It was February of 2001; I got home from class late one night.  My boyfriend, Adam, was acting kind of odd throughout the evening.  Finally, he sat me down on the couch and handed me a box.  I opened it to find a beautiful diamond and platinum ring.  I got a huge grin on my face and said, “Well, you have to ASK me!”  Adam asked me if I would marry him.  I jumped up and threw my arms around him, and whispered, “Yes!”

That’s when life got stressful.  The frustration started when we had to pick the date and location.  Both of our families lived out of the state.  We had to choose if we wanted to go somewhere convenient for our families.  Or just have them come to where we lived.  We ultimately decided that they should come to where we lived.  The date, however, was slightly easier to choose.  We agreed on an outdoor wedding, so mid summer would be perfect.  After much discussion, we agreed on July 7, 2001 to be held at Camarillo Grove Park in Camarillo, California.

Choosing the colors, dresses, and flowers was much easier.  Adam didn’t really care about the colors, so I chose lavender and white.  The flowers were a choice of what was in season, which happened to be beautiful snow-white lilies, and purple asters.  For the bridesmaid dresses, I took my bridesmaids to a small wedding boutique and let them choose which dress they would feel most comfortable in; I just gave them the color they needed the dress to be.  I was intending to wear a sundress because I didn’t really want a big traditional wedding gown, but my friends asked me to try on wedding dresses, just for fun.  I tried on about four or five gowns.  The last one was perfect.  I hadn’t even set out to get a dress that day, especially a ‘princess dress’, but I went home with the perfect gown for my wedding day.

For the next few months, Adam and I put together all the small details, as well as the travel arrangements and lodging arrangements for our relatives.  We started with the invitations.  I didn’t realize how much there was to sift through.  We looked at every kind of wedding invitation you could think of; we ended up agreeing on a simply elegant invitation, an off white invitation, with black lettering in a conservative font.  We slowly put together, and planned, all the small details that would make our day uniquely special.

My mom flew in the week before the wedding to help with all of the last minute preparations.  We went to the store to buy the ingredients for the cake, the strawberries and chocolate for the refreshments.  My mom and I made the wedding cake.  It was a red velvet chocolate cake with white frosting, draped with fresh purple and white flowers.  She bustled my dress and tailored all of the bridesmaids’ dresses.  We picked up six bunches of loose stems, made the bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages.  My mom was so busy that week, helping with everything; she even cooked dinner for us every night.

I was absolutely overwhelmed.  There were still so many things to be done, and it was the night before the wedding.  I hadn’t even finished memorizing my part of the wedding ceremony.  I finished everything just in time for the wedding rehearsal.  After we finished with the rehearsal everything started falling into place.

The morning of the wedding was hectic, but fun.  Everyone was pampering me, making sure I had anything I needed.  My bridesmaids and I went to the salon for our nine a.m. appointments for our hair and make up.  I sat in the chair, drinking champagne, while Je’Nice worked on my hair and make up.  After we were all made up, we went out to lunch, but I was too nervous to eat.  We rushed back home, there was still so much to be done.

It was getting close to the wedding, and the last minute touches were quickly added.  It took three girls to get me into my dress.  They touched up my nails, lipstick, and hair.  Then it took four people to get me into the car.  We were on our way to the park.

Once at the park, after all the kinks were worked out, the wedding began.  I walked with my father down the isle; the bagpiper, playing Highland Cathedral, marched in front of us.  It all felt so surreal.  I didn’t hear all the words to the ceremony, everything just blurred together.  It was over before I realized it had begun.

After the wedding we went to the reception.  There were quite a few people there, and once again everything was a blur at first.  The night quickly progressed.  We cut the cake.  My friends embarrassed me with their toasts.  And a lot of congratulations being thrown around.

The day was a complete success.  Everyone took care of me. I had whatever I wanted.  That day I got to put aside the hassles of everyday life and concentrate on my future life with Adam.  The months before the wedding were very difficult,  but they led up to the perfect day.  It was the one day that I got to be a princess.