Ten years ago, on Saturday, August 23, 2003, at approximately 2:30 PM in the sanctuary of Acworth United Methodist Church, I married my beautiful bride, Megan Abel. I still cannot believe that a woman as beautiful as Megan married me. Our wedding day was one of the calmest and most enjoyable days of my life, because I knew that I made the perfect decision when I asked Megan to marry me. I had no doubt in my mind that Megan was the woman that God had put on this earth for me to marry. Megan is an answer to many years of prayers, asking God to bless me with the woman who is the right one for me, one who will be my girlfriend, my fiancé, and my wife until death parts us.

The night before our wedding, I had the best night’s sleep that I can ever remember. I woke-up and went to pick-up my Pawpaw from the nearby hotel where the out-of-town wedding guests were staying, and we went to breakfast at McDonald’s. After breakfast, we made a quick stop at Megan’s house to pick-up a tie for my Pawpaw, and then proceeded to the church, where I met my groomsmen to get ready for pictures. To ensure that I looked my best for the pictures, one of Megan’s bridesmaids, Jamie Earnest, came over to the choir practice room and neatly styled my hair using some gel. That was the first time that I had ever used hair gel before. I must say that it did the trick; just take a look at any of our wedding pictures.

In the sanctuary, I had pictures taken with my family (Daddy, Mama and Greg, Nanny (Minnie Allmond), Meemaw (Maxine Strange), and Pawpaw (Raymond Strange)), followed by pictures with my groomsmen (Vernon Strickland, Kevin Abel, Danny Piper, Chris Vail, Charles Diawara, and Jason Skudlarek). After the indoor pictures, it was time for the groomsmen and I to venture outside for some more photos. I must mention that August 23, 2003 must have been the hottest day in Acworth’s recorded history, rivaling temperatures found only on the surface of the sun and vinyl car seats in a 1978 Ford Pinto. When Mike Moreland, our wedding photographer, finished taking the outdoor photos, everyone headed back inside to cool off and eat some turkey subs for lunch. The videographer for our wedding was Trey Sharpton. Trey and Mike did an outstanding job of videoing/photographing our wedding. Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

Just after the wedding ceremony.

The picture above was taken before the wedding with Megan and I standing on opposite sides of her dressing room door.

In awe of my bride’s beauty.

Our wedding party

Fast forward to the ceremony. At this point all of the guests were seated and all of the groomsmen, except for my best man, Vernon Strickland, were upstairs in the lobby just outside the sanctuary. Med Roach (AUMC senior pastor), Jim Aiken (AUMC associate pastor), Vernon, and I walked up the steps that lead directly into sanctuary. What a site to behold when we walked into the sanctuary. There were A LOT of people! Megan and I were blown away by the number of people that came to our wedding; in several cases traveling across the country. What a blessing to be able to celebrate that day with so many of our family and friends.

After my Nanny and Meemaw, and Megan’s Grandma (Mary Wintz), my Mama and Megan’s Mom (Ms. Renee), and the wedding party were in their places, it was time for all eyes to turn to my beautiful bride as she entered the sanctuary. When I saw her walk in, I thought to myself, “This is what angels look like.” I am glad that I had a some time between when she walked in and when she reached the front just a the bottom of the stage because I do not think that I could haven spoken one word. I was speechless at her beauty and gracefulness as she floated toward me. She wore a long white wedding dress with thin shoulder straps. The top part of the dress had embroidered flowers and occasional white sequins. She wore a white veil and white shoes with a heel and white flowers on the straps. Megan also wore pearl stud earrings and a pearl necklace with a silver pendant connecting the necklace in the front, along with the engagement ring that I gave to her on March 14, 2003.  She carried a bouquet of white daisies and yellow roses. Her brother, Kevin, escorted Megan down the aisle. When she and Kevin arrived at the front of the sanctuary, I saw her sparkling eyes and beautiful smile.

Med and Jim split the officiating duties. Jim gave us some good advice during the wedding rehearsal the night before. He told us that if we started to become emotional (i.e. – starting to cry like a baby), to sing “Old McDonald” to ourselves to prevent the tears, and it worked (I still use it to this day.) During the ceremony, Megan and I lit a unity candle, and while the song “I Will Be Here” by Steven Curtis Chapman was sang. One of the most memorable moments of the ceremony was when Megan presented me with her True Love Waits card and ring. Megan received the card on April 28, 1996, when she was 17 years old, to commemorate a vow that she took during a True Love Waits ceremony. Jim Aiken read the following words that were printed on the card: Believing that true love waits, from this day forward, I make a commitment to God, myself, my family, those I date, my future mate, and my future children to be sexually pure until the day I enter marriage.”

After we took our wedding vows, exchanged rings, were pronounced husband and wife, and I got to kiss my bride (WOW!), we walked out of the sanctuary and downstairs to gather with the wedding party, before heading back into the sanctuary for some more pictures with all of our family and the wedding party. While we were waiting for the photographer to get set-up, one of our ushers, Chris Neidre, took a picture of Megan and I. He then left the church, went to Eckerd’s drug store, had the picture developed and framed, and had it sitting on Megan’s dresser in her house waiting for us when we finished with our outdoor pictures after the reception.

After the pictures, we walked over to the AUMC Ray and Julia Harrison Family Life Center for the reception. When Megan and I walked in, our family and friends greeted us. The room was decorated nicely. The tables in had white tablecloths with daisies in Ms. Renee’s silver, mint julep cups. We had a white, round, multi-tier wedding cake decorated with yellow roses. The groom’s cake was chocolate, with a GT logo and the Olympic rings and a lake made of blue icing. Sitting on the blue lake was a single sculling boat that one of Ms. Renee’s friends carved out of wood. Mints and nuts were also served. To drink there was punch that Megan and Ms. Renee made in the time leading up to the wedding. Seems like every time that I was over at Megan’s house, somebody was making punch.

We were able to take time to visit with our guests and thank them for coming to our wedding. After we cut the wedding cake and fed each other a piece of the cake, Megan tossed her flowers over her shoulder and her sister, Katie, caught them. I then proceeded to remove Megan’s garter and flipped it over my shoulder where Will Davis caught it.

As the reception was winding down, everyone went outside to blow bubbles and see us off as we left the church in my 2001 Volkswagen Passat. I tried to keep the Passat from being decorated, and my plan almost worked. The morning of the wedding, I parked my car in Megan’s next door neighbor’s garage, but eventually I had to get someone to drive it to the church so that Megan and I could leave after the reception, and in the short amount of time between Kevin driving it to the family life center and Megan and I walking out of the family life center, it was decorated with speed and precision that would make a NASCAR pit crew green with envy.

When we left the church, we went with Katie, J.D. Graffam (her boyfriend at the time, now husband), and Mike Moreland for some outdoor pictures down near Lake Acworth. Even though it was hot and humid outside, I loved every minute of being with Megan.

After the outdoor pictures, we went to our house, changed out of our wedding attire, and visited with some of Megan’s family before departing for the Doubletree hotel in Buckhead, where we stayed on our wedding night before leaving the next morning, headed to our honeymoon destinations: first Destin, then Disney World.

Every single day since our wedding day, I have thanked God for blessing me with Megan.

Megan, thank you for ten blessed years of marriage! I look forward to many, many, many more years of marriage with you. I will love you forever!