By Shannon Williams
This past weekend I traveled to College Station for the wedding of my niece. With all that is going on in this world, it was wonderful to spend several days just celebrating joy and happiness. My niece is a graduate of Texas A&M veterinary school, who has been working as a veterinarian on the East Coast for several years. She is a West Texas girl, in fact, I found out that her peers call her the “Texas Tornado”! Well she found a Cajun on the East Coast and they fell in love! He is currently an officer in the Marine Corp. Most of the past years for each of them has been spent on education and career, but the stars aligned and they found each other.

She has her own style and at age 30 had been in many weddings and knew what she wanted, and what she did not want. It was held at a friend’s home which was outside of College Station, and had a big outside area. They had a clearing about 150 yards from the main house where the ceremony took place. My Brother, her father, built an arch and small stage and at sunset it just took your breath away; so simple but it was beauty surrounding us all. My brother walked her down the “aisle” (a path) wearing my father’s tuxedo. That alone brought the first series of tears to my eyes. One of her step sisters is a professional cello player and the music was simple and elegant just like the bride. After a short ceremony, in which we were reminded that “being kind to each other always” is the key to a good marriage, we moved to the tent for cocktails, snacks and then good ole Texas BBQ. Her husband is from Baton Rouge and a graduate of LSU, and in the spirit of the outdoor Texas theme, his fraternity brothers all wore oversized cowboy hats. Marianne (the bride and my niece) loves jumpsuits, so her classmates from Vet school all worn jumpsuits! Let me tell you watching the dance floor with the “big hats” and “jumpsuits” was just too much fun!

My eldest sister and I were the host for the rehearsal dinner the night before. Since it was a destination wedding in that no one lived in College Station anymore, the rehearsal dinner was really the opening party of the weekend. My sister and I have not spent much time together as adults, she lives out state and was working and raising children as I was, so we have both really enjoyed spending more time together since we are both empty nesters. We made at least four trips to Sam’s and that is not counting the several I made here before I left! We just had too much fun getting it all ready, it just did not even feel like work to us. We thought about starting an Amazing Aunts party events business, but that would feel like work, so we will stick to family events, LOL.

For the photo booth, a concept new to me, but a fun one, the bride had her father bring down several pieces of our maternal grandmother’s furniture that he had stored. Again, the tears starting flowing as I watched so many enjoy the setting. I know it would have made my grandmother so happy, as she was very proud of some of the pieces. I cannot wait to see all the pictures from all the groups. The dancing went into the night and I don’t think anyone was spared being dragged on to the dance floor by somebody. My nephew grabbed his two old lady Aunts and had us laughing and crying at the same time, again more tears!

Weddings always bring many feelings to the surface, mostly about our own weddings or ones we had attended and of the marriages that did not make it. My husband is not a big wedding guy, and I wanted to “room” with my sister, so I was solo for the weekend; but my thoughts kept going back to my own marriage and just how lucky it is when you find a match and how damn hard it is to be married. I think the next wedding I will make sure my hubby goes so we can dance, as we have at other weddings and remember all the reasons we got married and be thankful for our mate. I want to remember the words spoken at the wedding of “being kind”, we all know that ones closest to us often don’t get the best of us, so I am going to work on the simple act of being kind to my mate.

It is truly the circle of life when you are at the baby shower and wedding for a person. There is not a whole lot about getting old that is fun, but seeing your niece from birth to this wedding sure was fun. I don’t dare ask when I get to go to a baby shower, but I hope its soon!

[Nov-16-2021]