Chapter Fourteen: Tempted

Planning a wedding is typically a highly stressful event that results in the proverbial Bridezilla. This did not occur for us. We thought that planning a wedding in a different state when we knew absolutely no one that lived there would be difficult, but God Himself intervened and helped us to a plan a wedding that was within our budget and was everything we ever dreamed of.

(sunset on the beach, were a little obsessed with these, march 2007)

It is my goal to be as honest and real as possible, especially with the people that are reading this. The months leading up to our wedding were difficult. We struggled a lot with temptation. Temptation to surrender our wedding plans and just elope. Temptation to take our relationship to a place that we had already vowed not to. I told Omar at the beginning of our relationship that if we had sex before we got married, regardless of who initiated it, we would not get married. I wanted to have a marriage with a solid foundation, one that was was holy in the sight of God and wasn’t based on feelings. Feelings can divide easily, because people are unstable and selfish. I decided years before that I was not going to have sex with my husband before we got married. So, we struggled.

We struggled with the distance between our houses and the fact that it was easier to spend the night than to drive home at two in the morning. But, we were so afraid to cheat ourselves and our marriage by giving into things that we had already decided not to do. Once you know you’ve found THE ONE, it makes it exceedingly difficult to win the battle in your mind. In spite of several wedding planning weekend trips to San Diego, and many nights of accidentally falling asleep in each others arms, our wedding day was quickly approaching and we hadnt given in.
There are certain components of love that are unmatched by any other “emotion” and we learned that the hard way. The many nights of praying that we could make it until our wedding night, and the satisfaction of knowing that part of our marriage was going to be experienced the way it was designed to were sure to be well worth the wait.

(taking a beach break from wedding planning, june 2007)

Anyway, we made many trips to San Diego between January and July. So many, that we would go to Sea World just for lunch. So many, that we didn’t need directions anymore. So many that…you get the point. It is difficult to plan a “destination wedding” but it works out pretty well. Even on a small budget, you can invite everyone you know so that nobody feels left out, and the people that you are closest with generally will do anything to be there, but the ones that you aren’t, don’t make the effort. We knew exactly what we wanted: a beach front wedding during sunset, on the beach, July 29th.

Everything fell perfectly into place. We found the perfect beach house:
(the very unimpressive front of our wedding venue)

(part of the ugly house's beautiful and perfect backyard)

The days were ticking away and we were looking forward to so many things. Our countdown began to the day that we would say I DO. And to say that we were stoked is an understatement.




to be continued....