the chance to do the honors! So arm in arm we we began to slowly make our way out from where I was hiding.



The procession music began to play and the winds calmed almost as if it was their cure to do so. The ceremony was beautifully, heart touching and brought tears to several eyes. David, our minister, blessed our marriage with a prayer after our vows, and introduced us as Mr. and Mrs. Wilds for the first time. As we walked down the aisle I saw my friend Laura wipe tears from her eyes and a few fell from mine.







We barely finished signing our marriage license when the 30 mph wind gusts picked up again but this time even stronger. The chairs from the ceremony took flight, two large speakers blew over, all of our jello shots blew away, and a dear friend of mine was impaled in her leg with a branch. Thankfully she was ok!

Without hesitation Kenny and I announced that we would move the reception to our house. But, my sister, Mellisa, and brother-in-law, Frank, insisted we move the reception to their home instead. Within a matter of minutes everything was loaded up and ready to go thanks to all of or guests lending a hand. It was seriously a circus and I kept looking for the little car with a ton of clowns packed inside of it to pull up.


(This was an uprooted tree blocking all of the East bound lanes as we left the park. Once we got to the other side of the tree we noticed it had actually fallen on a car!)

The last minute change of venue for our reception didn't put a damper on the festivities at all. It was beyond fabulous and so much fun; even more than I ever anticipated!








I am always saying how my life is like a circus, so why would my wedding be any different? Despite the chaos it truly was my perfect wedding day just as I have always dreamed of. Because at the end of the day I married my best friend and my one true love!



There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord was watching over us on our wedding day and everything that unfolded was all in His master plan. The winds stopped and the storm calmed just long enough for our ceremony. Also, my mother-in-law is in bad health and wasn't able to make it to our wedding...but my sister and brother-in-law live right down the road from her. It gave us the chance to stop by and spend a few minutes with her on our day. Being able to see Mom truly made it the perfect day!

©2014 Lysa Wilds

My Wedding Ring Nightmare!

I am a very thrifty person, something that I inherited as both of my parents come from thrifty parents, and so on.  So I have been rather thrifty while planning my upcoming wedding.  I have found the decorations, plates, rings, dresses, shoes, everything we wanted for our wedding online and then I researched them all to find each item for less and in a lot of cases made things myself for much less.  I have saved, as of today because I have more shopping to do tomorrow, roughly $8,000.  No, I did not add a digit or two and no, it is not a typo.  Many things I asked friends and family members to do as a wedding gift for us; I will name them all in another blog I promise.

Well, I found our wedding rings online through a very reputable company.   I have ordered a lot of things from them before with no problems.  As a matter of fact, my fiance's ring arrived within days and was exactly what we wanted only $108 less than other stores.  My ring however was a whole different story!

I ordered my fiance's ring, my ring and a pair of earrings all at the same time on March 30.  Like I stated before, my fiance's ring arrived within days, even earlier than promised.  My ring and earrings were delivered to Arkansas on March 4.  After initially freaking out, I finally calmed myself enough to call their toll-free phone number.  After 20 minutes of waiting for an associate I was told, “The package must have been damaged that is why they send things there.   Let me re-order the ring and earrings for you.”  She promised they would arrive no later than April 21.  I informed her that my wedding was on April 26, but she told me “not to worry they would arrive in plenty of time.”

About ten days passed and on April 15, they were delivered to Arkansas AGAIN!  So, I called the toll-free phone number AGAIN and waited at least 20 minutes to speak to an associate AGAIN!  This associate had a completely different story for me.  She informed me that, “It is at our sorting facility and will shortly be on its way to the pick-up store.”  I expressed my valid concerns and she placed me on hold to, “look into it further.”  After about ten minutes she returned to tell me, “No new tracking number was issued but UPS does have the package and both items will arrive shortly looks like April 18.”

April 18, came and went with no ring and no earrings.   I waited until the original date of April 21, and called the toll-free phone number AGAIN with the 20 plus minute wait AGAIN!  This associate told me, “I’m not sure what is going on with these items let me escalate the investigation because no one else has.”  I was on hold another 10-15 minutes in which I was crying, wanting to scream, and not sure what to do about my wedding ring.  She came back on the line to give me a reference number but says, “Wait at least 24 hours before calling back to check on the status.”  I hung up before I could no longer bite my tongue.

Well, yesterday I finally found the courage to call the toll-free phone number AGAIN and found the patience to wait 20 minutes for an associate AGAIN!  I told the lady on the other end that if I come across angry or mean I apologize upfront as I know it is not her fault.  By the end of my story she was as upset as I was.  After yet another ten minutes on hold, FINALLY there was good news.  The ring and earrings were at the pick-up store but no one bothered to text, email, or call me to let me know like they were supposed to.

So, I rushed to the store to pick them up and yes they were actually there but of course with another set of problems.  They never checked the earrings in and didn’t know how to so I could take them.  I explained my story and two employees put their heads together and I was able to walk away with both items.  No apology, no discount, nothing for my pain and suffering at all.  I feel I should be compensated for the craziness I endured waiting and wondering if my wedding ring would ever arrive and before my wedding day.  I originally found the ring at Kay Jewelers but chose this particular store because it was the same ring and saved me $82 on the ring and $21 on the earrings.  Next time I will definitely think twice before ordering from this store, especially if something important.  On second thought, to be honest I don’t think I will ever do it again, at least not from them!

©2014 Lysa Wilds


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