Romantic One Shots & Imagines

One Shot #3: Vow Renewal

                  Finding a hand-written letter and invitation in my mail today was a surprise. I usually flip mindlessly through whatever's in my mail box. Today? Today I got "formally invited" to my great aunt's and uncle's wedding. Well, they're already married, but they have chosen to renew their vows. Right after I read everything twice, I called my aunt Maren to give her my congratulations. As a kid, I would always ask her to tell me the story of how they fell in love and how he proposed. The story never got dull; in fact, it fueled my desire for love. As I got older, however, my desired dwindled but I still admire their love story.

                  Usually people wait to throw a huge celebration at their golden/50th anniversary. I asked her why she wanted to do it for their 47th instead and she simply told me: "At my age, I can't be waitin' around for anything, honey. We want to do this now, so we will while we can." I smiled at her wisdom. It did make sense after that. Why delay something so glorious when you can have it now. Who knows what life has in store for you later. She then told me that if they made it to their 50th, then they'll just throw an even bigger celebration.

                                                                           A couple weeks later

                   Tomorrow evening is the wedding! I'm excited. Last week, my friend, Janet, and I went out shopping to find the perfect dress. I have some already but they were bleak and plain. I wanted something new and fresh but I think Janet had other plans. She kept tossing short and tight dresses my way. I had to constantly remind her that I was going to be inside a church in front of my mom and the rest of my family. She just brushed that off and insisted that I could find a boyfriend there. I highly doubted that. Most of the people invited were family members, so thats incest, and the rest were friends and colleagues that are up there in age.

                    After roaming around the mall for two hours, I finally found what I was looking for. It was a vintage style dress that flowed to knees. It reminded me of the Roaring 20s with all of its beads and its slightly loose fit. I showed it to my mom and she said the corally color contrasted nicely with my skin. I loved it so much that I put it on multiple times at home just because. Luckily, I didn't stain it.

                                                                                  Day of

                    The whole ceremony was perfect. Aunt Marren came down the aisle from outside. My little cousins were the flower girls and they were so cute. It was so nice to see the bridesmaids too. When you think of bridesmaids, they're usually in their late 20s, early 30s (given that's the common marrying age.) Instead, all of Aunt Marren's daughters and nieces (including my mom) came down preceding her. They all had long and flowing gowns, adorned with a floral pattern.

                    The party was moved into the basement of the church, which was usually used as a banquet hall. The party was full of speeches followed by line dancing. After the first few, I had to take a break and take my heels off. Halfway to the bar stand, I heard the MC announce that it was time for the bride to come up and throw her bouquet to the crowd of single women. Given that most of the attendees were happily married middle aged folk, I was one of the very few up at the middle of the dance floor. It was just me, two of my second cousins, and this one 40-something year old lady from my uncle's job. I got into my volleyball stance, ready for the flowers to come straight into my hands.