The Worst, BEST day of my life

It was definitely not a fairy tale wedding, but at the end of the day, we had attained eternity. It all started the night before. I should have been relaxing at home and looking forward to the next morning, but instead I was trying to conquer my last minute to-do list. Nothing could be easy about these simple tasks. For instance, half way through weaving some extra blonde into my soon to be sister's hair, the power went out due to the storm. Have no fear however, we finished by flashlight. Then, at 1 am, it was finally time for this bride to hit the sack. With fours hours to go before it was time to wake up, I finally drifted off to sleep. It was rest well deserved until about 3 am. I woke up, and physically felt ill. There was no going back to sleep, I was up for the day. So I double checked everything before the wedding, and I set out at 445 to meet the fabulous Emily Wrathall for hair and makeup. When that was done, I was ready to head to the temple. As I walked outside, the cold morning weather was bringing me a nice surprise... Rain. Thank you Mother Nature. I got to the Temple right on time. I headed inside and started to look for John. I didn't see him in the lobby. I stepped outside and called him. He was on his way, but he would be late because there was an accident on the freeway that had stopped traffic. It was clearing though, and he was on his way again. I sat and waited, and welcomed my family as they arrived. As more and more time passed, I started to worry. Where was he? Was he alright? Did he suddenly realize he didn't want to marry me? It was almost an hour later than it was supposed to be. I was on the brink of melt down, when I thought, "go get some air." As I walked toward the doors, I realized I was shaking. This really could be the worst day of my life. Then a vehicle, that I had never seen before, pulled up, and John hopped out. The truck had stopped down the hill, and John had been walking up the mountain to get to the wedding. I had turned my phone off earlier and had missed all of his calls. Relieved, I took John's hand, and we walked into the temple together, sure that nothing else could go wrong. Wrong again... The records that we needed hadn't been transmitted, and we were told that we wouldn't be able to be married. Luckily because we had been in the Salt Lake temple the day before, the stamp on our temple recommends was enough to get us through. Before the wedding, I was reminded that John had literally climbed a mountain to marry me, and I thought about that through the whole ceremony. We made some amazing promises to each other in the presence of our friends, family, and our Father in Heaven. It was beautiful. I will never forget the look in John's eyes as we knelt across from each other at an alter, and covenanted for Eternity. I have never felt a more peaceful feeling. The peace didn't last for long. As we walked outside the temple for pictures, we could see that Mother Nature had given us another gift. It was now snowing. By the time we had finished with our pictures, my hands were frozen, my teeth were chattering, and I was ready for a nap. We headed to the luncheon, and were not surprised when we found out the food was not there, the building was locked, and there was not a single soul there to let us in. After another fairly long delay, We were finally getting our luncheon started. The Luncheon was great despite it's late start. The food was good, family and friends mingled while they waited, and everyone had a good time. It was finally time to tackle the big task of the reception. This had the potential of being horrible if everything didn't fall into line. Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst, we headed to the reception site. We got there, and were pleasantly surprised that everything was in order. The cake arrived, and was set up. The food was there, the beverages were ready to go, and all of the tables were set, and ready for guests. For all of the lack of direction, things were amazing! the reception went well. It was no surprise that people loved the photo-booth, and the music was fab. We mingled with everyone that came to wish us well, and best of all, we didn't have to stand in a formal line! When all was said and done, it was a difficult day for the two of us, BUT we were married. I can't express how much it meant to me to be able to say at the end of the day that I would spend forever with John. And, Our pictures didn't turn out too horribly either.