My mother in law and one sister in law were there, they were the only family allowed in the temple, everyone else had to be outside. My husband's bishop and his wife were there, and that was it. The temple made us wait about half an hour after the sealing was supposed to start because they were waiting for 'everyone else' to show up - but that was it. Then the sealer went on for sometime with advice on how adopting was the same as having a child naturally. So, I figured that god was trying to tell us that I was going to be infertile and I was VERY worried for sometime until we had our first child.
I got humiliated by being called on wearing my apron the wrong way round. Yeah, really important to God apparently that the fancy dress is correctly worn. I went a couple of shades redder when I was asked to leave the room and readjust. After that, it was a pretty uninspiring disappointing experience.
And I was really not impressed with the multiple reflections in the mirrors that the sealer represented eternity, because it reminded me of the very same thing I had seen bunches of times in the bathroom mirrors on my medicine cabinet.
We arrived at the temple separately and DH was late. His parents had been fighting at their hotel that morning and put everyone in a bad mood. After he got there, we did paperwork, we forgot one paper that we were supposed to bring with, so we had to wait about 30 min while my sister brought it to the temple. Then we split up to go get dressed. My mom meticulously dressed me in my boring temple dress and all the robes. I remember her and the temple worker getting all teary eyed, telling me how beautiful I looked. I looked at myself in the full length mirror and thought "I look like an idiot"
Then they brought DH and I to a room off the sealing room. One of the temple ladies said something like "well, we usually give you time together before your sealing, but YOU forgot to bring your paperwork, so you don't get any time together, now hurry into the sealing room, everyone is waiting for you"
In the sealing room, the sealer introduced himself, then started giving a "talk" about the differences between the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods. Nothing about marriage, or us as a couple. I'll at least credit the old guy with pronouncing our last name right (its a tricky one). He asked my FIL how to say it while they were waiting for us.
The wedding part went by so fast. We were told we would have a chance to exchange rings and I thought it would be something nice where we could say a few words, kiss, etc. All we got to do was give each other the rings and then the sealer said "okay, all done!"
After hugging everyone and thanking them for coming, we were separated again. My mom and a temple worker helped me get dressed in my actual wedding dress, but got really impatient again when I wanted to try to fix my hair and makeup (stupid veil messed it up). It seems like the main message to me that day was "you can't make anyone wait or inconvenience them!!!" um, hello?!?! its my f-ing wedding day!
Oh, I got to help my SIL with her sealing a few weeks ago (we were still secret apostates, just held out until after her wedding). Since I was the only female relative with a recommend, I was her escort and helper for the day. Remembering my wedding day and how everyone was trying to rush me, I stopped her husband on the way out of the sealing room and said "Its going to take a while to get SIL dressed and I don't want to rush her, so your job is to go tell everyone not to expect us anytime soon, and then go wait patiently in the lobby for your beautiful bride" He liked that :)
It was awesome to just relax a couple minutes with her alone in the brides room, fix up her hair and makeup and helping her look exactly how she wanted. I had to push the impatient temple worker out the door a few times though...
seems it only took about ten minutes or so so kneeling there. It wasn't much to make an impression but somebody please refresh my memory...didn't we take hands across the alter in the Patriarchal Grip?
Very early on a Saturday morning...Salt Lake temple...Most of DW's family present...No one from my family present...that's as far as I can go...so wrong,so wrong. We've been married 27 years...the marriage has been better than the wedding. I guess that's the way it should be.
No family. No friends. Just me & my husband. Very scared and nervous. Don't remember one word or what was said.
We had photos on the lawn at Ca. Temple with few smiles.
Great reception with all my non-member family and friends. I just wish my parents could have been apart of the ceremony. We did try to get permission with a resounding 'NO' by our branch president.
When I think back I realize we were completely brainwashed into thinking exclusion is normal.
1977. I hadn't a clue as to what to expect, as nobody said a word concerning what would transpire. Sacred, ya know? I was so "weirded out" that I thought maybe I was not spiritual enough to understand the profound sacredness of it all. It was so disturbing that I didn't go back for a year. And only because I thought maybe I'd "get it" this time. I never went back to the temple after that. It just wasn't the "spiritual" experience I was led to expect it to be. I remember just "spacing out" and really trying to "feel the spirit". I never felt it until I quit going to that Masonic temple. I truly believe one can become "possessed" in there. My spouse became abusive and was like a stranger to me after that. There was no indication of this prior to marriage. Our "eternal marriage" was literally HELL! Needless to say it was NOT eternal.
Our ceremony was officiated by a family friend so it was pretty good. My bride was upset, mascara running everywhere, because she had to leave her parents and family outside (non-members).
When it was time for me to pull my wife through the veil, I gave her one of the handshakes and said "What is that?" The old lady helping her on her side told her the wrong thing to say. I turned to the old man standing next to me and said "Now what?" He said, "Do it again". Once again the wrong response. The old man said "Do it again". After the fourth time, before he could tell me to do it again, I grasped the old man by his tie and the front of his shirt, pulled him close to me, and whispered "Why don't you get your ass over to the other side of this veil and tell her what the f**k she is doing wrong". Visibly shaken, the old man scampered to the other side of the veil, pulled the old lady aside, and set her straight. After that, everything went fine.
If I would have been more "in tune" I would have seen the problems at the veil as a sign, a BIG red flag. I should have ejected right then because eight months later my bride told me that she had made a mistake getting married, that she was too young, I had robbed her of her college experience, and that she should have married a returned missionary. Once again I should have ejected but I was young, dumb, and thought my marriage was eternal. Instead, we just grew apart. After 19 years I could take no more...then I ejected. Better late than never. Life is TOO SHORT to live in misery. Should have done it YEARS before.
The fact that none of my family, nor any of my husband's family, was able to be there that day stunk. We had to marry in a different state than we lived in (no temple in our state), and it was a full day's drive. So it didn't make sense for our family to go -- just to stay outside.
But other than that, our wedding was really nice. We did have friends from our ward who drove 10 hours non stop in order to be at our wedding. They took us out to eat after the wedding. And they helped us to know what to expect before we entered the temple for the first time.
So -- other than the fact that our families were excluded from one of the most important days in our lives -- our wedding was really nice.
I'm no longer married, I don't really remember what the actual wedding was like. The only thing I remember was us sitting in the celestial room. My husband and I were both sick and were hacking up our lungs... we couldn't wait to get out of there!