Just in case you didn’t already see it over at Weddingbee, you get to see it now.
———————————————————————
Growing up, I didn’t dream about my wedding day. I didn’t play bride with pillow case veils or any of that. It wasn’t until I went through old photos for this post that I realized that my youth prepared me for my wedding day duties. Despite my lack of wedding day dreams, I have been preparing for it all my life.
Back in the day, I was a pretty intense kid. I spent my mornings practicing for the Olympic medal I was certain I would one day win. My parents told me I started skating at too late an age to win one, I told them they were wrong. I was stubborn as all heck. When they told me our family couldn’t afford the fancy figure skating outfits I needed for competition, I learned how to bead my own dresses and went to town. I glued crystals. I hand sewed sequins. I even designed many of my competition dresses.
After school, I spent my time practicing for Tall Falls aka Color Guard aka Winter Guard. See that ugly unitard on the left? Before this iteration of the outfit, there was a single sleeve that was black and yellow stripes. Everyone made fun of us and said we looked like bumble bees. Looks like it was always in the cards for me to become a bee huh?
A quick search of YouTube brought up this video! It’s the field show we performed my senior year in high school. Oh the memories. I really loved performing. All these performances growing up really helped to prepare my nerves for my future as an educator and a bride. There’s no reason to fear being in perfect make-up and a beautiful, expensive gown when you’ve worn little itty bitty figure skating outfits and bumble bee unitards in front of hundreds of people. Don’t even get me started on the number of times I’ve fallen in these get ups in front of people. Thank goodness digital videos are much harder to come by than scanning photos!
In preparation for my senior prom, I decided that I didn’t want my wedding day to be the only time I would wear white. While all my peers searched for red dresses so they could be THAT lady in the song "Lady in Red" by Chris de Burgh. I wanted to be different.
With all this training, I was able to bead hair pieces, make veils,wear white, and be stared at without a problem. I’ve compiled this next collage as evidence of my preparation for white.
From left to right:
- Birthday dress at age 1
- Tea Ceremony Gift bearer at age 8
- Figure skating competition at age 13
- Winter Guard performance outfit at age 16
- Senior Prom at age 17
- Wedding dress at age 28
Has anyone else been preparing for their wedding day in ways they never knew about?
