First Comes Love

Hey hey hey! 

Guess what? 

I'M MARRIED! 


Crazy, huh? June 22nd, 2013 -- that's my wedding day! I've been a wifey for almost three months. My new husband's name is Nathan Ryan Large. You know what that means? I have a new name, too! Jessica Ruth LARGE. It's official, with a new driver's license, social security card, and everything! 

When I first started dating Nate and had someone say to me, "Oh, that's something you gotta think about, ya know? Do you want that last name?" Heck yes, I do! If it means that I get to be with Nate forever than I'll take anything! My name is Jessica Large, and I'm kind of a big deal.

Now, let me tell you about my wedding day!

I felt like a princess all day long. I have the best family and friends who made everything so perfect. There was a little moment of freak out when I thought that I wasn't going to be allowed to wear my wedding dress during the ceremony because of the little bling at my bust line, but my mom talked to the temple matron and everything was smoothed out.

The night before I slept like a baby, I wasn't nervous at all. My dad gave me a father's priesthood blessing, and I hung out in his room with him and my mom and my sister, Amanda, feeling a little sad thinking that this was going to be my last night in my parent's house. I kept thinking that even though I was always going to be my daddy's girl, always be my parent's daughter, tomorrow it would all be different, and even though I was so sure that I wanted to be Nathans wife, I didn't want anything to change. But change is inevitable, and if we want to progress in life, then we have to let it happen to us.

When I woke up in the morning all of my nerves were gone. I ate a big bowl of cereal and tried to wrap my head around the fact that I was getting married in a few hours. Nathan called me and we talked for a little while and he kept telling me how much he loves me and how excited he was, and how he'd already written in his journal about this day and all of his feelings. 

That boy is precious.

After my mom and I were ready, we drove down to a salon in the Valley, and my hairdresser worked magic on my hair. Then I sat with a makeup artist and watched as my face was transformed into something flawless.
As the day progressed, and the longer I sat in that chair at the salon, the more my stomach started churning, and gradually all of the calmness I felt that morning disappeared with the butterflies. At the end of the sitting, everything was perfect. My hair was more gorgeous than dreamed it could be. My makeup was so stunning, I was just that -- stunned. A big shout-out and thank you to my friend and hairdresser, Brittany Espinoza Leavitt at Salon Michele, for doing my hair so perfectly and setting me up with a makeup artist in her salon. Such a great wedding gift.

By the time my mom and I arrived at the temple I was almost a wreck. All the calmness was gone. All excitement turned into nerves. I was nervous about being on time. I was nervous about seeing Nate. I was nervous about Nate seeing my wedding dress. I was nervous about getting married and this entire day.

But then I saw Nate.

And he smiled at me, and put his arm around me, and told me how beautiful I was, and I knew I could do it. This was why I was doing it. I felt safe with him and knew that, no matter what happens, as long as I could cling to his hand I could do anything. 

And we did it! We were married! We got to look into eternity and it was beautiful! My favorite part of the day was when after we became man and wife, and he went to change into his suit, and I went to put my jewelry and heels on, and then we met up again at the bottom of the stairs, in front of the giant mirror, and we had a few moments by ourselves, and I was so happy! We hugged, we kissed, we looked at our reflection in the mirror and reveled in the joy of belonging to each other. Everything was perfect.

Then we were escorted outside and presented to our waiting family as the new Mr. & Mrs. Large!


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