THREE WEEKS BEFORE THE WEDDING

My Mom drove up to New York from Kentucky.

Her, Nina, Belle, and I went to David's Bridal to let them try on dresses for the wedding. My mother would be wearing gold since she was the maid of honor, and the other three ladies would be wearing maroon.

My mother tried on a gold sequin v-neck dress with satin piping. It was the first dress she tried on and she fell in love with it, but she decided to look at other dresses.

Nina and Belle decided on a sleeveless long mesh dress with corded lace. After my mother saw the dress that Nina and Belle decided on, she decided to just get a dress like that instead so the style would match. So we ordered the dresses for everyone that came and I had Jean-Paul to text Celeste about her dress size so I could get hers ordered too.

For shoes, everyone had decided to wear silver or white heels.

After we finished up at the bridal store, I headed to an old retro wedding dress shop. I had caught my eye on a dress I found online years before and always wanted to wear that if I ever had the opportunity to get married.

When I walked into the retro wedding dress shop, I walked back to the 1950's dress part of the store. My eye caught the dress of my dreams-a princess lace, full-length wedding dress. It just so happened to be my size, so it was just meant to be.

"This is a beautiful choice," the cashier said, as she rang up the dress and softly placed it into a full-size dress bag.

"Thank you. It's the dress of my dreams," I responded as I took my debit card out of my wallet to pay for the dress.

"It will look beautiful on you. You will look like a true princess," she said as she flashed a smile in my direction and handed the dress to me."Have a nice day."

"Thank you, you too," I said as I returned the smile.

After buying the dresses, we had a meal together at a restaurant before going back to my apartment for the evening. My mother and I needed to give and send out invitations to the wedding.

We also decided to make bows to decorate the church pews, and the chairs and tables in the reception area. My mother soon left New-York to go back home to Kentucky.

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The day before the wedding Jean-Paul and I made a trip from New-York to Kentucky. We had decided to have a rehearsal for the wedding party so that when the day actually came, everyone would be familiar with how to walk down the aisle and who to walk with.

At the last minute, Jean-Paul's cousins' son and daughter became our flower girl and ringbearer. It was a good thing we had the rehearsal because the kids were so confused about where to go and where to stand. I had a feeling that we would have to do a quick rehearsal the next day before the wedding actually started.

When I walked down the aisle with my father, I tried not to cry. I had a feeling I would be an emotional wreck. when we would be going through the actual ceremony.

When he handed me to Jean-Paul, we pretended to say our vows. We had decided to write our own vows, but we wanted to keep them a secret until the actual ceremony. After we were pronounced man and wife, we exited the church auditorium and went into the kitchen. We decided to serve a little snack for everyone that came to the rehearsal.

After everyone left, my mother and I got the auditorium, pews, tables, and chairs in the kitchen all decorated, before turning the light off and leaving for the night.

It was really nice that the local preacher who is a friend of my father let us rent the church free of charge. I guess that comes with the perk of being a member of the church.

We all took off for the evening and Jean-Paul went to stay in the hotel that my parents and his Mom decided to stay at.

I stayed at a different hotel across town, my nerves shot at an all-time high. I began to feel faint, nauseous, and my heart kept palpitating.

I took some medicine to help with nausea and took some anti-gas and diarrhea medicine so that I wouldn't have an accident, because when my nerves get the best of me, they go into overdrive. That was the last thing I needed on my wedding day.

I finally went to take a shower, brush, and blow dry my hair before getting into the bed and laying down under the covers.

My eyes closed immediately and I fell into a deep slumber.

But throughout the night, I kept waking up every hour, on the hour, as my nerves became a little unsettling again. I kept tossing and turning all night, until it was finally time to get out of bed.

The next morning, a knock came from the door and I rubbed my tired eyes before answering it. Standing in the threshold was my mother.

"Rise and shine sweetheart. It's your wedding day!" She exclaimed, as her joy radiated throughout the entire apartment. A smile came upon my face just because of her happiness.

I decided to grab the medicine that I took the night before and take it with me. The first place we were headed was to get our nails done. Then we had a hair appointment right after.

For my nails, I had decided to go with regular french tips, but with sequins on both fourth fingers.

My mother, however, decided to get a maroon ombre color for her nails.

After getting our nails were finished, we went to the salon to have our hair and make-up done.

My mother wanted a complete bun updo with two strings of hair curled down on each side. I decided to put mine just halfway up. The stylist wavy curled all of my hair except two big patches on both sides, which she did a very tight spiral curl. She then pulled the spiral curls up in the back, and pinned them together as she added a little bit of baby breath to my hair.

For my make-up, I wanted to go as natural as possible. More often than not Jean-Paul would be seeing me without makeup, so I wanted to look more like myself than to look into the mirror and be unrecognizable.

Finally, after having our hair, make-up, and nails done, we drove on over to the church to slip into our dresses before the ceremony. We only had thirty minutes until the wedding actually started.

I slipped into my vintage wedding dress as my mother zipped up the back.

"You truly do look like a princess," my mother whispered, and she had me to twirl around and let her see the entire dress. Tears started streaming down her face.

"Don't cry, Mama. It'll be okay. I'll always be your baby girl."

I pulled her in close for a hug. I wanted to cry right then and there, but I tried to keep my composure and not let alone see me cry or to ruin my beautiful makeup.

Before I knew it Belle, Nina, and Celeste came into the room. They had their hair and makeup done beautifully and they came dressed in their own dresses.

I stepped up to the full-length mirror and saw the girl staring back at me. The moment that I had wanted for so long was upon us, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a nervous wreck.

Everyone got into their places and the music began to echo through the church. The bridesmaids and groomsmen started walking down the aisle one by one, and then the maid of honor and best man.

Next, it was Estelle and Raphael's turn to walk down the aisle to give the ring to Jean-Paul and to make a beautiful gold and maroon flower path for me to walk down.

Finally, the doors opened and everyone stood as my father started walking me down the aisle. All eyes were on me as I walked slow and steady down the aisle, trying not to trip. I made eye contact with Jean-Paul as I walked toward him.

When we made it down to where Jean-Paul was standing, I gave my bouquet to my mother as my father took my hand and placed it into Jean-Paul's. He looked me in the eyes as his eyes were becoming watery.

"Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today to unite this man and this woman in holy matrimony as they declare their unbreakable love before God," the preacher began. "This is the part of the service where we will have the vows. This man and this woman have written their own to be said here today."

"My dearest Blakely. When we first bumped into each other at that coffee shop several months ago, I knew deep in my heart that you were the woman that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with," he smiled. It made it even more clear to me when we kept seeing each other often at that coffee shop that it was just meant to be. From this day forward, my heart belongs to you. I promise to love you unconditionally. I promise to share words of wisdom when you need them, and stay silent when you don't. I promise to wipe away all tears when you're sad, and I promise to share in all of the happiness when you are happy. I promise to be there for you in sickness and in health, and in good times and bad. As long as I have breath in my body, I will never leave you ever again. You're stuck with me forever."

"My dearest Jean-Paul, you have turned every situation around for the better. Just when I felt my heart couldn't love again after being shattered into pieces, you showed up and put my heart back together again," I smiled. "I knew from that first moment at the coffee shop that I wanted to spend forever with you. I believe in love at first sight because it's how I felt when my eyes fell on yours for the first time. All of the times we ran into each other again, I feel that it was God's way of saying we were meant to be in each other's lives. From this day forward, my heart belongs to you. As long as I have breath in my body you will always have me. You're my forever and always," I gushed through tears.

"Do we have the rings?" The preacher spoke up after we finished our vows.

Raphael gave the rings to Alexandre, who gave the rings to the preacher.

"I want you both to take the ring and repeat the words, With this ring, I thee wed."

Jean-Paul took my ring first and repeated the words, "With this ring, I thee wed."

I took my ring for Jean-Paul and also repeated the words, "With this ring, I thee wed."

Finally, the preacher recited the words, "Now that you both have committed yourselves to one another and to your Holy Union through the sacred vows that you have taken, and by the giving and receiving of these rings, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Those whom God has joined together may he generously bless Forever. Today, your kiss is a promise. You may now kiss the bride."

By those words, our lips touched together as husband and wife and our vows sealed with the kiss.

My mother handed me back the bouquet and Jean-Paul took my left hand into his right hand and lifted it high, almost as if he won the most honorable prize of his life. We walked down the aisle hand in hand, and out of the door as bubbles were being blown in our way.

We made our way to the reception to celebrate our vows we made to each other.