On the eve of my sixth wedding anniversary and I’m starting to get a little nostalgic. I can flip through our over-priced wedding album and remember every thought and feeling I was going through. Like, “when is this damn photographer going to be done?” and “Why did he bring an assistant who graduated from photography school 3 weeks ago?”. As you can tell, I wasn’t thrilled with our photographer. The pictures are nice, but not nice enough to cost more than my dress, the cake, the flowers, the wedding party gifts and the rehearsal dinner. Any - I digress.

In all seriousness, when I look at my wedding pictures I remember the overwhelming excitement for not only the ceremony and reception, but for the years to come. I’m happier today with my husband than I was 6 years ago. We’ve grown together, been through up and downs and know that we have so much more ahead of us.

I recently read a story about an Ohio couple that got their wedding photos back after 27 years. When Mark and Karen Cline were married 27 years ago they were only 19 and 18, respectively. They couldn’t afford to buy their $150.00 photographs, so the only evidence of the wedding was one lone picture taken by someone in attendance of Karen walking down the aisle. Recently the photographer, Jim Wagner, now 80, was cleaning out a closet and found the photos. He remembered they couldn’t afford the pictures back in 1980. Jim tracked down the Clines through a family member he ran into recently and wanted to return the pictures. Obviously, it was very emotional for Karen to finally get to see and share the pictures and yes, she did pay Cline.

Of everything from my wedding, with the exception of the fantastic husband I got that day, my pictures are the most dear to me. I’ll never wear that dress again or hold the flowers, but I’ll always be able to look at our smiling faces held fast in time and remember the hope and love of that day.