Love Under the Moon: 500 Miles

As soon as Mr. Coyote kissed me I could hear the beat of our recessional song starting to play. Our ceremony had ended and it actually felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. (Although it's difficult to tell from our photos I was a nervous wreck during our ceremony. The entire 20 minutes I alternated between nervous giggling, sobbing and staring at my hands.) All of my fears dissipated as we walked back up the aisle together.

The stress, the planning, the tears… It was finally over. We had done it. We were married! I looked at Mr. Coyote and laughed. Truly, truly laughed for the first time that day. This wasn't the nervous laughter meant to keep tears away. No, this was what pure joy felt like.

My jubilant feelings just reinforced our recessional song choice. I danced, laughed and sang my way up the aisle to "500 Miles" and as we finished the most important walk in our lives all I could think about were the hundreds of miles Mr. Coyote and I had already walked together and the thousands more to come.

We turned the corner and our venue coordinator, Dom, was immediately there to greet us. He directed us upstairs and I burst through the doors with excitement.

As we walked to our private room he asked us how we felt. I think I squeaked out an "amazing" or something similar. What I really felt was exhilarated. Like I had just stepped off of the tallest, fastest roller coaster in the world. My heart was in my throat and I could not stop laughing.

Can you believe what we just did?!

Our wedding party and parents soon joined us and there were hugs and congratulatory toasts all around. I kept staring at Mr. Coyote wondering when the reality of what we had just done would kick in. Meanwhile, Maid of Honor A and Best Man M signed our marriage certificate.

For a brief moment I actually believed that everyone was done crying for the day. (Turns out I was wrong. Way wrong.) In fact, I would like to take a moment to embarrass Poppa Coyote and share the following story with you.

Just as we were getting geared up for family portraits my father pulled Mr. Coyote and I aside and told us that he wanted to give us something. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two pennies. A week earlier we took a trip over to our florist for our final meeting before the wedding. We were walking into the shop when my father stopped in the parking lot and bent over. He took a few steps and then did it again. At first we thought he had dropped something and joked with them to hurry up. But my father had found not one, but two pennies lying on the ground, heads-up. He scooped them both up and proclaimed that they were the luckiest pennies ever. My mother and I just rolled our eyes at him, but he kept carrying on about his stupid lucky pennies and how he wasn't going to share any of his fated luck with us.

Back at Franklin Plaza, Poppa Coyote held the lucky pennies up to Mr. Coyote and I and told us that he wanted us to have them in hopes that they would always bring us luck and happiness.

Well, at least I think that's what he wanted to say. He didn't get very far before he started crying (again). Which in turn made me cry (again) and made my mother throw her hands up in exasperation because we were once again two blubbering fools.

*All photos are by the fabulous Upstate Photographers unless otherwise noted.*

Miss a recap?

• I babble about being married and share our wedding video.
• We finish up some last-minute wedding tasks and pre-wedding jitters set in the day before the wedding.
• We practice getting married and then head to our rehearsal dinner where I shed my first tears of the weekend. We later wind down with our families back at the hotel.
• My bridesmaids get pretty and I get a special message from Mr. Coyote.
• I try to cope when things don’t go quite as planned, but thankfully I quickly bounce back and then it was time to become a bride. Meanwhile, Mr. Coyote was calm as a cucumber as he got ready with the dads and groomsmen.
• I finish getting ready and see an unexpected guest on my way to our first look.
• It was finally time to cross the street and meet my groom!
• We spend some time with our wedding party and then some time alone. Ceremony time was rapidly approaching.
• Our ceremony begins with the family and bridesmaid processional and continues with the bridal processional.
• I share the full text of our ceremony.