The Wedding: PART 2

The morning of the wedding. November 8, 2015. We wake up at some abnormally early hour, and for the first time probably ever (and likely the last) I was not grumpy and mean when I woke up. I was SO. Excited. It was our wedding day!!! We made it!!!! But not quite yet. There were hours and hours to go yet and plenty to do.

I had already pre-assigned my friends and family to certain duties, and my first task of the day was hair and makeup. Andrew drove me to Mt. Sterling to meet up with my Mom, and Leslie was meeting us there to drop off Becky. The plan was for Mom and I to go get our hair and make-up done and Becky to document the morning, and Leslie and Mary were going elsewhere to get there hair and makeup done and then we would all meet back at the house. We randomly ran into Andrew’s brother Malcolm in the parking lot at the Shell Station where we met and chatted with him for a few. Leslie dropped Becky off and left, and dad dropped Mom off and left. Then Andrew dropped me off and started to leave. One teeny problem…no one who had been dropped off had a car. So my mom and Becky and myself were just stranded in the Shell parking lot, each thinking that the other had planned on driving. It’s all in the details y’all. All in the details.

Fortunately Andrew didn’t quite make it out before we figured out our little dilemma, and I immediately gave him to Malcolm for the day and I stole the car and drove us to Morehead. Problem solved.

I had my hair and make-up done at the Merle Norman salon in Morehead, KY and they were AWESOME. I have never felt that pretty in my entire life!! But even better? As I sat down in my make-up chair to begin the process, the door opens and suddenly Leslie and Mary walk in with a dozen purple cupcakes and a big bouquet of purple flowers yelling “Surprise!!” They had never really had hair and make-up appointments somewhere else – they had also made theirs at Merle Norman with me and mom! So all of us girls got to have the most amazing morning together, laughing, getting ourselves all prettied up, and making memories. Becky snapped probably 200 photos, so it was all captured perfectly. Again, it was one of those moments where I had thought it was another thing to do, but instead it turned into such a sweet morning full of memories. Hearing my girls laugh and make jokes, and sharing each stage of our hair and make-up and just having a blast was all just perfect, and I am grateful that they came and surprised me. And everyone looked absolutely stunning. My mother straight up could have been in a fashion magazine!!

On our way home, I was starving. It was almost noon by this point and the wedding was three hours away. I knew I wouldn’t have another opportunity to eat. So, as beautiful as I was, wearing my veil and all, we went to Dairy Queen. That cheeseburger gave me life y’all! Best one I’ve ever had. Truth.

When we all got back to mom’s house it was really go time. Photo call was to begin at 1pm with Andrew’s side of the family, and mine to follow. I was still in basically my PJ’s and a veil, so there was some work to be done. Plus we all had the realization at the same time that 1.) Not one single person had one wedding clothes yet and 2.) The cake was still not put together, let alone had it been taken to the reception hall. 3.) Almost every friend/family member capable of helping was currently at the church finishing up the decorations and getting things ready, so we were short of hands.

One, or all three, of these things made my mother’s head spin and at some point she just began to lose it. And not quietly. I was NOT having it, and up until this point I actually had little to no stress at all, so I wasn’t about to begin now. I picked up my phone and called Matt. He answered and I simply said, “I need people. NOW. I don’t care what you’re doing. Stop it. Tell every single person you see in that church to come here. NOW.” And I hung up. People, I am not exaggerating when I say that it was less than 3 minutes later than an entire parade of people pulled up in my mother’s driveway and got out like it was a clown car and came in that house, eyes-wide, and hands open. I immediately assigned 17 tasks to be completed and no one asked any questions. My mom went from 60 to 0 and was grateful, and my stress levels dropped immediately. Thank goodness for amazing friends and family who were there to help without hesitation, and God Bless that church for only being 1 mile from my parent’s house!

Everyone scattered, and myself, Jane and my cousin Amy headed to the church. It was time to put on…the dress. The dress that had been the source of it all throughout this entire process was now ready to be worn for the real deal. Deep breath. Deeeep deep breath. I climbed into it, and Mama Jane helped guide me into the white abyss. Amy helped squeeze me in, and after about ten minutes I was in. Now. I had worn this dress a good solid 20 times during our marathon fitting session. But I was always just…me. But this time, I turned around to look into the full length mirror and I just stopped. Who WAS that girl?! Time just stopped for me. My hair was perfect, with little jewels in it, my makeup was nothing short of a princess, my jewelry was just right, my nails were perfection. I was a bride. In all my 30+ years I had dreamed of this day, never knowing who would be my groom, never knowing if it would even happen period, never fully seeing that reflection in the mirror. And then it was all there. In less than 2 hours I was walking down the aisle to my future and…I felt beautiful. For what I may believe was truly the first time in my entire life, I felt nothing short of radiant, beautiful, glowing, happy, peaceful, and above all…in love. 

The next few minutes or so were filled with reactions from my closest friends and family who were allowed to see me before. Matty, Bobby, Becky, my nephews, my parents, sisters, etc. Each time the reaction was nothing short of amazing, because I knew they felt it,too. I will never forget the looks on some of their faces, the tears, how we all cried, and how quiet it was. It was not a crazy flurry for that 30 minutes or so. It was just calm and quiet. We were all waiting, almost hushed in anticipation.

And then I had to pee. 

Now. Keeping it real here y’all. If you saw that dress in person, you understand it was 9 layers of fluff and puff till you blow that house down. And if you saw the bathroom in that church, you would understand that it was approximately the size of a 1950’s cigar box. And if you know me at ALL, you know my bladder is relentless and I have to pee approximately every 2.5 minutes and I have zero ability to hold it off in any way. So this was a pickle. After much discussion, my sister Leslie looks at me and says, “Well, you know what you have to do, right? You have to pee in the trashcan.”

I laughed.

Oh. She was for serious. We had seen it on TV once, and it seemed funny on Bravo. But NOW?! For REAL?! Oh dear God in heav….OKAY.  CLEAR THE ROOM Y’ALL!!!!!!! So yes. In that beautiful church in the countryside of Bethel, on a beautiful day, in a beautiful gown, I, Micha Raynee Hughes (I wasn’t a Gehring yet!) peed in a trash can. My sisters held up my gown, I thought of rivers and streams and I peed. And God BLESS my sister Mary for cleaning it out and bleaching it afterwards.

The more you know.

Well, pictures came next, and everything went really well there.  We had been scared of the weather all week because they kept calling for snow and sleet and rain, but by the grace of God we had nothing but beautiful sunshine all day. So the gorgeous purple stained-glass windows that adorned every wall of the church were just providing sunbeams left and right. I felt so much peace taking those pictures. It was another of those “Oh! Didn’t know I was going to love this so much!” moments.

After photos, we retreated back into the bridal room. After a short while I heard the String Quartet begin to warm-up and begin to play. It was 3:00. The wedding was to begin at 3:30. This was it. Becky made her way to me and handed me a small blue box from Andrew with a card. He had been sending me small gifts throughout the day and I had already saved myself from crying a few times. But I knew it was all over when I saw that little blue box. I opened it, and everyone was in the room. Inside was a stunning silver and diamond necklace. Dangling from the necklace were two hearts, the first in small diamonds and it was open in the middle so that you could see the silver heart it sat upon. Engraved on the second heart it said simply, “Two Hearts Become One” and on the back “11-08-14”. Yep. That did it. I cried. My mom cried. Matt cried. Jane cried. God cried??? Eeeeverybody cried. Bobby, very quietly stepped towards me and removed the necklace that I was currently wearing and we replaced it with the new necklace. It was the perfect wedding jewelry to walk down the aisle in. I still wear it all the time, and I wore it for about 2 weeks straight after the wedding. 

I took a moment to sit down after that. Everyone had been telling me how fast it would all go, and they were indeed right. So I wanted to make certain that I took some time for reflection. I sat down on a small bench, and for the next 20 minutes didn’t move. I took in the room. The smells. The memories of the day. The looks on everyone’s faces. My emotions.

 I thought of my almost-husband only a wall away and tried to imagine what he was experiencing. I tried to soak in every single moment, and I am so glad I did because I truly remember so much!

 I remember Bobby’s face when he saw me for the first time, put his hand on his heart and just said, “Oh my momma.”  And teared up. I remember when my little nephew Colin came in and saw me for the first time and stopped dead in his tracks. I remember little Caroline kicking us all out because she wanted to be modest when she changed into her little flower girl dress. I remember yelling, “STOP!” everytime the door cracked open so I could ask who it was and make sure Andrew was nowhere near by. I remember how warm the sun felt on my face when I leaned up towards the glass of the stained glass windows when taking my pictures. I remember holding my mom’s hand under the cross that my grandfather built that hangs at the head of the church. I remember laughing so hard with my sisters while I peed in a trash can. I remember my daddy seeing me for the first time, and how small he felt when I hugged him. I remember holding my silly little pink fan on me all day so I wouldn’t sweat my makeup off, and how I begged my daddy to not turn the heat in the church up until the last second. I remember the very first few notes I heard from the String Quartet and how I squealed. I remember as people began to fill the church how I could hear their voices begin to trickle back to us and how exciting that was.

I remember the bottle of Cherry Coke and the straw my hubby sent me, an inside thing of ours, and how I felt like the luckiest woman to ever walk the planet.

And I remember how overwhelmingly in love I was (AM!) and how not even one teeny tiny piece of me was scared. I was ready. It was all right, and it was time. At 3:25pm, my sisters, parents, flower girl, ring bearer, Bobby,  Mama Jane and myself began the parade around the outside of the church to sneak in the front to walk down that aisle. Here we go!