Now what everyone might be wondering... our anniversary. It is true, today is our original 1 year wedding anniversary!!
To the people who read my blog that don't know me, Bryce and I got married on April 25, 2010. No one knows about our valentines anniversary....until now!!! :)
First, let me give a little background...
In January of 2010, I moved home to plan our wedding after graduating from college. Bryce was at basic training and Tech school (Air Force) while I was at home. Our original plan was to get married in April and then move immediately to Germany where Bryce would be stationed for 3 years. We learned that this was going to be impossible and we had to change up our plans...
Here's the story....
My mom is a teacher at Sherman High School and I was a substitute there to earn a little extra money while I was living at home. I graduated from SHS in 2007 so I knew a lot of the teachers.
My mom is friends with my old cheer coach at SHS... I will refer to her as Mrs. R.
One day my mom was telling Mrs. R about our wedding plans. Mrs. R has a son in the military and knows all the in's and out's of everything. She informed my mom that it would be impossible for us to get married and then move immediately to Germany.
Here's why... the military requires a lot of paper work. After we got married, I would need to get a military passport (different than the normal ones), have doctor's appointments so I could be released to go overseas, get a couple of shots (eek), and so much more.
Mrs. R knows that all the paper work is a loooong and difficult process. She knew it would take months to complete it. And boy was she right!!
After my mom heard this news, she came rushing into the room I was subbing in and told me the news. We immediately had to come up with a solution! What in the world are we going to do?? The only thing we could come up with was...make it official earlier than planned!
So that's what we did.. that afternoon, I called Bryce's mom and told her the idea. Once Bryce called me that night, I told him the idea. He thought the idea sounded great.
So the very next weekend would be February 14, 2010. Bryce was in San Antonio for Tech School and wasn't able to go very far away from the base. We were just going to go to the court house in San Antonio to make it official.
Then a grand thought came to mind... my old youth minister lives in Austin! Him and his wife had such a huge impact on my life, I knew it would be so special if he could marry us!
I gave him a call and we told him our situation...he was more than willing to marry us on Feb 14, 2010. I will refer to him as KG.
I was so thankful and soooo very excited!!
Then the day came....February 14, 2010... KG worked at a church that overlooked some beautiful land with a small stream going through the land. It was BEAUTIFUL!! And so perfect! KG met with Bryce and I before we tied the knot while both of our families went to get lunch. After they ate, they came to the church and we had a small ceremony.
It was by far the most special moment in my life. We said our vowels, exchanged rings, and kissed!
After the small ceremony, Bryce's sweet sweet mother and grandmother put together a small reception. They bought a cake, had sparking grape juice, and they even made a small bouquet for me!! It was so special!
Now you might be thinking...why didn't you tell anyone?????
Well, we felt it was unnecessary. After Bryce and I got married, we went back to our normal lives. Bryce was at Tech school for the next few months and I went back home to finish planning our April 25th wedding.
It didn't even really feel like we were married because we were apart the whole time. I did go visit him a couple of times over the weekends.
Why did we still have the April 25th wedding? Because we had already put so much money into it and everything was almost all planned. And of course, my dream as a little girl was to have THE dream wedding.
You also maybe thinking... did the paperwork really take a long time? Long enough to get married early?
Actually, I thought it was crazy at first but yes...it took me forever! It took 6 weeks to get my new passport in. I had a packet about an inch thick that I and a doctor had to fill out. If I would have waited until April, there is no way I would have been able to go to Germany with Bryce.
I know if for a fact because Bryce has a friend over in Germany who had to leave his pregnant wife back at home because she didn't have all of the paper work done in time. He spent about 10 weeks in Germany without his wife.
I am soooo thankful for Mrs. R. If it wasn't for her, I would have been stuck in the states for who knows how long!
So there it is!! It's so nice to finally get that off my chest... HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BRYCE!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!
2 comments:
I've heard several people had to do this, I am lucky I grew up in the Military, so we had an idea, we got married and two weeks later my husband left for basic. We made some good friends, I had to rush them to get married a Friday by 5pm so she could get on the orders to go to Germany with him! It was crazy, but such a fun story and memory!!!
My husband got his RIP to Germany on short notice (less than 8 weeks) 5 days after he had proposed to me. We were married 5 days later in a courthouse with just us, two other LT's and one of the guy's wife. Thanks to some lucky breaks in the paperwork process, we were able to move here together. We had it a bit easier since this was his 2nd PCS and we were able to stall the orders being cut until I could get put on them.
I haven't had my white wedding yet, but we're planning it for sometime next year. We're lucky that both families support it, mostly so that they could have a chance to meet us and each other.
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