by KD Robichaux
In walks Aunt Pat and her daughter, Ginger, carrying the vases holding all of our bouquets, right on time. I stand up and walk over to the table they set them on to take a closer look.
“Oh, my gosh, they turned out beautiful!” I cry, wrapping my arms around Pat’s shoulders. “You did an amazing job.”
She had taken the ivory satin ribbon I’d found at Hobby Lobby and wrapped the long stems of several calla lilies into bundles, and then had used the thin black velvet ribbon to form a crisscross pattern down their length. The results are clean, classy, and elegant, and with our black-tipped fingers wrapped around them, it’ll give us all just a touch of my quirkiness—the girl who likes to wear Payless shoes with my Coach bag and Marvel Comics T-shirts. I like what I like. What can I say?
“You look wonderful, honey. We were just dropping these off really quick, since I knew you’d need them for your pictures. We need to run home and get dressed,” she tells me, giving me a one-armed hug, and they quickly exit the room.
“Now what?” I ask the room; we still have about an hour and a half before the ceremony begins.
Tanya speaks up. “Now, we take wedding party photos. I’ll start with all you girls, and then go take some with the guys. We do the full party together after the wedding.”
“Sounds good. Where should we do them?”
“I found some places outside, and also inside the sanctuary, where I can pose y’all in some really fun shots.” She turns to her assistant. “Will you go tell the guys not to leave their dressing room? We don’t want to risk the groom seeing the bride. Tell them we’ll come get them when we’re ready to do the groomsmen shots.”
The assistant returns, and holding open the door, she lets us know the coast is clear. We spend the next forty-five minutes taking pictures outside in the beautiful spring weather, inside the church, where we take a really cool shot of me on the floor in my dress, with it spread out all around me, as Tanya snaps photos standing on the balcony above. The photo shoot ends after taking fun pictures all over the sanctuary, my favorites being the few we take of me playing the piano while my bridesmaids act as backup singers. I especially love the one of just the three of them bracing their elbows on the piano as each girl either covers their eyes, ears, or mouth, copying the Three Wise Monkeys portraying ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.’ I might have to print that one out and hang it in the house.
We scamper back into the bridal parlor, making sure not to be seen by anyone, since people have slowly started to trickle in. Hopefully, being mother of the groom, Barbara will stay with Jason the whole time before the ceremony instead of venturing into the girls’ side. As I catch a glimpse at the time, seeing we only have about thirty minutes until everything begins, my nerves start to get the best of me, and I really don’t feel like hearing any crap about something as insignificant as my nail color. I might turn into that bridezilla I was wondering about a couple weeks ago.
Tanya tells us she’s going to take the groomsmen pictures and the next time she’ll see us is when we’re lining up to walk down the aisle. My heart gives a tremendous thump at that thought, and when the door closes behind her, I collapse onto the couch to take a breather from all the excitement.
There’s a knock on the door, and my blood pressure skyrockets, but then Buffy opens the door to my smiling big brother, and I sigh with relief. Tony lumbers into the room carrying Abigail, followed by Aspen, Amanda, and Alex. They make the perfect distraction, my nieces dancing around the room with Josalyn, Alex picking up and snuggling Avary, and Buffy snaps a few pictures of all the shenanigans while I watch them all play.
Before I know it, there’s a light tap on the door, and Renee answers it after seeing it’s the wedding coordinator the church provided.
“All right, everyone. It’s show time!” she says, clapping her hands together. “Everybody who isn’t part of the wedding party needs to make their way to their seats, and all my ladies need to follow me. The guys are already in position at the altar.”
“Oh, God,” I breathe, and my mom takes a hold of my hand.
“You’re all right, doll,” she tells me, rubbing my bare upper back with her other palm.
I take deep breaths as I watch my brother pick up Avary, knowing he’s taking her to Jason’s parents to walk down the aisle. When he and his kids file out the door, the coordinator motions for us to follow them, and soon, she’s lining us up in the proper order outside the wooden and glass doors of the sanctuary.
I try to peek through one of the windows to watch as my dad walks my mom to the altar instead of to her seat in the front pew, wanting to see the beginning of my sand ceremony. I had never heard of it before until I read about it in a bridal magazine a couple months ago. On a tall, round table up on the altar is a glass jar, and six small glasses, three filled with white sand, and three filled with black sand. Right now, each of our parents will pour one of the glasses of sand into the jar, alternating the two colors, and when we are pronounced husband and wife, we will make our way up the steps and pour our own sand into the jar, topping it off with a sealing lid, so I’ll be able to keep it forever.
I can see Jason’s dad holding Avary on his hip as he pours his glassful into the jar, and then the husbands help their wives down the steps, and my dad heads back up the aisle toward me. He looks so handsome in his dress uniform, and you bet your sweet ass he’s been bragging constantly that he can still fit into it, even after retiring from the Navy over twenty-five years ago.
When my hand is wrapped around my dad’s bicep, his warm hand squeezing it to him tighter over the back of mine, I watch as first Brooke then Renee start down the aisle, the wedding coordinator whispering, “Go,” when it’s each person’s turn. Buffy goes next, which leaves no one else in front of me except my little girl, who looks beautiful in her ivory satin dress, holding her ivory basket decorated with the same black velvet ribbon wrapped around my bouquet. Josalyn’s been holding the coordinator’s hand this whole time, and when I wasn’t spazzing out inside my head trying to take in everything going on, I caught glimpses of her awe-filled face, hearing her tiny voice tell Brooke, Renee, and Buffy how pretty they look, and how I look like ‘Cinderelly’.
The woman bends down to Josalyn, and I hear her tell her, “Just like we practiced,” and she lets go of her hand.
I see everyone’s face light up with a huge smile as my big girl makes her way down the aisle, reaching her little hand into the basket and pulling out a single petal to carefully place along the path. She stops to smile and wave at my brother, Jay, and my nephew, Bret, her favorite cousin, before continuing her flower girl duty. When she gets to the front pew, I see her turn around, and then I hear the entire crowd burst into laughter as she heads back up the aisle to place a few more petals after seeing she had missed a couple spots. Seeming satisfied with her work, my little perfectionist then walks back to my mom and takes her seat next to her.
Immediately, the organist begins playing Pachelbel’s "Canon in D", and my hand tightens even further around Dad’s arm. “Don’t let me fall, Daddy,” I whisper, adjusting my sweaty grip on my bouquet. I’m surprised the calla lilies haven’t withered from my nervous abuse.
“I’ve got ya, baby girl.” He pats my hand then kisses me on my cheek, his tidy mustache tickling me and making me smile.
The congregation suddenly stands as a whole, and next thing I know, my dad is walking me down the beautiful church aisle, decorated with calla lilies and strings of black beads wrapped around the end of each pew. I hardly know anyone here, so each time my sight finally lands on one of my brothers, my nieces and nephews, and eventually my mom, a little bit of my nervousness lessens. Especially when I spot Marky and Kim, who give me blinding smiles and excited waves, which makes me giggle.
Finally, I’m down what seems like a mile-long aisle, and I look up to see Jason grinning while wiping his eyes. He looks gorgeous in his long-tailed tux. I watch as he turns around to say something to his groomsmen, who all
chuckle and nod at each other, before Jason turns back toward me. And then I’m in front of him, my dad placing my hand in Jason’s before kissing my cheek and then patting him on the back.
“What was that all about?” I whisper to him, my heart finally chilling out a little having him near.
“They made a bet I would cry when I saw you. The jackasses won,” he replies just as quietly, and I lift my face up to grin at the handsome men before me.
To the far right, Bubba, who I’ve never seen in anything but jeans and fishing shirts, looks wonderful as he stands next to a towering Big John, who looks red-carpet perfect in his tuxedo with the white of his shirt against his chocolate skin. And then there’s Logan, who flew in from California yesterday, just in time for the wedding rehearsal. I don’t think there ever was a man who looked better in a uniform. His ‘Marine stuff’, as I called it yesterday, making him give me a dramatic growl, is utterly perfect, not a speck of lint anywhere in sight, as if the particles themselves are scared to come anywhere near the big, badass giant of a man.
As Jason leads me to our spot in front of the minister, the rest of the world suddenly disappears except for the three of us… until it’s the complete opposite. The ceremony becomes a blur. I know I repeat things and respond how I’m supposed to, hearing Jason do the same, but I’m mostly aware of other things. The emotion quivering Jason’s voice. Big John’s bright white teeth smiling from over Jason’s shoulder. The way Logan stands perfectly still, making me imagine that’s what he looks like in formation with his Marine brothers. Bubba’s perfectly manicured goatee. The photographer snapping photos from the second-story balcony. Avary baby-babbling from the front pew. Buffy fidgeting near me, as if her feet are hurting in her heels.
My ADD is off the charts, just like it used to be when I went to church every Sunday when I was younger, only right now, I don’t have my favorite older friend Traci keeping me occupied. Back when I was a kid and she was a teenager, she used to hold my hand and push back my cuticles, telling me it’d make my nails grow faster, or play tic-tac-toe on the edges of the Sunday bulletin with me to keep my mind and mouth quiet during Mass.
Instead, I feel Jason take my hands into his, as if he can sense I’m about to start panicking because my mind won’t shut the hell up. Knowing we’re the center of everyone’s attention right now, literally up on a stage with everybody watching, it’s like it’s amplifying my whirring brain. This is one of the reasons I stopped participating in pageants. This is also one of the reasons I had wanted to elope somewhere, just the two of us, but I gave in so he could have his big church wedding. Jason knows anxiety can overwhelm me when my wandering attention starts getting the best of me, and I’m grateful when he leans forward to whisper, “I’m here, baby,” as the minister recites the excerpt from Corinthians I chose for the ceremony.
Forcing myself to focus on my hands in his and what the pastor is saying, soon, rings are on fingers and I’m being kissed, and I breathe a sigh of relief. We pour the final two layers of sand into the jar, walk back down the stairs, and I feel all the tension leaving me with every step I take past the applauding audience.
I know your wedding should be one of the happiest moments of your life, and really, truly it is. I can’t imagine being any happier than in this exact second, knowing I am Mrs. Jason Robichaux, but I’m also ecstatic the ceremony is over. We wait in the bridal parlor for a few minutes until almost everyone has left. They’ll be meeting at the Knights of Columbus hall a few miles away for the reception while we take our family and full wedding party pictures. It takes about half an hour to get every group shot we can think of, the only hiccup in my smile being when Barbara tells me, “I can’t believe y’all put that shit on your nails.” But my grin soon returns when Buffy gasps and scolds, “Barbara! Language. You’re in a church,” making the older woman grumble under her breath before walking away.
Now… now I can relax. And I finally let all the nervous energy leave me as we hop into my van to head to the hall for the reception, where the wedding party will meet out in the gardens to do a few more fun shots before Jason and I are introduced as husband and wife.
But when we arrive, I’m shaky from my emotional roller coaster today, and I feel like I might faint if I don’t get some food in my belly, so Tanya tells us we can wait until later to take the rest of the pictures. We wait for everyone else to go in before us, and soon, we hear the DJ over the speaker system introduce us, so we walk through the door, where Jason twirls me and dips me, planting a kiss on my lips, and the room explodes with everyone’s applause.
“You want me to make you a plate, babe?” he asks as he stands me upright.
“Nah, I can get it. But I’m not waiting. I don’t care what the right order of business is at these things. I’m getting my food now,” I reply as the smell of Italian dishes hits my nose, making my stomach growl.
He holds my hand as we walk past tables of people wanting to stop and congratulate us, Jason pausing only long enough to tell them he’s gotta feed his bride before she passes out. Soon, I have a plateful of lasagna and garlic rolls and a glass of sweet tea in front of me at my special spot at the front table, and I waste no time digging in. When I feel halfway human again, I look around to find my people. My mom is next to Josalyn, helping her eat her spaghetti, and Buffy is feeding Avary a bottle.
Since I’m done inhaling my food, the DJ calls Jason and me up for our wedding dance, which is to Lady Antebellum’s “I Run to You”. He leads me through a two-step around the dance floor, and when the song ends, the DJ invites everyone else up to dance. My nieces come out with his little cousins, and when tiny little Natalie sees I’m finished dancing with Jason, his Aunt Melissa lets her loose to come up and talk to me.
In the sweetest voice ever, she asks with awe in her eyes, “Are you Cinderella?” I can’t help but laugh, since Josalyn had told me I looked like the princess earlier today.
“No, baby girl. You don’t remember me? I saw you at Christmas, remember? Those are my little girls,” I tell her, pointing at my kids at the table. She follows my finger with her eyes then looks back at me and nods.
“Will you dance with me?” she asks, which surprises the heck out of me. Before this conversation, the child had never spoken to me before, even when I’d given her a Christmas present when they came to the Robichauxs’ house this past year. It had been cool seeing all three of the new babies together; Lisa, Dianna, and I had them all within a couple months of each other.
“Of course.” I curtsy, and her face explodes with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on her adorable face. I spend three songs dancing with her before Aunt Melissa comes and rescues me so we can do the money dance. I had never heard of this dance before, but as people started coming up to me with cash to spin me around the dance floor for a little while, I didn’t question it until Jason’s dad stood in front of me with a $100.00 bill.
“Why are people giving me money?” I laughed as he led me into some fancy swing moves I had seen him do with Barbara in the living room.
“It’s a way for anyone who really wants to dance with the bride or groom to guarantee they get a turn. The money is usually for helping pay for the honeymoon,” he explains, and I look down at the wad of cash in my hand when Barbara’s brother, Uncle Robert, cuts in. He’s probably my favorite one of Barbara’s relatives. He’s flamboyantly gay, reminding me of Jack from Will & Grace, and the shit out of his mouth makes me crack up every time he visits. Plus, my girls love him. I end up stuffing my cash down the front of my dress so I can have my hands free, making him laugh.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Marky walk up to Jason and hand him a dollar, and I nearly double over with laughter as they try to keep a straight face while they lead each other through a dramatic waltz, ending with Jason dipping my brother. And when he stands him back up and pats him on the back with a laugh, Jason turns and nearly runs into Tony, who’s leering down at Jason from his 6’5” height, an evil grin on his face as he hold
s out his dollar bill. Jason reaches up with a pout to take the money, and as soon as it’s out of Tony’s grasp, I nearly choke on my spit as I suck in air when my brother reaches around Jason’s back, slaps both hands down hard on his ass cheeks, and pulls Jason to him, the laughter finally coming out of me in a yelp when Jason mirrors the position, holding Tony to him by his butt.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Uncle Robert says from beside me. If I’d been drinking anything, it would’ve been the perfect set-up for a spit-take.
Next, it’s Logan’s turn to dance with me. “Sorry if I step on your feet,” he warns, but it’s all for show. He leads me through a perfect two-step, complete with twirls and a dip at the end that leaves me grinning ear-to-ear.
By the end of the money dance, Jason made over a hundred dollars more than me. Probably because I spent most of the time watching him spin around the floor with Big John and a few more people.
The rest of the evening is spent dancing, drinking, eating cake, and visiting with everyone. A notable moment was when a bunch of Barbara’s church friends complimented me on our black nail polish, saying what a cute and quirky idea it was and how classy it looked with the black and ivory theme of the wedding. I couldn’t control my face when I smirked at her as her face dropped at their comments. I blame it on the wine.
We took all the fun pictures we could come up with out in the garden and in the gazebo, and lastly, little Bret caught the garter, and Amanda caught the bouquet. After that, people started trickling out until all that was left was our immediate family and the rest of the wedding party.
By this time, I could barely hold my eyes open, so Jason’s dad told us to go ahead and leave all the cleanup up to them. Jason and I loaded the girls, both sleeping, into their car seats, and my mom squeezed in too, my dad deciding to stay behind to help fold up chairs and tables.