I find myself, standing at the end of a small hallway. I can hear the music playing but nothing else. I stand in silence, staring at the wall, waiting for my queue. My heart is pounding in my ears. I am quite surprised nobody else can hear it. My small, delicate hands are trembling as they clasp the ribbon holding the bouquet of flowers together. I am overcome with ecstasy. Is this really happening? The song slowly fades away as another comes on. I inhale deeply, and then let it out. I round the corner and begin walking. One step, two, then three. I am quite aware of the dozens of eyes all directed toward me. I stare straight ahead, looking into the lens of the camera with a smile on my face. This is it! I reach the end of the walk and slowly turn. That’s when I see him. He’s standing ever so calmly, hands clasped together, eyes straight on me, and a huge smile on his face. The entire room seems to fade, the people, the cameras, even the walls don’t take up much space. I begin walking toward him, slowly, steadily. I focus only on his face and nothing else. I reach the end of the walkway and stop. He walks slowly toward me this time and takes my arm with such grace I would have thought it was floating. He wraps my arm around his, still looking into my eyes, and guides me forward. We take our places and I hand my bouquet off to another. One more glance at each other, before we set our focus on the man standing in front of us.
The rest of the ceremony goes by in a flash. Before I know it, I’m kissing my new husband and walking down the aisle beside him, hand in hand. Months of planning, worrying, and even crying, all led up to this. It didn’t quite turn out how I expected. It turned out so much better! Just a memory in the past, but the beginning of a wonderful future.