I Asked My Grandmother to Walk Down the Aisle at My Wedding — My Family Demands That I Apologize for It
Just days before her wedding, Leah discovers that her grandmother didn’t have a wedding. Unable to sleep due to her grandmother having missed her opportunity, Leah wants her grandparents to have their moment and walk down the aisle. Instead of it playing out as Leah plans, she has to deal with a grandmother in a wedding dress, an embarrassed grandfather, and livid family members. Did she ruin her own wedding just to give her grandmother a memory?
“Tell me about your wedding, Gran,” I asked, rocking back and forth on the porch swing. The night was quiet, and we were a week away from my wedding.
A person sitting on a porch swing | Source: Midjourney
All I wanted to do was soak up the time I had left with my grandmother because once we were married, Nate and I would be moving away.
“Oh, honey, there wasn’t really a wedding. Your grandfather always promised, but it never happened,” she smiled, her eyes distant.
A smiling old woman | Source: Pexels
“Never?” I asked, frowning.
My grandmother shook her head.
“No. He didn’t even propose, Leah,” she said. “He always said that we’d get around to it eventually, but life just kept getting in the way. We raised our kids, took care of the house, and before I knew it, decades had passed.”
A woman washing dishes | Source: Unsplash
“But you are married, right?” I asked, trying to understand why my grandmother’s words felt like such a blow to me.
“Married, yes. Your grandfather took me down to the courthouse, and we signed away our single lives. He didn’t ask me; he just said that it was going to happen. And it did.”
The exterior of a court house | Source: Unsplash
My heart ached for her.
“But you wanted one, right? A wedding, I mean,” I pressed.
Her smile was wistful.
“I did, but I let go of that dream a long time ago. Now, come on, I’ll make you some hot chocolate before you leave.”
Two mugs of hot chocolate | Source: Midjourney
Later that night, when I went back home to my fiancé, I couldn’t sleep at all. My grandmother’s words replayed in my mind, and I felt a deep sadness for her unfulfilled dream.
By morning, I had an idea. It seemed perfect. To me, everything was good. Everything made sense.
A woman lying in bed | Source: Unsplash
“Nate, can I run something by you?” I asked my fiancé over breakfast.
He nodded, looking up at me and smiling.
“What if Grandma walked down the aisle at our wedding?” I asked.
Eggs and bacon in a frying pan | Source: Midjourney
“Leah, what on earth do you mean?” he asked, sipping his coffee.
I sat across from him, nibbling on some toast, and I told him everything that my grandmother told me the previous night.
A man holding a mug | Source: Unsplash
“So, you’re saying that you want your grandmother to walk down the aisle in a wedding dress?”
“Yes,” I said, getting more excited by the idea. “We could get her a simple dress and some flowers. And she could walk down the aisle. It would be like giving her a piece of the wedding she never had.”
Nate smiled at me, the smile reaching his eyes.
An old woman in a wedding dress | Source: Midjourney
“Leah, what on earth do you mean?” he asked, sipping his coffee.
I sat across from him, nibbling on some toast, and I told him everything that my grandmother told me the previous night.
A man holding a mug | Source: Unsplash
“So, you’re saying that you want your grandmother to walk down the aisle in a wedding dress?”
“Yes,” I said, getting more excited by the idea. “We could get her a simple dress and some flowers. And she could walk down the aisle. It would be like giving her a piece of the wedding she never had.”
Nate smiled at me, the smile reaching his eyes.
An old woman in a wedding dress | Source: Midjourney
A hanging garment bag | Source: Midjourney
She gasped quietly, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Oh, sweetheart, I couldn’t…”
“Yes, you can,” I said firmly, handing her a bouquet of flowers. “I know that you’re married to Grandpa already, but this is part of your dream. Let’s make it happen.”
A bouquet of flowers | Source: Unsplash
She hugged me tightly, nodding against my ear. I asked another one of my bridesmaids to take my grandmother to one of the other dressing rooms so that she could take in the moment for herself.
Next, I asked for my grandfather to come to my dressing room.
A bride in a dressing room | Source: Pexels
“Grandpa, we’re going to have Grandma walk down the aisle today. Like a bride, okay? You guys can have your moment. And it will be beautiful because we get to share the day.”
He snorted, immediately dismissive.
An upset old man | Source: Pexels
“Leah, that’s ridiculous,” he said. “At our age? It’s more a mockery than anything else.”
I was taken aback by his reaction.
“But it’s something that Gran has always wanted.”
Instead, he waved me off.
“I’m not interested, Leah. We are here for your wedding. That’s it.”
An old man holding a cane | Source: Pexels
Despite his refusal, the ceremony proceeded. I knew that I should have tried to convince him harder, but there wasn’t any time.
As the music started, my grandmother stepped onto the aisle, with me watching her from behind.
“It’s okay,” I told her before. “You just do it alone if you have to. Walk to Nate, and then you can take a seat at the front. And then it will be my turn to walk to my future husband.”
A groom | Source: Unsplash
There was confusion when Gran started walking down the aisle, especially because she wasn’t walking toward my grandfather, but to Nate instead.
As she walked, guests gasped, unable to comprehend what was going on.
My grandfather’s face turned red, and he stood up abruptly. He looked me straight in the eye as he stormed out of the venue.
An old man with his mouth open | Source: Pexels
I felt a pang of guilt but quickly refocused my attention on my grandmother, who had hugged Nate and was beaming with joy.
When she sat down, my entrance music began, and I walked down the aisle bursting with love for Nate. I hadn’t expected him to be okay with any of it, but the fact that he was just made everything more magical.
“Hey there,” he said as he took my hand when I reached the altar.
A couple at the altar | Source: Midjourney
The rest of the ceremony went off without any hiccups, and whenever I turned to look at my Gran, she had her little handkerchief in her hands ready to dab her eyes.
But then, everything changed after the ceremony.
It started with my nephew crashing into the table holding the champagne glasses, leaving glass everywhere.
Shattered glass | Source: Pexels
And then, instead of my family coming to me and throwing confetti on Nate and myself in celebration, they did the exact opposite.
My parents pulled me aside, my mother tugging harshly at my arm.
“What were you thinking, Leah?” she hissed. “You embarrassed your grandfather with that childish stunt. Why does it always have to be about you?”
An angry woman | Source: Pexels
“It wasn’t about me!” I protested. “It was about Grandma and her dream. She deserved this moment as much as I did. As much as you did when you got married, too.”
“And what about your grandfather?” my father chimed in, flagging down a waiter with canapes as he spoke. “You made a good old fool of him.”
But it didn’t stop there.
An angry man | Source: Pexels
My relatives kept coming up to me, agreeing with my parents. They didn’t even allow me to eat my first meal with Nate as his wife or have our first dance together.
It was all about them and how they thought that I had ruined my grandfather’s mood, and was it worth it?
“Of course, it’s worth it!” I told my mother’s sister when she slid into the chair next to me. “Anything for Gran!”
“It’s okay,” Nate said, as he pulled me into his arms, my tears threatening to escape.
A bridal couple standing together | Source: Pexels
“Did I ruin our wedding?” I asked him.
“You did no such thing,” he reassured me. “I’ll get the car, we can go to the hotel. We’ll take your grandmother, too. I’ve seen how everyone has been circling her.”
Later that night, I sat with my grandmother in her hotel room. Nate had booked her a room for the night.
A parked black car | Source: Pexels
“Spend time with her,” he said. “Let her know that you truly meant today as a way of healing her. She needs to know that. You can come to me later.”
“Did I do the right thing?” I asked, my voice trembling.
I knew that in my heart, I had done the right thing, but it was the way everyone else reacted.
My grandmother took my hand, her eyes full of gratitude.
Two woman sitting together | Source: Pexels
“You gave me a moment I never thought I’d have, Leah. Thank you, darling.”
Her words comforted me, but the rift with my family remained. They demanded that I apologize to my Grandpa, who doesn’t want to see me.
All I knew is that I cannot bring myself to regret giving Grandma her moment.
A smiling woman sitting on a bed | Source: Pexels
What do you think? Did I do the right thing?
Ways BFF Relationships Have Changed From The ’90s Versus Today
We all experienced that a person BFF escalating up in the ’90s
— that one particular particular person we’d have late-evening mobile phone phone calls with,
gossip with about how strict our parents had been, coordinate outfits with.
And when you think about best mates in the ’90s compared to nowadays, you notice that a whole lot has adjusted,
but the fundamentals remain the exact same: you however expend late evenings on the cellphone with your BFF
and you even now gossip with her. You also nevertheless coordinate outfits but then faux it was a total accident.
Actually, factors aren’t all that diverse just after all. We’re just older and drink way extra wine.
Best buddies are the siblings we by no means had. Or possibly we did have siblings
but we just did not like them incredibly considerably. Although your siblings stole your favourite
toys and ran all around exterior with your schooling bra on your head (*cough* happened to a friend…),
your very best friend was the a single you’d make prank calls with, and the shoulder
to cry on when you caught your crush holding fingers with some other chick on the playground.
We would not be the place we are with no our finest buddies
— both equally again in the ’90s, and to this day, even nevertheless times might have adjusted a minor.
1. The Fights We Get Into
In the ’90s: Your BFF thoroughly promised to take treatment of your digital
pet while you have been away on trip, and then she permit it die. You could not glance at her the exact same after that.
Right now: Older people really do not actually battle anymore. Alternatively,
we depart passive-aggressive comments on Fb and purposely really do not like every single other’s Instagram posts.
2. How We Make Up Afterward
In the ’90s: This was the pre-smartphone era so getting by a combat
with your BFF usually associated passing her a observe in class, full
with plenty of frown faces, dotting the i’s with hearts so she realized how
unhappy you had been with no her, and ending it with “LYLAS” — “love you like a sis,”
for everyone who forgot how we made use of to abbreviate stuff.
Now: The peace offering usually requires a $12 Starbucks espresso consume and a smiling selfie of you two collectively to put the previous at the rear of you.
3. Friday Night Entertainment
In the ’90s: We’d head to the mall and acquire faux nose rings from Claire’s, ideal prior to sneaking into an R-rated film. We were so terrible.
Now: Who goes out any longer? Not us. Give us anything on Netflix to binge watch and a bottle or 12 of wine, and we’re good to go. Can you say FriYAY?
4. Playing Wingwoman
In the ’90s: Right after deciding who the like of your lifetime was employing
the almighty cootie catcher, you’d phase a operate-in throughout science course, although your BFF kept other ladies away.
These days: Just about every BFF is aware the way to aid you obtain lasting appreciate: spending 14 hrs trying to find him on Fb with practically nothing but his center identify.
5. Squad Targets
In the ’90s: In essence, lifetime was all about acquiring a few a lot more women as cool as you so you could fake to be the Spice Women.
Now: Well, the superior information is you only need one far more person to do the One Ladies dance,
but you’re not significantly of a people particular person these times, so your BFF is additional than plenty of.
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