My husband and I had planned nine wedding events over four days in Provincetown as part of our destination weekend, which were systematically canceled or drastically altered as Hurricane Lee loomed closer, scheduled to land precisely on our wedding day. We lost our venue two days before our out-of-town guests arrived and were touring backwoods churches and theaters (who were amid performances but could forgo their back lobbies). Miraculously, with some wheeling and dealing, we rescheduled our ceremony for 9 a.m. on Friday and our reception for 5 p.m. on Sunday at our original venue.
During the ceremony, my mother (who was my “best man“) fainted, suffered a seizure, and was taken away in an ambulance midway through my vows. At that time, she was the primary caregiver for my father, who was battling stage 7 dementia, and she had physically and mentally run herself into the ground. We naively hoped he could attend the wedding with substantial, around-the-clock family support, but the inclement weather made travel too daunting for them. Sadly, he passed away three weeks later, but we were able to share photos and memories of the day with him.
My mother was so weakened that she remained in the hospital an hour away for the duration of our wedding weekend (we visited her on what was supposed to be our wedding day). Delaying our reception meant only 60 of the original 150 guests could attend. We paid for the wedding of our dreams, but all I’m left with is this nightmare of a weekend. I would do a million things differently, but we know what they say about hindsight...
At the end of the day, I know that what's important is that my husband and I got married, but I hate that thinking of my wedding brings up so much pain and sadness. I don’t know what I hope to get by sharing this, but it feels good to tell the truth about our wedding rather than tell folks how great it was (because who wants to hear that you hated it?). Thanks for reading, and if nothing else, hopefully, you feel a little better about any of your wedding day blips!
