The Beginning at The End of The Rainbow

After checking the weather forecast all week and watching the forecast change daily, ranging from a chance of rain ranging anywhere between 30% to 70%, then isolated storms, and then mostly cloudy, I gave up trying to plan and just hoped for the best.

Saturday morning dawned clear, with just a few wispy clouds. I started my day at 6 am and tried to run off my nervous energy. As I returned home I could see some clouds building in the distance but the sky was mostly clear. I held out hope for a good day.

As my bridesmaids began to arrive for hair and makeup, I watched the sky go from clear, to partly cloudy, to gray, and then to black. At noon, it started pouring rain, complete with thunder and lightening. It even knocked the power out briefly, but service was restored after I looked skyward and yelled “Come on!? Can’t I have something go right?!?” Perhaps I was a little tense.

We loaded up the dresses and flowers onto the bus, ducking the drizzle and trying not to ruin our hair. As we got closer, the clouds began to thin out and the sun began to shine. As the sky brightened, so did my mood. Perhaps that was the end of it, and we’d get lucky the rest of the day.

For the next two and a half hours, we had sunshine and blue sky for all our pre-ceremony pictures. However, as I was making my final preparations before my walk down the aisle, I could see a nice big black thunderhead bearing down on us. Maybe it would hold off for about 30 minutes so we could get the ceremony in before it got ugly.

As my dad and I took our places in the processional line, I could see that it wasn’t raining yet, and that the sky still seemed clear. Once we opened the door and started down the aisle, we were greeted with a huge clap of thunder and it began to sprinkle. The sky still seemed mostly clear, so maybe we could give these nice people a wedding, then get inside before they got soaked.

No. Such. Luck. Those of us in the wedding party were up on the rocks under the canopy of trees and were spared most of the deluge. My wedding guests – not so much. A lot of them ran for cover inside, but those who stayed out were soaked.

Our wedding coordinator snagged a big golf umbrella from a guest, and the best man became our valet. I kept looking at Craig and laughing, just because it kept me from crying.

As we took the roses to our mothers, huddled under their umbrellas, I was able to see the remaining wedding guests in all their drowned-rat glory. I felt horrible but what could I do? The one detail that was out of my control was literally out of control.

As we took our places once again in front of the pastor, I looked over Craig’s shoulder to see how the groomsmen were fairing. My brother caught my eye and made an arcing motion with his hands. I shot him a look of “huh?” and he mouthed “rainbow” and pointed behind me.

I turned to look and sure enough –there was a glorious bright rainbow…wait, there were two. Two rainbows stood out clear and gorgeous against the steel gray sky.

The rain let up just in time for us to be introduced as Mr. and Mrs. to the 14 remaining water-logged guests, and make our way back inside. As we passed, people told me that rain on your wedding day was good luck. We should be blessed, then, with the amount of rain we got.

Ironically, our first dance was “I Can See Clearly Now, The Rain Is Gone.” We had chosen that song months prior, as it was the song we danced to the night we were engaged. It wound up being spot-on.

The rest of the evening went off without a hitch. Of course.

I think the two rainbows were Jessica and Kelli’s way of saying hi. I also think the rain was their idea, too, just to make me remember that into each life, some rain must fall. It makes you appreciate the sunshine that much more.