Wedding Day!

{James' point of view}

At last came the big day, the day that I had been looking forward to more than any other day in my entire life. All the wedding preparations had been made, we had packed everything successfully, and we had spent the night before at one of Valerie's friends' home in Roy to save us the travel time on the morning of the wedding. Overall, everything was going smooth up to this point, but I could not believe that my wedding day had actually arrived! The surreal feeling continued throughout the day, to be honest.

On our way up to the temple itself, we had a little bit of an adventure trying to figure out the interstate entrance to go north, but we arrived without incident, although Valerie's mother was starting to worry whether or not we'd show up at all! We presented our recommends to the temple workers at the front desk, and because we were getting sealed, we each had a worker assigned to escort us through the process. After we separated into our different changing rooms and I had changed, I waited outside the changing room because her wedding dress had about 20 feet of lacing to do up. I was feeling this distinctly odd mixture of anticipation and nervousness.

When she finally came out of the changing room, I was almost literally floored with how beautiful she was. I had seen her dress a few days before (although she told me for months I couldn't see it until the wedding, and tormented me with that constantly), but there was just something about seeing her dressed in white, her face absolutely radiant, that struck me in a very powerful way. I realized she had dressed up like this just for me, and the fact that I was about to marry this beautiful woman finally seemed real to me.

We went down to the celestial room to await our sealing, and while we were sitting together, we could barely say so much as a single word. I felt so overcome with love for Valerie, with the emotion being augmented by the love I saw shining out of her eyes for me.  This was not the first time I felt we could've stayed in the celestial room forever, hand in hand, but it was certainly the strongest time I had ever felt such a thing. It was almost with regret that I left that room with the love of my life, but that was quickly replaced with feelings of awe as we entered the sealing room. Seeing so many of our closest friends and family sitting there, waiting to share this special day with us, was a moment of incredible happiness, made all the stronger by the fact that I was sharing it with my Valerie.

The sealer gave us some advice on remembering the covenants we had both made, in and out of the temple. After he was done with that, he called us up to the altar, and pronounced the sealing on us. During the sealing, I remember thinking how very surreal this all felt, that there was no way I was actually getting sealed to the beautiful woman kneeling across from me. He finished the sealing, said Valerie and I could kiss across the altar, and so we did.

We were married. I was actually married to Valerie Mechling Holley! It is impossible to describe my feelings at that moment, but I assure you all, they were the most joyous I have ever felt.

We got up from the altar, and started receiving congratulations, beginning with our parents. It struck me again that all of these people had come for us, to support us in this beautiful day. After we had finished with that, we went to the changing rooms, and I changed into my white tuxedo. I'd be lying if I didn't say I felt pretty darn slick. Anyways, we both finished changing, went to one of the side exits, and exited the temple to applause from those waiting without.

Thus began the pictures. Now, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the pictures, and I'll be eternally grateful for them, but it was very, very cold outside that day. It couldn't have been more than 10 degrees, I swear. As good looking as my tux was, it certainly wasn't made for warmth, I can assure you. That went on for about an hour, and by the end of that, I thought my hands were going to fall off. Finally, we had finished, and we were able to go change, pack everything up, and head back home. That 1-1/2 hour drive was an incredibly special experience.

We got to the Bangkok Grill, where we holding our luncheon, precisely on time. That was rather pleasant, and I very much enjoyed a toast given by my best man, Damian Parente. We headed back to our home (ours!) for a couple of minutes, then on to the Sun River Gardens for our reception.

We took some more pictures, this time in a much warmer environment, and had an excellent reception. Tons of friends and family showed up, and overall it was a very enjoyable experience, despite the fact we didn't get to sit down for more than 5 minutes at a time.

The time came for us to leave on our honeymoon to SLC, so we changed, packed up again, and debarked together on our life as a married couple. I still can't believe I'm married to my Valerie, my love, my wife. But I know that, whatever may happen, we are now going to be together forever.