I guess I haven't mentioned it yet on my blog... our wedding
was a Hurricane Sandy event. Obviously, no one could have predicted that this
devastation would have struck NJ and put a wallop on our wedding plans. And in
the wake of such a disaster, it would have been rather selfish of me to fret
and fuss over the chaos and uncertainty that marked the days leading up to our
marriage. Yes – we had made a plan to seal our future together on November 10,
2012. But clearly, God or nature or whomever, had other ideas for our little
spot on the map at that particular time.
So, I didn't fuss. I didn't stress over flower deliveries
that may never arrive (because I didn't order flowers, remember!?). I didn't
worry that the priest may not be able to make the hour and a half drive, or
that Somerville was pretty much under water and no one was answering the phone
at the Elks Hall on Thursday, and we were going to have our wedding there on
Saturday.
I went with the flow as emails and phone calls came in
changing our wedding guests' replies from "Yes" to "No" and
back again as family and friends in the tristate area slowly pieced their lives
back together, surviving for weeks without electricity, and for some, in the wake
of the destruction of their homes. I patiently moved ahead with the schedule
inside my head even as our parents were sitting at home with fireplaces
lit and battery-powered lanterns to illuminate their evenings in other parts of NJ.
I didn't get annoyed when a wedding guest had told
family members from Long Island that the
wedding was off based on the fact that she, too, had called the Elks Club and
no one was answering. Or that many old folks on my husband's side were
experiencing grave illness and simply weren't sure that they could make the
trip. Until we heard an official "no" from the hall, the priest, or
anybody else, it was assumed that everyone would slowly crawl out from under
this mess, recover, survive, and be there to bless us with their presence on
our wedding day.
Hurricane Sandy
dampened our wedding plans, but if anything, she made the final coming-together
all the more meaningful. Words can't express the glow of happiness, the feeling
of so many smiles beaming down on our little family all at once. The touching
words of our priest, the first dance as husband and wife... and the many
meaningful ways our friends and family had contributed to our special day.
As I mention all over this blog, I went into my wedding
plans with a no-nonsense attitude, and my husband was in full support of this
endeavor. I didn't fuss over flowers or favors; we didn't make plans for a
honeymoon; our wedding attire didn't cost us much. In short, we let go of most
of the small details that other NJ brides typically get caught up in.
Our gift for having a humble wedding, and not asking for
much other than the company of our loved ones, was that we were able to pull it off despite the cards stacked against us. But the real gift, the one that we'll always remember and cherish, was the overwhelming feeling of love
and support from everyone who was there with us, as well as from those who for various
reasons were unable to join our celebration that day.
While I would never wish another Hurricane Sandy-type
disaster on anyone, the fact that it happened during our time to get married was, for us, life-changing. And if I had to do my wedding all over
again, I wouldn't do a thing differently.
I like to think that Sandy
handed us an important life lesson: love always perseveres through the storm.
