A Story Worth Repeating, to me

I love the story of our wedding. It's mildly quirky, a tad funny, a bit original, and really just fits us perfectly.

So I last left you, we were postponing the ceremony due to continuous rain, hoping the next day might just throw us a window of clear skies. I recovered from my unfortunate crab incident which, after two years in a row has lead me to the decision that for some reason now, I just don't need to eat crab anymore. Luckily the minister was available -- surprisingly enough not too many people go for the whole sunrise wedding thing. We needed to have two witnesses, and she assured us she had a friend to bring along for such occasions, and that we could always find someone on an early morning run or walk who would not mind stopping to help us....Do you see where this is headed?

Up at 5:00 a.m. to gussy ourselves up and take the dogs outside -- we decided they were just going to stay in the room for this one. No need to battle tangled leashes around our legs while trying to be joined in matrimony after all. We met the minister outside at 6:00 a.m. and the sun was scheduled to rise at 6:10 that morning. Amazingly enough...and surely a positive sign, the rain had stopped. The sky was cloudless, and the horizon stretched on for miles. But the minister was alone. What???? 10 minutes until we are supposed to be basking in the morning glow of the rising sun and we have NO ONE to witness this for us? The office to this small hotel was not open, no one else was around. No one was running or walking the beach. NOOOOOOOOOOO! I'm not one to panic about such things, but we couldn't postpone this one again, and we were up and it was all about the sunrise people! I sent Chris off one way to search for anyone who might be up and about, and I checked the beach. He told me he'd meet us there. After what had to have been nearly 10 minutes, and the distant glow of orange about to pop over the distance, here comes Chris walking towards us on the beach. As I remember it now, I'm thinking slow motion, dramatic music, every arm moment and each step an echo as I see who he found to witness our beginning of forever....

2 seen-better-days fisherman from another hotel that Chris nearly begged to come help us out before they headed out for the day. The long scraggly hair that fell about their shoulders needn't be described further, and one shyfully announced that he hadn't put his teeth in yet. But they were here, and lucky for us because evidently their two friends with them not only refused to be a part of such a thing but tried to talk Chris out of getting married in the first place. I gingerly handed one the camera with the directions just to take pictures of anything so we could have some nice memories.

And what do you know. Though we don't have a lot of photographs, and I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of our helpers, I thought it would've been rude to ask, they didn't even want the money we offered them and the few pictures we do have couldn't be better if taken by a professional. It was a short but perfect ceremony, where the sun broke through the water just as we were speaking our vows to each other, and we just had us to focus on. The world at that moment belonged to us. It was about 6:20 when we walked back to the room, changed clothes to take the dogs for a walk on the beach, and then headed to the pool where we had a total of 4 1/2 hours of sunshine before the rain started again. While the rest of the day carried on much like any other, we managed to see the fisherman again and bought them some beer for their help.

And that's how it all began.