Our Wedding

I've already explained how our courtship was anything but ordinary, so it stood to reason that our wedding would be unorthodox as well, and it was.

Moe and I decided to get married during Thanksgiving week so we could take advantage of the holiday vacation for our honeymoon, but we still had to decide what day. The Temple was always closed on Monday, so that was out. It would also be closed that week on Thursday, because it was Thanksgiving. We wanted to use Friday and Saturday for our honeymoon, so that left either Tuesday or Wednesday to get married.

Moe put in for time off from work, but was only able to get Thursday and Friday. I had more flexibility since Thursday and Friday were school holidays, but still needed to work on Monday and Tuesday. That made Wednesday evening, after Moe got off work, the preferable choice for our wedding, but the kid's dad insisted he get them as soon as they got out of school on Wednesday so he could take them for Thanksgiving. I wasn't about to get married without my kids, even though they couldn't come into the Temple to be at the actual ceremony. I wanted them to be outside, though, when we came out, and for them to be part of our celebration that evening. That left Tuesday night as the only viable option for our wedding, so Tuesday night it was.

Moe and I had talked long and hard about ways to involve the kids in our wedding, and help them feel a part of our plans. I'd heard about a man who bought each of his new step-daughters their own special rings, since he was not only marrying their mother but also becoming a part of theirs lives. Moe liked that idea, so he bought the girls each a lovely gold ring. Even though we weren't having a reception, I still wanted to have wedding pictures, so I also bought matching flower girl dresses for the girls and new shirts and ties for the boys.

I really would have liked to have a wedding dress for myself, but it seemed silly to spend a lot of money on something I'd never use again. Still, I wanted something special to wear. Saturday morning, before my bridal shower, I went shopping, hoping I could find a nice, formal dress in white. I knew it was not likely, especially in the fall, but I said a quick little prayer as I drove into town, apologizing to Heavenly Father for bothering Him about something as trivial as a dress, but still asking if He'd mind helping me find something nice. The first store I walked into had three beautiful white dresses hanging up with their other winter designs. I couldn't believe it! Heavenly Father was such a sweetheart!

Since we had decided to wait a couple of weeks before our open house, Moe and I decided to take our family out to dinner after our wedding. We asked the kids where they would like to go, and discovered their preference was Swenson's Ice Cream Parlor, for Sundaes. So that's what we decided to do.

Moe and I would both work on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday evening we would go to the Temple, get married, and then take the kids and our families out for ice cream. Wednesday, Moe would go to work as usual but I would take a vacation day. I would get the kids packed and off to their dad's, then after work Moe would come home, pick me up, and we would leave for our honeymoon. Different, but it sounded like it would work.

I'll tell you what, that Tuesday was the strangest day of my life. I went to work the same as always, but I couldn't keep my mind on what I was teaching for the life of me. My students had a good time, teasing me and reminding me how many hours were left before my wedding. As soon as school got over I rushed home, got the kids dressed in their new clothes, put on my own new white dress, and picked up the bouquet I'd made for myself to hold in our pictures. Then we all drove down to the Temple. I left the kids waiting outside, they were old enough to take care of each other and they loved spending time in the visitors center, anyway. I went into the Temple, changed into my normal Temple dress, the same one I'd been wearing the first time I met Moe, and then went out to find him. He was waiting for me. We gave our marriage license to the sealer, who led us back to the sealing room where all of my brothers and sisters, Grandma Johnson and my aunts and uncles, and Moe's parents and family were waiting. Then, in a simple, sweet ceremony, we were married. Afterwords, we changed back into our other clothes and went outside to meet the kids. My brother, Keith, had been thoughtful enough to bring his good camera, and he took some wonderful pictures of Moe and I, and then of us with the kids. Then the boys climbed into Moe's truck with him, the girls got into the van with me, and we drove to Swenson's for ice cream. After that, we piled back into the same vehicles and drove home. Perhaps that was the strangest part of the whole day. I'd never imagined I would drive myself to and from my own wedding, in my own car, with my kids but without my new husband.

It must have been a strange feeling for Moe, too. He was not only driving himself home from his wedding without his new wife, he was driving with his two new step-sons, to his new house.

There is an old legend, carried down through the centuries, that for good luck a couple should spend their wedding night in their own home. I can't help but wonder, though, if when that legend began, they hadn't meant that couple should spend their first night in their own home, surrounded with five happy, excited children? Just the same, that's how we spent our wedding night: getting kids out of their new clothes, putting on pajamas, brushing teeth, having family prayer, tucking them into bed, telling them bedtime stories, and then going back time and time again to settle them down, turn off their lights, and get them to fall asleep. It was late before Moe and I finally found ourselves in our own bedroom, on our own first night together, but it felt sweet to be beginning our new life surrounded by our children, in our own home, at the beginning of our happily ever after.