It Began 20 Years Ago On A Weekend In August ..

It was hot, sunny, and absolutely perfect, as our friends and family gathered for what would be one of the most special days of our lives.. The day two high school sweethearts tied the knot. Yup, I am talking about yours truly and his beautiful bride of twenty years. Today, August 18th, 2021 marks our 20 year wedding anniversary, and I can say with out reservation and hesitation, that I found my true 'Happily Ever After', in her.

We have been together longer than we have been apart.. It seems crazy when I look at it that way. Did that much time pass already? Where did it all go? So much life has been lived and hopefully so much more to live. We met almost 30 years ago, while in high school. We did a lot of growing and changing throughout the years, but managed to grow and change into and with each other. We are stronger because of the trials and tribulations that life has thrown at us. If I know anything, I know life isn't done with us yet. If we trust in each other and stand as a united front, we will survive the odds and nothing can stop us!

20 Years Ago Today ..

Enough of that sappy stuff. If I know you, I know that you want to see the goods. You want to see those old photos of my ever distancing past. All I ask is that you try not to bust too many jokes on us over some of the things you'll see here. ESPECIALLY ALL OF THE KISSING PHOTOS. Disclaimer .. YES - I had more hair back then, YES - I was much thinner, and YES YES YES - My wife is much better looking than me (who knows what she saw in my young stud self lol).

The Wedding Album ..

So... I dug out the wedding album.. and picked a few shots to share with you today. I figured that #THEWEEKEND Community would be a perfect place for this tribute to our day.. after all, it did happen on a Saturday! I dug out that album and thought, "Do they even make wedding albums anymore?" I imagine they do, but I am sure they have changed slightly. Ours is a very heavy, leather wrapped, monstrosity with gold lined edges and beautiful decorative tips. Quite the piece of art all by itself! And I assure you we paid handsomely for it, even twenty years ago. Well worth the price tag, given the extremely fond memories filed within those pages.

The Church ..

The day started with smiles and ended with smiles.. I remember there was a lot of smiles being asked for all day. "Smile" .. "Kiss Each Other" .. "Look This Way Please" .. "Over Here" .. and so on and so forth. It's all good, except we had to remember to enjoy ourselves. We had to remember all of the effort and planning that went into this day and to take the time to enjoy it. It was really hard to do. By the end of the night, I remember talking about how fast the whole day flew by. I'm getting old enough now that I probably wouldn't have remembered all of those details anyhow. hehe.

We got married in my wife's childhood church. It meant a lot to her and made the day all that much more special. It's a beautiful old church that sits near the center of our home town. A town in which we still live today. We told the priest we did not want a long drawn out wedding, but in the end he seemed to do what he wanted to and it was LLllllooooooonnnnngggggg. hehe. We should have eloped to a destination, like the Caribbean. hehe

We did have BUBBLES though! The more humane thing, over RICE (not good for birds) or BASEBALLS (Not good for us)

After Wedding Photo's ..

More and more Photos.. I won't bore you or subject you to our family photos. They are nice shots, but nobody ever likes there photo taken.. then posted here for the world to see. I'll spare them. (Your welcome family!) We were whisked away by limo, and off for .. You guessed it .. More Photos!

We had a series of shots taken at an old friend of my family's. They have since passed away (so sad - such beautiful souled people). Even though they are gone and the property has since sold, the new owners do a pretty decent job with the upkeep. It was such a stunning place to have wedding photos taken. Another part of our day we will remember for an eternity. (be warned, more kissing)

My Favorite Photo.. Was taken here. It is also the same photo that sits on the front of our album. I remember vividly how happy and calm I was at this moment. One of those moments you don't want to end .. Please Father Time, go on without us!

The Reception ..

Then Off To The Reception.. Where we met up with all of those party going guests. They were already enjoying a nice coattail hour and open bar, and unlikely to save us anything. hehe. We made our rounds, shaking hands and kissing babies. We personally thanked each and everyone of our guests for coming out to celebrate with us. That took forever! (but was nice all the same).

There was a bit of dancing.. A lot of dancing, between all of the traditional events like mother father dances, a dollar dance, cutting of the cake, garter and bouquet toss, yada yada.

But we all know that the first dance, the bride and grooms first dance, is the most important!

Second most important is the Bride and groom CHICKEN DANCE!!! hahaha
Does anyone even play that song anymore?

CAKE! Who Want's Cake???

Ummm... I do! Sure, I never pass up cake. We had an awesome cake!! I loved our cake. Our baker did such a fantastic job of creating and decorating this three tiered cake. I don't know the correct terminology for cake design, otherwise I would dazzle you with sweet words, but no such luck. The best I can come up with is, "Take a look at those loopy string things hanging down there. Their cool right?" or "I really like the textured sand like stuff on the sides of the cake." Yeah.. Told you I SUCK at describing cake features.

All I know is I give mad props to the florist for getting all of those flowers on there without messing anything up. LOVED THE CAKE, did I say that already? hehe.

OH BOY ..Almost forgot about this one..

Maybe I shouldn't have tried so hard to get cake all over her face. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess. I wonder if she has forgiven me yet? Honey? Baby.. Did you? lol. Sure you did. You got me pretty good too if I remember correctly. And you also didn't play by all the rules.. I see what your doing, Nice Block with the left arm! I should have had cake in the other hand as well. Oh well. Next time.

I did tell her that we would recreate this scene tonight if we can find some cake somewhere. We are going out tonight for a fancy dinner.. maybe I'll ask if they have vanilla cake available for face smashing.

Great Idea, yeah?
I'll take that as a yes.

The Wedding Day Ends ..

All good things come to an end. But, In a case like this, we are just getting started! I can't wait to see where the next twenty years lead us. Our Journey thus far has been more than I could have imagined.

I wouldn't want to spend all of my time with anyone other than you babe. Love you always and forever, and ever and ever. I am truly a blessed man.

Happy 20th Anniversary to us!!!

I Would Do It All Over Again Tomorrow!

Life is like a bowl of popcorn, it gets better with every piece!

Thank you for swinging by my blog and checking out the post. Have a great day!

All words, pictures and art pieces are the sole property of B D Miller Gallery, unless otherwise noted and credited, and are not to be reproduced or copied without the prior written consent of B D Miller Gallery.

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