The Party Thai

   My daughter looked so lovely standing in front of the mirror in her gown and veil. Like you would imagine, it brought back a lot of memories. From the day we brought her home from the hospital, to the day she graduated high school.  All the bumps and scrapes, the boyfriends that broke her heart, and the hearts she broke along the way. It’s funny how that stuff goes through your mind at a time like this. Everyone was scurrying around looking for this and that, checking their hair and making sure they looked just perfect, one girl was trying, without much success,  to tuck her handkerchief inside the sleeve of her dress. But all I could do was stand there and stare at my beautiful daughter.

   We worked so hard at planning this wedding and reception. Her and I did it together, no wedding planner, just us. We must have gone to 50 wedding shops looking for the perfect gown and veil, when she finally found the one she wanted, she just said “this is it” and that was that. We really had a great time shopping for wedding accessories and decorations. She didn’t want one of those modern themed weddings, she just wanted a simple and traditional ceremony and reception.

   We got out the invitations and everyone answered right away, so now it was time to plan the menu for 123 people, then we had to order her cake.  She chose a gorgeous three tiered cake. It was a yellow cake with white cream frosting and beautiful tiny flowers around each layer.  Her cake topper was a traditional bride and groom topper. With no humorous overtones and nothing added, it was just the bride and groom under an arch. It really was quite lovely.

   We shopped for wedding favors for everyone, and special gifts for her bridesmaids and flower girl.  It seemed like we never stopped shopping.  I remember when we were shopping for her bridal accessories and she was looking at a beautiful lace handkerchief, trying to decide if she wanted to carry one or not. She decided to wait on that, until she made up her mind. She did buy some very lovely pearl ear rings and necklace.

   The time had come now for her walk down the aisle. She had her something new, borrowed and blue, but not anything for the something old. I had something of my grandmothers that I really wanted her to carry with her down the aisle on her wedding day. It was her beautiful embroidered handkerchief that she carried on her wedding day. So did my mother and so did I. We kinda considered it good luck. It was a very old and delicate handkerchief with a fancy lace border. She tucked it in her sleeve and took her place in the wedding procession. Everything was so beautiful and the little flower girl was adorable as she passed out a rose to everyone on the end of the pews. For only 4 years old, she did a very good job.  The ring boy was really handsome in his little tux. He carried that pillow as if it were made of glass.

   Everything was perfect for their ceremony and reception and my daughter was now a married woman with a life all her own. I don’t know if it’s possible to be happy and sad at the same time, but I was. I lost a little girl, but gained a good friend.  As far as grandmas handkerchief, she put it away until she can hand it down to her daughter on her wedding day.