Friends of ours eloped. When they came back to town they had a big shin-dig here in town to celebrate with all of us too poor to run off to Maui with them. The invite said "I'm wearing my wedding dress again and so should you. Please wear your old wedding or bridesmaid dresses." The party was on the beach and was a scream. Great pictures. Several brides jumped in the ocean. How often do you get to say you wore that dress again?

I never planned on getting married either. I didn't date in high school, though I suffered from my fair share of crushes, but I really never thought about "the big day". (I planned my funeral, however--one cannot be assured of much in life, but one can be assured of the fact that death will be there waiting at the end of it! Yes, I was a little odd...) I always assumed I would be singel and live on the beach with a horse and my faithful dog, writing great epic fantasy novels that would rival Tolkien's trilogy!! Yeah, well, then reality hit and I had to get a REAL job. When I met DH, we worked together at a group home for SED kids and started talking on the phone a lot. When my roommate suddenly moved out on me, I asked my future DH to move in, much to my family's consternation. We had a foster home together but when we decided to take a job as group home parents we hit a snag. The owners of the group home facility wanted us to be legally wed. Sooooo--we packed up the foster kids, my grandma, his mom, and his best friend and we went to Reno. Got married at Bally's--yes, I wore white, but it was just a nice dress that I found at the mall in some little shop. Non-religous cermony--he quoted The Prophet a lot and some scripture--the foster boys stood up for DH and his friend stood up for me (yes, she was a girl!). And that was about it! We have been married now for 18 years, have two lovely daughters, and we both work for the same company, though this time we drive transit buses. I loved the way we got married--I could NOT have done the whole church and fluffy dress with 500 people in attendance thing! Watched all the craziness that my two sisters went through--no thank you!!

I met my husband in 1996 when he was stationed in Germany with the US Army. I - a Canadian - was training horses in Austria. We met in Italy when we were both on vacation there... both vacations were last minute, spontaneous and the best things that ever happened to us. I fell in love immediately with his personality, his strenght, his sense of humour and my-oh-my he was your typical HOT ARMY GUY.

We dated long distance between Germany and Austria for a couple of months. I didn't get a lot of days off and neither did he. The only two times we managed to schedule a 'date'... some US Base was attacked or some Colonel changed his schedule. It sucked. I spent almost my entire paycheck on phone calls.

But I had to go home to Canada and he was eventually transferred back to the US. We lost touch.

I tried to forget about him, he was 'the stick' the one that every man had to measure up to. In 2001 I got married. A child followed. A divorce followed.

In 2003 I decided that I needed to know where he was. So I called up the army and tracked him down. We talked and emailed for a year before I called him out. It was now July 2004. He'd promised to come visit me, was he scared?

He stated that nothing was stopping me from coming down there for a weekend. That was pretty true, my mother would watch my son if I asked her. So I casually asked for some suggestions of possible weekends.

He gave me three or four...

I sent him back my flight confirmation for the 2004 September long weekend.

We were married in September 2005 after a full year of dating, maxing out my vacation days and spending hours on the phone and web cam (hey, clean thoughts here please!). He has moved up here to Canada and eventually we will move down to the US.

We eloped. Told no one but my best friend who stood up for us with her husband. We were married by a Marriage Commissioner in her living room. You can see the photos here:

http://www.heather-cook.com/Cook_Wedding.htm

He has been 'the one' since I was 18 years old. It might have taken 10 years to snag him, but he's so very worth it.

I met my husband in 1996 when he was stationed in Germany with the US Army. I - a Canadian - was training horses in Austria. We met in Italy when we were both on vacation there... both vacations were last minute, spontaneous and the best things that ever happened to us. I fell in love immediately with his personality, his strenght, his sense of humour and my-oh-my he was your typical HOT ARMY GUY.

We dated long distance between Germany and Austria for a couple of months. I didn't get a lot of days off and neither did he. The only two times we managed to schedule a 'date'... some US Base was attacked or some Colonel changed his schedule. It sucked. I spent almost my entire paycheck on phone calls.

But I had to go home to Canada and he was eventually transferred back to the US. We lost touch.

I tried to forget about him, he was 'the stick' the one that every man had to measure up to. In 2001 I got married. A child followed. A divorce followed.

In 2003 I decided that I needed to know where he was. So I called up the army and tracked him down. We talked and emailed for a year before I called him out. It was now July 2004. He'd promised to come visit me, was he scared?

He stated that nothing was stopping me from coming down there for a weekend. That was pretty true, my mother would watch my son if I asked her. So I casually asked for some suggestions of possible weekends.

He gave me three or four...

I sent him back my flight confirmation for the 2004 September long weekend.

We were married in September 2005 after a full year of dating, maxing out my vacation days and spending hours on the phone and web cam (hey, clean thoughts here please!). He has moved up here to Canada and eventually we will move down to the US.

We eloped. Told no one but my best friend who stood up for us with her husband. We were married by a Marriage Commissioner in her living room. You can see the photos here:

http://www.heather-cook.com/Cook_Wedding.htm

He has been 'the one' since I was 18 years old. It might have taken 10 years to snag him, but he's so very worth it.

No fluffy big white dress here, either. And no, I didn't really intend to get married, but we were both in the Army and if we wanted to be together, we needed that piece of paper.

The logistics were kind of tricky--he was in White Sands, NM, I was in Colorado Springs, CO. I was going to Germany for the month of September, he was getting commissioned & moving to San Antonio in October, then moving to Germany in January. We found a 3-day weekend when we were both available, I made the appointment at the justice of the peace's office, and made it legal. A bottle of wine from my unit and a weekend in a horribly tacky motel (holiday weekend--it was all we could find) completed the celebration.

We didn't end up living together in our own place for nearly 6 months afterward, and had been married a year before I got an actual wedding ring (I won a drawing at the PX & used my winnings to buy his), and the dress... well, let's just say I thought it was pretty at the time, and pretend it actually was.

Still wouldn't change a thing.

SO and I got married outdoors in Canada in February with just our parents present. It was quiet, lovely, and most of all, cheap. I didn't wear a white dress or anything, just pulled something out of the closet to wear. It had been -30 that whole week, but warmed up to -5 for our wedding. Seemed like a good omen ... And last week, I gave birth to our first baby, so we must be doing something right!

Aw, thank you for sharing your great stories with me, gals. (I'm relieved to know that I wasn't the only one who couldn't face the big white dress, millions of people in attendance shindig, either, LOL).

Michelle, back from the abyss known as the 'flu

Well, I was with the love of my life for almost 12 years before we finally got married just 2 months ago. The only reason we got married is because we are adopting a baby this year and that was a requirement. So off to the courthouse we went, both in lovely shades of lavender, and finally made it official! But I am the woman who planned her wedding several times before the age of 6, always wanted a huge to do, but when the time came, I realized it was more important to have the pefect man, than the perfect wedding. Lucky for me, I got both!

Next time, I'm eloping. That's all I'm saying.

=)

Teenager #1 would like to say she's pretty glad Mum and Oh Patient One decided to get married (even if it landed both Teenager #1 and #2 with awkward surnames!) and that there are no embarassing 80's wedding dresses in the family albums :-P

Cee Cee - I hear you on eloping! We nearly did, but Oh Patient One was the first among his siblings to get married and my dear M-I-L would never have forgiven us if we hadn't had at least "a bit of a do."

Cameo - I'm so happy it all went well for you :-) And good luck with the adoption!

Teenager #1, you forgot about the embarassing Dallas-style shoulder pads in my suit, LOL! (Shh, don't tell anyone.)