The best day of my life?

I'll admit, I have little patience for pretense or fuss, and I don't think that my wedding day should be "the best day of my life." What a sad thought to spend decades in marriage looking back at the day it all began.

On the other hand, I do want it to matter. I want to feel the awesomeness of the moment as I pledge my life, my future, my love to one single person until I die. In that moment, I want to feel the losses as well as the gains. I want to be aware that I am choosing to never have another first kiss, to sleep with only one man, to be loyal and faithful to one person. I want to knowingly and willingly give up everything I could have for everything I do have. And then, I want to feel the joy of gaining someone else's loyalty until he dies. I want to want to laugh and run and skip with happiness (happiness I've only ever felt with this man). I want to giggle because life's just so good. And I want to feel the beginning of a new family, of a new life together, of being acknowledged and accepted and ready to move forward as a couple. Not too young, not too fake. Honest.

I thought last night, in the flurry of panicked thoughts, that I want to pledge:

I will be honest, I will be loyal, I will be yours, I will be faithful, I will support you, I will lean on you, I will believe in you, I will believe in us, I will be your proud wife. I will share my people, my life, my love, my pain, my brain, and my heart. I will look forward with you -- not back -- and I will choose you every day of my life. Together with our god, I ask for help to do and be the best that I can, for you, for us, for our new family.

I suppose that's a very difficult simple idea. How much simpler can it get? But then, how do you turn that into a wedding?

Here's how: it's a party to celebrate all that you are and who you'll become, together. You acknowledge your past, celebrate today, and rejoice that the future will bring even more. You ask that your friends and family offer wishes and prayers for the success and joy of your family, and you honor them for helping you get this far.