How to Find Meaning: Look in the Details…
Details. A little table…sitting at the end of the aisle with a single, lit candle in a crystal candelabrum. A bouquet of stargazer lilies and stephanotis was also on the table. Two o’clock…the church bells rang. The double doors opened at the back of the little country church, revealing the bride. She was alone, holding a long-stemmed red rose, framed by the double doors leading out to the porch and backlit by the perfect June day. She followed tradition: something old (her mother’s signet ring), something new (her wedding dress), something borrowed (the rose -- details), and something blue (a garter). The guests rose as the processional started. There was not a dry eye in the church, including the bride’s, as she walked the aisle alone. Her groom met her near that little table, carrying the bouquet. He first escorted her to give her Granny the rose. He, then, escorted her to the altar.
Details. Surely the guests had been wondering what significance the little table at the end of the aisle held. Why was there a candle burning? The candle was in memory of her mother, lost to domestic violence when she was seven. Why was there a bouquet on it? She had no one to walk her down the aisle, and this was a way she did not have to walk the entire way alone. Why did she wear the “something old”? This was a way to have her mother with her that special day. Details meant a lot to her. How do I know? I am this bride, and these details are mine.
We were married on June 8, 1991. In some of these photographs, you will notice that the rings have signs of wear, and the bouquet (yes, artificial and handmade on a tight budget by yours truly) may not be perfect, but there are so many things about these details that are perfect to me. I wanted to memorialize the love represented in those things and to capture them, beautifully, now…and for years to come. I had never had pictures of them taken before.
As is written in Job I:21 “the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord”. Although, I did not have my mother with me on my wedding day, I had my Granny that sacrificed her life to raise me. I had my “Ma”, my mother-in-law, who lovingly hand-painted the flowers on the wedding invitation in one of the photographs (details). Since, I have been humbled to gain Godly wisdom from women who are treasures to me. I have been given a family that means everything to me. I have been blessed. I Thes. 5:18 says “In everything give thanks”…not in some things…not in just the good, big things…but also in the details…
Blessings ~
Lisa