“This is real. It’s actually happening. Emily is FINALLY getting married!” I thought to myself as Lydia, the first bridesmaid and my youngest sister, started down the stairs. The wedding planner caught my eye and gave me a reassuring smile. I glanced back at my beautiful sister and beamed at her. She looked so stunning in her wedding dress that I couldn’t help tearing up a bit. As the wedding planner motioned for me to start down the stairs, I couldn’t help but have a memory flash to the first time I met Tyler, my soon to be brother in law.
It was a beautiful, Indian summer evening and some close friends and family were celebrating my other sister, Megan’s, 18th birthday. Emily walked with a handsome stranger, whom I had never seen before. “Who is THAT?” someone asked. Emily called Megan and I over to introduce us. “Hey guys, I’d like you to meet someone. This is my friend, Tyler Ranfeld!” she said, proudly. I just stood in awe of this gorgeous, 6”2, body builder. At that moment, I knew he was going to be around a lot more often than not.
As time went on, Tyler came over more and more. He came over for family birthday parties and dinners. I noticed the way Emily looked at him and laughed with him. He made her so happy. And yet, Emily claimed she wasn’t attracted to him at all and that they were “just friends”.
Then one day, Emily and I went to visit our family bakery for a bit. We sat down in the store with a cup of coffee. That’s when Emily looked at me with a serious expression on her face. “I have something really important to tell you and I’m not sure how to go about this… last night, Tyler told me he was falling for me.” I tried to hide my impish grin as she went on to tell me how he went about telling her. “Now, how do you feel about this?” I asked carefully. My sister then smiled an absolutely beautiful smile as she said, “I’m falling for him. I’m falling for Tyler and I am so happy and blessed.”
After a few weeks, they finally announced that they were in an official relationship. I had never seen Emily so happy before. They way she looked at Tyler, the way they interacted, you could tell they cared so much for each other. It was so heart-warming to see how content they were.
“So when do you think Emily and Tyler will get engaged?” a co-worker asked me, one hot, June day. “Eh, not for another few months, I think.” I replied. We all laughed and joked about them getting engaged today. “But that will never happen! They’ve only been dating seven months!” A few minuets later, Emily and Tyler walked in. I went to go hug them when Emily stopped me by holding up her left hand and laughing. I immediately screamed and burst into tears. They were actually engaged! I hugged them both as we all tried to keep back happy tears, but failed miserably.
The wedding planning commenced! The couple set the date for August 8th, which was what seemed, a long time away. Little did we realize, that year of planning would go by very quickly. Planning a wedding was a lot more than what we expected. There were many nights full of tears, along with tons of hand-crafted table decorations. Life at my house was quite stressful for a few months, but with God’s help, we got through the year of planning.
I was brought back to the present when I started down the flight of stairs to meet Spencer, Tyler’s brother, whom I was to walk with. Our eyes met and we grinned at each other as we started down the aisle. I stood in my assigned place and waited for Megan, the maid of honor, to stand next to me. We beamed at each other as the flower girls made their way to us. The music changed, the door opened, and the pastor announced “All rise for the bride!” This was it. Emily was getting married.