A wedding to never forget

My wife and I basically got married in a hurricane. It was an October wedding and she was deadset on getting married outside. We had booked Brunswick Town along the North Carolina coast. My wife was a double major -- history and anthropology -- in college and has always loved North Carolina history. Brunswick Town still has the brick walls (but no roof) of an old 16th or 17th Century church that had been heavily damaged in a fire. It’s both beautiful and historic. In fact, she told me that it was the only place she wanted, so therefore we had to have the outside wedding. And then pray for no rain.

To this day, I still get grief that we didn’t bury the bourbon. I hadn’t ever heard of this before, but my wife claims it is a tradition that keeps the rain away. Apparently, the wedding party buries a bottle of bourbon upside down at the wedding site one month before the big day. Then on the wedding day, they dig it up and enjoy. I didn’t think it was a good idea to dig and bury alcohol at a state park, and she didn’t push me on it, so it didn’t happen.

The day before the wedding, it was a beautiful October day at the coast. The day after the wedding, it was a beautiful October day at the coast. You see where I’m going with this. While the National Weather Service may not say any sort of tropical system moved through North Carolina that day, it sure felt like it. It was an absolute downpour that day. I mean at least an inch of water on the grass, not the mention the sidewalks. But, my wife was still determined to get married in that church, outside, come hell or quickly rising water. So we did it. And it was great. I’ll never forget her smile and how everyone laughed as we tried to do our vows. I led her out of the church with an umbrella. Thank God we had an amazing photographer.

Luckily the rain cleared up, so we ended up having an amazing reception. It was at a different venue, but we had planned on most of that to be outside as well. My wife’s dress, though, was a mess. After being in the rain, and then dancing, it was just soiled throughout, especially at the bottom. And with all the craziness of heading off the Mexico for the honeymoon, we never had a chance to clean and preserve it. I wonder if taking it in now would be worth it at all -- how much a professional could really clean up. Or if it’s just too far gone.

It’s a day we’ll never forget. A crazy day, but a fun day. And the dress, if it can’t ever be cleaned, serves as a permanent reminder of what happened that day. My tip to anyone getting married outside? Bury the damn bourbon.