Listen to “Part 3. The Ceremony”
Morning came early for Angela. She had been awake every hour throughout the night, sleeping fitfully, too warm, too cold, too tired. She just knew that she would forget to take something to the church, that someone wouldn’t show up at the last minute, that she would discover that the amiability between Mom, Dad, and Grandma, and Lorna and Jessie, had been only a dream.
But the girls, her sister and her bridesmaids who had slept over at her house, were up and buzzing about, scrambling for showers, having orange juice and toast, giggling and chattering about their own boyfriends, their hoped-for weddings. Dad had already carefully packed Angela’s wedding dress into its garment bag and put it in the car. From a shelf high in her closet, Angela brought out the velvet boxes that held her diamond necklace and earrings and Mark’s wedding ring, carrying them with her, not losing sight of them.
Angela had planned carefully that she would arrive at the church a full hour before Mark, who had to pick up two of the groomsmen and their tuxes. She immediately sequestered herself in the Bridal Room of Burlington Chapel, got dressed, waited for her stylist Betty who would do her hair and make-up. She sat still like a porcelain princess in her elegant ivory gown exquisite with beadwork and lace. She watched the girls get into their hunter green satin gowns and busy themselves with their own hair and make-up. Tina, who was in charge of the reception food and busy in the kitchen, came in last after she had made sure that the reception assistants knew what to do. Jessie, wearing a burgundy lace dress, came in with Tina. Then Mary Taylor came into the room.
“Mom!” Angela called frantically. “Did you get the stand for the unity candles?”
“Yes, dear,” Mary answered. “They’re already set up in the front.”
“But how–?”
Jessie spoke now. “Dave will have a small votive, already lit. During the ceremony, your mom and I will walk up together to the platform and will each light a taper from the votive.”
Mom nodded in agreement.
“Oh.” Angela felt a flood of relief. Mom is actually going to walk with Jessie?!
Just then Angela heard familiar music, the music of Enya. She jerked upwards, freeing a lock of hair that Betty had just put into the curling iron.
“Relax,” Tina said to her. “Lorna just started the prelude. We’ve got a whole half hour left.” Angela tried very hard to relax.
“Are the guys here yet?” Angela needed to know.
“Yeah, but Dave had to take Chuck back home to get black socks–he was wearing white socks with his Nikes.” Tina lightly patted the shoulder of her soon-to-be sister-in-law. “But Nanette’s already out there with the guest book.”
Guests! Guests are arriving?! Yes, yes, this is my wedding day. This is the day I become Mrs. Mark Daniels. This is it; a three-year relationship becomes a permanent commitment. Oh, God, please let everything go okay!
It was nearly ten o’clock, and Pastor Greene knocked on the door of the Bridal Room. “Do you have the marriage license?” he asked, poking only his head into the room.
Angela gasped. “Oh, Mom, it’s at home, on the coffee table. Oh, I just knew there would be something–oh, Mom, oh, there’s no time–”
“It’s okay,” Pastor Greene said to Angela. “I’ll get it from your parents this afternoon. Don’t worry about anything!”
The next moments became a blur in Angela’s memory, to be relived only when she and Mark would watch the videotape a week from now. Behind closed doors, she could hear the music for the Seating of the Parents, for the Procession of the Attendants. Then she was holding Dad’s arm, feeling its strength, its protection, its security that she was leaving for Mark’s love and passion. She moved forward.
I hear our music now, the Enya “Book of Days,” and I see Mark, waiting for me, waiting for this moment, waiting for our lifetime together. The music, swelling to its climax, Pastor Greene’s words, Lorna’s vocal solo, Mark’s strong hands holding hers, all whirled into a kaleidoscope of sound and color and light.
“Repeat after me,” said Pastor Greene. And Angela and Mark repeated the vows. And then it was time.
Pastor Greene stepped aside when the Enya “China Roses” began, and Angela and Mark had a clear view of the unity candles. They were ivory in color matching Angela’s gown, with fluted ribbons curling around the shafts, showing the hunter green and burgundy colors of the wedding, the trousseau, the colors that were Mark and Angela’s very own.
Mary and Jessie lit the tapers, each giving life to a single flame. Then Angela and Mark, using the lighted tapers, together lit the single candle in the center, careful to not extinguish the fire of the individual candles as they placed them securely back into their holders. In the glow of the flames, Angela and Mark exchanged the rings, kissed when Pastor Greene told them they could, and in a fiery rush exited from the chapel, not hearing any of the recessional, not knowing or caring if any of the attendants followed.