Still on the Honeymoon Ten Years Later

Ten years ago at this time, Jennie and her Mom began walking down the aisle at the Arlington church of Christ in Mount Healthy, Ohio. The song was Enya's "Watermark", and I was sobbing, just as I always do at weddings.

My mom, my brother, my sister, and my step-brother had all driven up a few days beforehand. My brother, who is currently serving in the Navy, was a groomsman. My sister, who I'll always remember calling me bruh-bruh - from when she was little - was a bridesmaid.

I had handpicked the songs for our wedding about 8 months prior, before I'd even proposed to Jennie:

Earlier in the ceremony, "The Circle of Life", the opening song from one of my favorite movies of all time, "The Lion King", began. At the start of the first verse, my mom and Jennie's mom slowly walked to the front of the chapel, met, walked up to the stage, and lit some candles. Two individual candles would be used by Jennie and I to light the Unity candle; one candle was a memorial to my mom's dad - Gramps; another to Jennie's dad, who had passed away when she was 12 years old.

After the moms were seated, Enya's "Storms in Africa" began, and the bridesmaids and groomsmen made the walk to the front. No one was in a big hurry. We had not chosen a ring bearer, but we did pick a flower girl, Kelsey. She was about 3 or 4 years old, and wound up being very shy. The ushers rolled out the white paper that the bride walks on, and then we were ready for the moment.

As soon as the opening bars of "Watermark" were played, the tears just came rolling. I'm feeling emotional right now just remembering the moment. The song is so beautiful, and it was a wonderful reflection of how beautiful my lovely bride Jennie looked.

I'm glad that people were taking pictures and videotaping the event, because I wasn't that observant of everything around me. Jennie and I just kept looking at each other, listening and responding to Steve, our minister.

At one point we went to light the unity candle, and Amy Grant's "Say Once More" played. We also greeted our moms.

Then we exchanged personal vows and traditional vows. Jennie went first, reading from her handwritten note. Then it was my turn.

I chose to sing "I Will Be Here" by Steven Curtis Chapman as my personal vows. I'd practiced the song over and over again beforehand, but something happened to my voice from being keyed up at my wedding. If it resembled music, then it's because God somehow made it happen.

Finally, it was time to announce that we were husband and wife. I wasn't really trying to go for a world record for the longest wedding kiss, but I suppose we gave that impression.

Then, we'd chosed Michael Jackson's "Black or White" to be played as we exited. We later found out that the groomsmen had in unison put on sunglasses and a single white glove, before they walked to get there counterparts on the brides' side.

After all the guests had been dismissed, our photographer snapped this picture of us.


This was just the wedding ceremony!