Shabby Tea Party: To Have and To Hold LOVE STORY Linky Party #8-- My Own Story

Welcome to my
Valentine LOVE STORY Linky Party
Marathon

Today I am sharing my own Love Story...

I have to say I've

always thought of mine

as a

Fairytale Love Story.

I never really dated in high school...

I remember my mother saying

"Just go out with him a few times and see,

you may find you like him."

Ughh, I HATED that she said that..

if I wasn't attracted to someone,

I wasn't attracted to them,

and I certainly wasn't going to just go out

and "let them grow on me".

A few years later I was working and living on my own

and the girls at work tried to set me up a few times.
To put it politely, "Thank You, but No thank you!"

A girl who was friends with some of my co-workers

lived in my apartment complex

and owned a beauty salon.

So, I'd met her, had her do my hair,

went to a candle party at her apt., etc. etc.

She eventually needed some sort of repair

at her salon.

So when she called her landlord about it,

he sent an employee of his construction crew.

This was a guy from the area who had just

moved back after college and had taken this job

until he could find his career job.

His degree was in law enforcement,

he had a real interested in investigation,

and had also interviewed with,

the Secret Service.

She ~~chatted with~~ interviewed him

while he went about the construction project.

I think she came to the conclusion that

he may not be the socialite type that she was looking for.

So she told him he should call me.

He, being a little shy, hesitated for about a week.

She kept asking me if he'd called and I finally

told her to stop bugging him

because apparently he wasn't interested.

Well he called that evening after she pressured him.

Another Blind Date..... what was I thinking!

But he was very polite, a perfect gentleman,

and as he puts it

"she (I) fell like a ton of bricks".

On our second date, he had me over to his

apartment and cooked for me,

Beef Roladins, it was wonderful!

When it was time for me to leave,

he went out and cleaned the snow off my car

and left a single rose on my windshield.

So romantic....... I just melted.

We've been inseperable ever since.

When I'd leave work, more often than not,

I'd find a little note from him on my windshield

tucked under the wiperblade

inviting me over for dinner

or just to let me know he was thinking of me.

We had dinner together after work

most everyday of the week,

as well as hanging out on the weekends,

movies, get-togethers with friends, etc.

One thing we did alot in the summer

was get at ice cream from the Dairy Queen

then drive another mile down the street
to the park, and eat it there.

It was in that park where
he later asked me to marry him.

Having met on January 14,

our first "anniversary" was February 14,

Valentines Day.

He gave me a little gold floating heart necklace

with a diamond chip in it.

Wrapped in this little lacy heart-shaped box.

So we celebrated our "anniversary" every month
always on the 14th.

I knew I had to get married on a 14th of the month,
any month,

I didn't care what month, it just

HAD to be the 14th!

We were engaged in the fall of that year.

Once we made that commitment

we couldn't wait to get married.

Looking at the calendar,

I looked for a month where

the 14th was on a weekend.

Having many out of town and out of state relatives

we really felt a weekend would work best

for the rehearsal dinner and wedding.

It appeared, if we didn't get married by December,

we'd have to wait until April for a weekend wedding date.

April seemed like an eternity!

Having very traditional values,

living together was not

something either of us would even consider.

So we had just a few months to plan the wedding.

We wanted an intimate wedding

where only our closest friends and relatives

were present to share in our special celebration.

We wanted it to be about Us...

...Not the big party atmosphere.

We were married in the church in the

small rural town were I grew up.

The church was decorated with poinsettias
for Christmas
so I continued the Christmas theme
by laying greenery on the window sills
and tucked in red shiny ball

christmas ornaments .

I hung grapevine wreaths

decorated with pines and white doves

in the church windows.

The wreaths were a gift from the floral

designer, the sweetest man...

his wife worked in my office,

he said she owed me a shower gift.
Thank you Dennis!

We had a candlelight wedding in the late afternoon.

Candle-lanterns decorated with
pines and red bows
lined the center aisle.

We choose wedding colors of Burgundy and Silver.

I wore a traditional style gown
with train and veil.

My groom wore a white tux.

His brother and a friend were his groomsmen.
The men in the wedding party wore silver-grey tuxes.

My brother was an usher.

My two sisters were my bridesmaids.

I let them pick out their bridesmaids dresses.
They chose a burgundy colored dress of course
in an off-the-shoulder style
which was typical for the 1980s.
But the back of the dress had
an inset of multi-layered white lace
which I especially Loved.