Wedding planning commenced the day after I got engaged (only because the shops were not open that night to buy all my wedding magazines). I spent hours in shops, magazines and the internet sourcing the perfect touches for my perfect day. I look back fondly at the hours I spent sitting on the livingroom floor sewing pearls onto strands of lace, creating my wooden love heart favours and cutting out pictures for my scrapbook. I loved every minute of planning my wedding as it was a time I could be creative and anticipate the day I would marry my lovely Jonny.
The wedding day brought feelings that I had never felt before. I had an overwhelming happiness inside me and a peace about the step I was taking. I felt so grateful looking round at all the people who were there to support us, and most of all, I was excited about the future. I remember how heavy my dress was with the abundance of lace and pearls, I remember how I couldn't stop crying at the ceremony although I felt utterly relaxed. I remember my bridesmaid Gill running and getting me a snack pack of grapes after the service and how I pinched my sisters bum during the pictures. I remember the brass band which played whilst our guest sipped pink champagne in the garden. I remember how proud I was with my normally shy husband as he spoke so eloquently during his speech and I remember how my dancefloor was packed to the point of overflowing the entire night thanks to our nine-piece funk band. I also remember how the drummer's wife went into labour and he ran off without a backwards glance. Luckily one of the singers stepped in and it didn't hinder the heaving dancefloor.
My wedding day (like everyone else's) flew by all too quickly. But the wedding day is just the beginning. I had plenty anxieties about married life (not about Jonny!) I wondered if I would be able to be the wife Jonny needed, and the wife that God desired for me to be. I wondered how we would cope with being a married couple, living together and sharing everything. I would say that our marriage has certainly been thrown into the deep end in the past two years. A couple of months after the wedding, we celebrated the birth of our precious nephew Charlie, which was quickly overshadowed by nearly losing my sister to heart failure. We lost Jonny's Baba that Christmas who was an incredible woman and a huge part of his life. We were then faced with the decline of my health and eventual loss of my job. All of these things have affected us greatly and could have potentially caused our relationship to become vulnerable during our first couple years of marriage. But God has graciously sustained us, and even more; He has helped us grow even closer.
One of the important things I have learned about marriage is that you have to be selfless. My relationship with Jonny works best when we are not selfish. We try to serve one another in love and be willing to put our own needs second. This is something that Jonny has excelled in and is a real evidence of Gods grace in his life. My husband has stepped up to the mark time and time again to help me, look after me and protect me often to the expense of his own interests. I appreciate the ways he puts me first and has cared for me especially through my illness. He is a patient and kind man and I know that God has grown these fruits within him as we have went through our marriage. God has proved his faithfulness to us over and over and has shown us that being in a Godly marriage will bring the abundance of blessings. Jonny and I believe that God created marriage and that we are to honour Him in it, this in turn has shown us that God's plan and desire for marriage is perfect.
I love being married to Jonny. I am thankful for the way he fulfils his responsibilities towards God, how he continually shows his love and support to me and encourages me with the Bible and prayer. He is my best friend and I celebrate him today.
