November 16, 2013 seemed like the perfect date! It gave us about two months to plan another wedding and most importantly it was Texas A&M's football teams bye week. I learned my lesson the first time around…you do not plan a wedding on a weekend that conflicts with college football in Texas! We chose to have the "wedding redo", as I called it, in my hometown of Crockett, Texas. We decided on the beautiful Hickory Creek Ranch as our new venue. The ranch is owned by Wade and Jenny Shartle who remodeled their barn specifically for weddings and we knew immediately this was the place for us. After everything that happened in Estes Park, Chris and I wanted this one to be fun and stress-free.
Rami Carter, our wedding planner, found Southern Charm florist which is owned by Cheri Taunton-Garner in Colorado Springs, CO. Even though they were not the florist we were going to use in our first wedding they heard our story and offered to travel to Texas just to help us. I cannot brag enough about how amazing Cheri and her team were. We also were able to hire Josh Grider to play some good old Texas country music and to sing his song "Crazy Like You" which was going to be our first dance. Again, everything seemed to be right on track and Chris and I were really excited to finally have our wedding day.
Wedding day rolled around and Chris woke up feeling really bad and sick to his stomach. I assumed this was probably some kind of bug that would be gone by the afternoon. I gave him some medicine and scurried off to the bridal lunch with the rest of the bridesmaids. Chris went on to the golf course with the guys and I later found out he only made it through 9 holes when he admitted he just felt too bad and had to go home. At that point I began to worry that this might be more than a 24 hour bug and was praying it wasn’t the flu. As everyone knows, wedding day goes by in a flash and there are a thousand things going on at the same time. I spent the afternoon with my bridesmaids getting hair and makeup done. I did communicate with Chris a few times and he told me he was feeling much better and could not wait for the wedding to start. At that point I figured everything was fine.
As it got closer to ceremony time I was all smiles. The barn was decorated with beautiful white drapes, lights, and flower arrangements that exceeded my expectations. The band was setup, the caterer was ready, and best of all I was in my wedding dress!!! The groom and groomsmen all arrived early to take pictures, however no pictures were taken because Chris could not get out of the truck. He was so sick he was lying in the seat with the heater on. Even though it was November, in Texas it stays warms far into winter. The thought of a heater on that day was unimaginable. Chris was determined to make it through the ceremony and as I walked down the aisle I could see his smiling face, but his eyes told it all. His face was pale and lips were white. His eyes were watery and red. I immediately knew something was wrong and was thankful to make it through the ceremony without my groom passing out. Once they introduced us as husband and wife and we made our way out the back of the barn, Chris collapsed. We called one of the doctor’s out of the party to come check on him. He immediately told us to get him to the hospital. Chris’s father and brother rushed him to the emergency room while I stood there upset, confused, and torn on what to do. I decided to stay at the wedding until we heard the news on what his condition was. When things like this happen it is hard not to be angry at God. I was so upset that he had put us through this. Was this a test? Was God punishing us for something I had done? A lot of things went through my mind. But I went ahead and stayed at the wedding as Chris had asked me to do. I thanked everyone for coming as I fought back the tears. All I wanted to do was to go be with Chris and to never think about a wedding again.
Finally, we were told Chris had appendicitis and must have an emergency appendectomy. As soon as I heard the news I packed up my stuff and headed for Nacogdoches. I made it there right after they had taken Chris back into surgery. His surgery went great and I was there when he woke up. The first thing Chris said was “I ruined another wedding.” It just broke my heart to hear him say that. I reassured him it was not his fault and thought to myself how lucky I am. At that moment I knew there was so much God has blessed me with. So what if I did not have the perfect wedding day. I had Chris, the most selfless and caring man as my husband. We had our health and the most wonderful families and friends. How dare I question God’s love for me. He has given me the most wonderful gift of all, a love that can withstand anything.
Chris and I spent our second wedding night in the hospital together. That morning we had wedding cake for breakfast
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