Vowel renewal for our 25th Anniversary

by Sherri
(Hamilton, OHio, USA)

For our first wedding, money was very tight. I personally made all the flowers arrangements, food, wedding cake and all shower and wedding favors for guests. My fiance at the time was in Iraq for Desert Storm. The wedding was scheduled for New Years Eve 1990 and his reservist group was sent overseas in Christmas Day 1990. I had to cancel and postpone the wedding. They were sent home 3 weeks before our July wedding. The men were all Military so they wore their uniforms and my girls all wore dresses I found at the J.C. Penney's Outlet for $2.00 each. I told them to wear any white shoe they wanted. That is pretty much how our wedding went.

Our 25th Anniversary is coming up and we would like to renew our vowels. In the past 4 years, my sister's husband died, my father died and my brother was found dead 6 months ago. When we returned home from my fathers funeral, there had been a water line burst inside our house and we lost 4 out of 8 rooms and all of it's contents. I also lost my Wedding gown that was boxed. I actually cried for days. We didn't think any luck was going to change.

We want to have a "Big" wedding because we need some happiness in the family. My only living brother asked me if he could walk me down the aisle because he would be honored to be a part of our Anniversary Celebration. He wasn't at our wedding and has never married.

I was thinking of having approximately 40 family and close friends at a national park near my mothers house. Have a nice dinner and an anniversary cake. My children want to be in the ceremony and I would have it no other way. We will stand in a gazebo to say our vowels that we will write ourselves.

Is this too much? Should we cut it down and just say our vowels in front of the children and then take them to a restaurant to eat.