A dream wedding that I didn't dream of

11^th May 2015

So, it’s been a month since I’ve been married. I still haven’t come to terms that I’m married. The very thought of it baffles me. I’ve been looking at the wedding pictures everyday in the last month, and have had so many thoughts about it, but never managed to gather my thoughts in black and white.

It was a dream wedding that I didn’t dream of. I didn’t plan it. But God took care of all the planning. In fact, he had planned this wedding before any of us even realised anything. The recollection of how the date was fixed, how my husband came to Malaysia, how the wedding event was, the invitation, the guests who came, the people who stepped up to help, etc. leaves me at a loss for words.

We did not choose the wedding date. The 11^th of April 2015 was reserved for our wedding years before we even knew each other.  When we finally knew that the wedding would be on the 11^th of April, we had exactly one month to prepare for it. Almost everyone said it was impossible to have a wedding in one month’s time when we hadn’t a clue about anything. Some of my friends said they had 1 year to plan for their wedding and even that wasn’t enough time.

From the 12^th of March till the 11^th of April, not only did we arrange for the wedding, we fixed the house, sorted out everything for the wedding, sorted out immigration work, managed things for the grooms family, did pre wedding photoshoot and managed everything that came up in the last minute. When we started planning on what to do, we were only hoping for the simplest of everything due to the lack of time. But what we ended up with was the best of everything.

Instead of a hall with simple decorations and congested buffet dinner, we got a 5 star award-winning hotel with excellent service and 8 course Chinese sit in dinner, the best of its kind. The staffs were so accommodating and quick to organize things according to our personal preference. Instead of a leaflet type of wedding invitations, which would normally take 7 days to be printed, we got grand extra large sized wedding invitations that were ready in 2 days!

As for church decorations, all I asked for was a simple arch and basic ribbons on chairs, but we got a full set of decorations complete with backdrops, entrance decorations, flower poises, red carpets, ribbons and what not. There were 4 groups of people working on different things, but it all matched so well. The pre wedding photoshoot at the bridal shop was something that I didn’t want at all. But now that’s easily one of the best things I liked about the wedding. We found so much favour from even the bridal shop about the photoshoot and the wedding gown and their services. My bridal bouquet was ordered on the morning of the wedding due to unforeseen circumstances, and even that turned out perfect. All my brides maids, flower girls and pageboys looked so cute and were at their best behaviour!

All the guests who came for the wedding and the reception were so kind and supportive. Some were making time through their busy schedule to help with distributing invitations, some were organizing decorations, some were at home helping with even organizing food and washing dishes, transportation, some stayed awake till 2.30am the night before the wedding to do my manicure for me.

There was a debate as to which country the wedding and reception should happen, whether in Malaysia, Glasgow, Germany or even in India. And then it finally boiled down to Glasgow vs Malaysia, and it looked like Glasgow was winning. But God had other plans. He had already pre planned for it to be in Malaysia.

Above and beyond all these things, I was truly overwhelmed by the support and cooperation that came from every direction. Even people whom we least expected came in to help. I still remember everyone’s speeches and wishes. It was the sincerest amongst everything. I least expected any of those, but I’m so glad we got to experience so much love from everyone. After the wedding, we got to know that we weren’t the only ones who were so surprised by the amount of cooperation, the locals themselves were taken aback by such acts of kindness.

All this has been possible purely by God’s grace, and of course with the help of family and friends both near and far. It was purely a miracle and beyond our expectations. I am truly amazed. When we were planning for the wedding and reception, we wanted to honour God, but what happened was just the opposite of it. God had honoured us more than we honoured Him.

This is surely a wedding to be remembered. A wedding where God’s presence overcame the lack of anything and everything, where the rain was a shower of blessings although many people couldn’t come due to the weather.

From now onwards, 11^th of April is not just to celebrate the anniversary of Laxman and my union, but to celebrate God’s fulfilled promises and faithfulness in our lives.