Well, our BIG DAY is over but the true fun is just beginning. May 19th was by far the best day of my life to-date. It all started with our rehearsal on Friday night - the only time I was nervous at all. The one thing I took for granted the entire year I planned this outdoor wedding was the weather. It never entered my mind that it could be anything BUT perfect. So, as I walked up the large grassy knoll where the ceremony would take place, panic struck me. It was windy, gray, cold and moist. Everyone was bundled in trench coats and windbreakers. No one was paying attention to the minister who was trying to shout directions over the wind. I suddenly realized that a 16 person bridal party might be a little unruly. After about 20 minutes of chaos Mr. Fromm, our incredible minister, said, "OK, that's good. We'll do it tomorrow and I will just coach you through it as we go." Basically, what he said is we would wing it. HM - to a born anal-retentive planner this was a little bit fearsome.

   Keith drove me to the rehearsal dinner and after a glass of wine everything settled back to perfect again. Family and friends toasted us. It was an extremely touching evening full of deep sentiment. After dinner we met many of our out-of-town guests at the hotel lounge to welcome them. It was getting late at that point and I was determined to keep the tradition to not see my groom after midnight. I grabbed my sister and Tracie, one of my dear bridesmaids, and raced them into the car at 11:56 PM after kissing Keith good-bye. I later found out that Keith's sisters and his two best men kept him up until the wee hours of the morning.

   I slept with my sister that night. We fell asleep without talking too much and it was perfect comfort. I actually slept well. I awoke bright-eyed and ran outside in my pajamas to a glorious sunshine filled day. I said a little prayer of thanks knowing that the Big Man had it taken care of the whole time. Tracie, who stayed at my parents' with us, and I drove to the winery to begin our "girly" preparations. Most of my girls were already there and had already finished getting their hair done. Keri, my fantastic hairdresser from New Jersey, traveled up to the Hudson Valley to be there with me and take care of my hair. Clearly, I was running late, but we had plenty of time. The catering staff at West Park Winery did a phenomenal job of setting up a table of goodies (including peach champagne and orange juice) to keep our dressing room in a festive mood. Mom and Dee, my sister and Maid-of-Honor, showed up around noon. Keri did mom's hair and Dee did my makeup. Unfortunately, that made Dee late for pictures, but she handled it all very gracefully.

   Pictures started at 1:00 PM and were over in a flash. That is when I finally had a moment to reflect on my vows and desperately try to memorize them so that I wouldn't have to read them from a card. Because it was hot outside, and guests were arriving early, many family members and friends wandered inside to wish me luck and congratulations. That felt a little bit funny at first. I never knew I was so superstitious. Everyone was reporting to me how nervous Keith was. He knew I was inside the winery and that he couldn't see me, and it drove him crazy. A number of times he had to use the restroom and my sister would shuffle me out of site somewhere. Needless to say, with all of the visitors and all of the commotion, I did not adequately memorize my vows. At the last minute, I wrote them all on a card and gave them to my sister to slip to me during the ceremony.

   Suddenly, everyone was gone. I was standing in the winery in front of a fan, clutching my bouquet of gorgeous red roses. My daddy came in and said, "Are you ready, kid? Everyone's waiting for you." For some reason, that surprised me. He walked me outside, carefully placed my dress and me into the passenger's seat of Keith's VW Beetle. He drove me up the hill and my heart raced with excitement when I saw all of our guests and all of my girls anxiously watching for me. My dad helped me out of the car, the music started, and the girls one by one walked down the aisle. I tried to hide myself from Keith's line of sight but I anxiously wanted to look into his eyes and make sure he was OK. I got to the top of the aisle and my face hurt with a beaming smile. Once I was halfway down, I found Keith's eyes and I was instantly at peace. I felt glorious - full of love and full of life. I instantly took his hand and whispered that I loved him.

   Miraculously, our vows came out perfectly. One thing that surprised me was that Keith said his first. His words were so eloquent, so poetic, and so emotional that the entire congregation was brought to tears. After taking a big breath and getting a laugh out of our guests when I stated how unfair it was that I had to follow him, my vows flowed from my lips without a hitch - perfectly natural - without having to read from my cheat sheet. The hardest thing to do was restraining myself from wrapping my arms around his neck the second I finished reciting my most heartfelt emotions and promises to him.

   And the rest is frosting on the most perfect of cakes. We were relaxing, beaming, loving, dancing fools the entire night. Ten o'clock came too fast as we pulled away in the limo. Our guests continued to celebrate for hours after our departure and we are still hearing stories about how the night unfolded. The honeymoon was exceptional. We went to Moorea, Bora Bora and Tahiti - literally paradise on Earth. Now, we are going through the adventure of building our common home. Moving in together has been more challenging that we thought it would be, but we are enjoying the process and learning so much about each other. This is the true joy of marriage. I am delighted about sharing everything with my new husband and getting into the rhythms of our beautiful life together.

   I don't have the prefect advice for you, as you approach your wedding day. Everyone is so incredibly different and what's important to me may not be important to you. The best advice I have is to make sure you connect with your husband-to-be on that most blessed of days. Make sure you swim in each other's eyes as often as possible. Make sure you smile each time you look at each other. Make sure you hold hands or touch each other when you move together through your reception. I loved planning my wedding. We put a lot of thought into expressing ourselves and making sure our family and friends knew how important they are to us. But a thrill races through me when I think of planning how my new husband and I can create little ways of making each other deliciously happy for the rest of our days together.

Images Copyright® 2001 Christine Carroll Tobias