Fairy Tales CAN Come True

If you've been reading this blog for at least the last four months, you recognize this picture:

You know that my youngest brother James and I flew to Korea to witness the marriage between my brother Matt and his bride, Dawon.

This is going to be a story in two parts... past and present, for who knows what the future holds?

THE PAST

Once upon a time, there was a wonderful but sad young man. He'd been married and divorced and come home to mend his broken heart. He searched fruitlessly for a job and when none appeared on the horizon, he moved to Atlanta to try his luck there. Unfortunately, his luck didn't improve much and after his holiday gig stocking shelves at Toys-R-Us ended, he couldn't find another employment situation. Casting about for something, he somehow tumbled to the idea of teaching English in a foreign country. After applications, passports, tests, visas and shots, he found himself in Korea, teaching young children in a private school.

Happy to be gainfully employed and learning about another culture, he also found himself lonely. He joined a church where he found some friends. One of those friends mentioned to him that there was a young lady of their acquaintence who was training to be a translator. Would the young man be interested in talking with her so she could practice? Sure, he replied. It would be nice to speak with someone who spoke his language reasonably well.

He met the young woman and they talked. And talked. And talked. And somewhere along the line, they fell in love.

She bravely came to the US on her own to attend a translation school course and when it was over, she flew east to stay with the young man's family for a couple of weeks. His family looked at each other and raised their eyebrows... Who was this girl and what did she mean to our young man that she would come to stay with strangers like that? They had their suspicions then, but chose to say nothing but get to know her. And found that they loved her.

She went back to Korea. Time passed. And then....

There was much celebration on both sides of the world... She said YES!

Things began to move quickly then. They would be married in Korea - first at the American Embassy, then with a traditional ceremony for the family.

Weddings come with plenty of activities for the couple involved...

There's not much time to just sit and enjoy each other's company...

There are clothes to try on, which is serious business - even if it IS a monkey suit.

Oh, but how beautiful they were... the dresses and the pictures that were taken of them.

But the most beautiful thing of all was the faces of the two people involved. You could see that they truly enjoyed each other's company.

That they were comfortable with each other...

That it was LOVE. And so the marriage... with Korean family and friends. It wasn't long before the young man and the young woman settled into domestic bliss.

And that is the story of how my brother Matthew came to marry his love, Dawon.

THE PRESENT

We are scrambling... Matt and Dawon are coming to America (along with her mother and aunt) and they want to be married here, among Matt's family and friends. We have less than two months to pull it all together, but I feel confident that we can pull it off.

I am working on logistics. As of this week, I've accomplished much.

We have a church (and the parish hall for the reception afterwards).

This is St. Clements Chapel. My parents were the first couple married here after it moved to this location from Lloyd. We grew up with this chapel - both Matt and I served as acolytes in this tiny church. My first wedding was here. This building means something to us, and I lucked out in nailing it down for the first weekend after Matt and Dawon arrive.

I've started researching stuff like cakes and flowers.

I find many of the cakes out there these days a bit over the top. And I'm not fond of fondant which seems to have become the staple "frosting" on cakes these days. But something like one of these (without the top tier on the first one) would do just fine.

Flowers, I've discovered, are hideously expensive. One of our goals is to keep this as simple and inexpensive as possible. But with bouquets for the bride ranging from $150 to $200, it's time to get creative. When I married Darling Man, I bought a few bunches of flowers and made my own bouquet, boutineers and arrangements. And it was beautiful. I suspect I will be doing the same again this time.

Mom is checking out caterers. I'm sure this is a job she's going to relish, as I believe that part of the job there is sampling the wares.

So far, I had a date, a time, a church, a reception hall. But no priest. The man who performed those services for my parents (50 years ago) and for me and Darling Man (16 years ago) is in frail health. The rector of the church where we're having the ceremony will be out of town that weekend. I was dreading the prospect of trolling for priests when my father suggested Father Mike. Perfect!!! Matt doesn't know him, but he's been there for my family through serious illness and hospitalizations - and every weekend at my parents' church since he signed on there. He is as close to a family minister as we have now... the only problem was - would he be available and willing? I got a reply today - he said, "I'd love to."

So here we are. The necessities are taken care of. The rest will be taken care of in due time.

It occurs to me that this might be the only wedding I get to plan to this extent. I don't have any daughters. And unless ZBoy marries a woman with no mother or an estranged family, I will be a peripheral player in that future wedding. So this is it for me. And I'm giving it my best shot!