The Bride Wore White

One of my all-time favorite movies (and books) is The Princess Bride. In fact, I love the story and all its characters so much that I planted inside jokes and references to TPB all through my 2007 romance Off the Record. Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…it’s got it all. Besides—everybody likes a wedding, right?

Well, with the possible exception of the MOTB (for the uninitiated, that’s “Mother Of The Bride”).

Last weekend I traveled all the way to Dallas for my nieces’s nuptials, where I watched my sister Robin gracefully skip across ceremonial landmines roughly equivalent in destructive potential to the Fire Swamp’s flame spurts. At the reception, I found myself smiling—not only because my niece, who is my namesake, looked both gorgeous and insanely happy, but also because I was not in charge.

Six weeks ago, it was me in the hot seat.

The gorgeous young lady in the wedding dress above is my daughter, Hannah. Seems like yesterday that she was trying on hats in souvenir shops during family vacation and

busting her nose in college intramural softball games (another story for another day). The responsibility of helping her plan her dream wedding—and figuring out how to make it happen without sending her father into budgetary cardiac arrest—came upon us like the proverbial thief in the night. One day we’re meeting a boy with tall hair, who just might be Somebody Important, the next we’re getting a phone call asking if he can become part of our family.

At first I was a little grumpy. Hannah and Larry were both living in Dallas, so we could either hold the wedding there—which would put me in the position of planning a huge long-distance event—or we could do it in Mobile, which would put all the

responsibility on me until Hannah could come home for the summer. After much weeping and gnashing of teeth, we decided on holding the reception at the historic Ezell House in downtown Mobile. And then the fun began.

I truly believe I enjoyed planning Hannah’s wedding more than my own some thirty years ago. For one thing, my daughter has a much more decisive “style” than I had as a twenty-something. She likes tradition and elegance, but she also goes for unexpected twists, just verging on the quirky. And I like that. A lot. The ceremony and celebration were both deeply spiritual and full of uninhibited joy; intimately personal, but reflective of our entire community.

Take that dress in the photo, for example. White symbolizes

the purity of both the bride and her counterpart, Christ’s bride the Church. Virginity being a rare commodity these days—not to be sold cheaply, but to be given with reverence—Hannah and I chose her dress with care. It’s designed with clean lines past the hips, a sweetheart neckline to frame the upper body and face, extravagant decoration on the skirt, and a sweeping train to imply royalty.

One more touch we added to the dress was a bridal sash, which Hannah put on after the ceremony and wore to the reception. The one she tried on at the bridal shop was outside the budget—so I decided to make it myself. After collecting a variety of upholstery and drapery-sheer remnants, plus a bag full of old jewelry and beads, I studied instructional videos for making fabric flowers and experimented with construction techniques. Eventually I settled on a design that pleased both Hannah and me and created what can truly be called an heirloom art piece. To me, it symbolizes the full bloom of womanhood, the “prize above rubies” that a wife and mother must be. The fact that it is tied around the waist implies that a wife’s role of helpmate is a daily choice she must make, a deliberate identification with her husband. And that choice is such a lovely thing if it is committed into God’s care.

By the way, if you’re wondering who took these exquisite photos, let me introduce Mobile photographer Wendy Wilson.

Warm, outgoing, professional, and astoundingly creative—look at this photo of Hannah and her bridesmaids!—Wendy made Hannah’s bridal portraits and the entire wedding day unforgettable. Check out her blog for more gorgeous photos by this gifted young artist.

Which reminds me of something else I discovered in the process of making my sweet daughter’s wishes and dreams a reality: wedding-planning is an adventure best not taken on alone. Most good ideas being derivative, I relied heavily on the creative genius of many others, beginning with my good friend and Assistant-Mother-of-the-Bride, Tammy Thompson. Embracing Hannah’s plan to have the bridesmaids carry lanterns instead of flowers, Tammy called me one afternoon and all but commanded

me to get over to Tuesday Morning home store ASAP and purchase a couple of tall Moroccan lanterns they had in the window. She reminded me of the story Jesus told in Matthew 25, about the bridesmaids—10 wise and 10 foolish—who were charged with keeping their lanterns lit in anticipation of the bridegroom’s coming.

Thus was born the theme of light that literally illuminated Hannah and Larry’s ceremony and reception from beginning to end. I hope all our guests found as much meaning as I did in the votive candles flickering behind the wedding arch and the wrought-iron pillars lining the altar steps. The unity candle is a familiar troph, but we carried the idea on to the reception by using globes as centerpieces on the courtyard tables. Tea candles glowed softly through love quotes printed on vellum and tied with purple ribbon. I spent days choosing profound, funny, and poignant words from

some of my favorite writers. I hope Hannah and I will get to sit down and look at them together someday soon (I don’t think she had time to sit down and read them that day!).

The part of this whole adventure that I dreaded most was planning the food. I’m not a natural hostess, and I couldn’t help thinking of the biblical wedding of Cana, where Jesus famously performed his first miracle. The poor guy who had the misfortune to run out of wine at a Jewish wedding has my total sympathy. Fortunately for me, however, my friend

Ramona Savell, owner of Full of Grace Catering, not only created tasty and beautiful food, but presented and served it in such a way as to make our guests feel like royalty. I mean—dude—look at this spread. We were in no danger of running out!

And for the cakes, we settled on one of the oldest bakeries in Mobile, Pollman’s Bake Shop. The bride cake mimics Hannah’s wedding dress, and the groom’s chocolate dobash cake was a little taste of heaven. Mrs. Pollman is pretty much a genius. Okay, I’m sorry to talk about food when you can’t taste it. Just do yourself a favor and go down to Pollman’s on South Broad and have a bowl of peach cobbler. Tell her I sent you.

There were so many precious elements of this very special day, but most of them revolve around friends and family—which, after all, is mainly what a wedding is all about: speaking your vows before the witness of God and the people you care about most. Those people went above and beyond the call of duty to make Hannah’s day unforgettable. One sister, my daughter-in-law, two aunts and several friends sewed table cloths and made cookies. A brother-in-law, two sisters and three nieces decorated both the sanctuary and

reception site in temperatures hovering around 100. Then they helped disassemble when it was all over. My sister Robin pieced quilt blocks to be signed by wedding guests and then put together at an upcoming family quilting bee as a gift for the newlyweds.

Like I said, incredible.

I suppose this little rhapsody has gone on long enough, so I’ll stop with my favorite quote fromThe Princess Bride:

“This is true love…you think this happens every day?”