A picture worth a thousand words!

by Hildy
(Oxford, MS)

My mother in law, is, well, as mother in laws go, sometimes hard to get along with. She had insisted for weeks that she would not attend Josh and my wedding if I wore white because it was my second wedding, and her tradition a bride only marries in meringue, burgundy or rose.

Jonas, of course, was caught in the middle, but I would not relent. I loved him and wanted my wedding to him to be traditional! We were torn. Of course we wanted Harriet there because she had lost her own husband just a year before, but at what price? Our freedom? When, we asked ourselves, would we regret giving in to one of many more demands? I prayed for some kind of resolution. I knew I did not want to be married in a colour called "meringue"

It was bittersweet, the telephone call from the hospital. With one week to go before the big day, Francis had been crossing the road, carelessly (as usual), and been struck by a passing motorcyclist, suffering two fractured limbs. This could not have happened at a worse time. Or could it?

Phone calls were frantically made, and because Harriet was agreeable that we couldn't possibly change the day on such short notice, despite her being in surgery, we went to work. I wanted to make her happy without having to wear meringue. (as most of the ladies reading this will understand)

So, the day before the big wedding, instead of a rehearsal dinner, we had a photo shoot! The local bridal shop had a meringue gown, which they agreed to rent to me ($50!!!!), and on to the park we went. We all hammed it up for the cameras, as if it were the big day.

And then the next day, I got to wear my beautiful ivory set, which is the one shown here. Harriet sadly passed away from complications a few months later, but as far as she knew, from the photos we have *HER*, we had been married in her tradition, in lovely "meringue". Bless her heart.