On this Wedding Wednesday our wedding loving hearts are beating pretty fast. We adore love stories, and when they are so lovely, romantic, and just so darn sweet, we get a little giddy.  The wedding ceremony is the most important part of the wedding day, and when lovely words are shared between the couple, it is just so heartfelt and special. We are talking about the moment where a bride and her groom share their love with each other and all their closest friends and family.  So today’s feature is all about love stories and all the happiness and joy that comes with them. All courtesy of Cara Wilson-Granat from Words from Cara. Cara is a very talented story teller, who tells stories about love!  She tells a lovely love story in such a fashion that it makes even the non-wedding lovers out there get a bit teary eyed. So, settle in, get comfy, and get ready to fall in love.

Here are a few excerpts of love stories…

• Christine and Larry 

The Second Time Around  lyrics, the entire song itself, could have been created just for Christine and Larry.

“Love is lovelier, the second time around

Just as wonderful, with both feet on the ground

It’s that second time you hear your love song sung

Makes you think perhaps that love, like youth, is wasted on the young…

Loves more comfortable the second time you fall

Like a friendly home the second time you call

Who can say what brought us to this miracle we’ve found

There are those who’d bet

Love comes but once—and yet

I’m oh so glad we met

The second time around…”

This is a love story that we’ve all found ourselves telling others about. Because what Christine and Larry have done in their renewal of marriage to each other is give us all hope that such love does and can exist…and miracles, indeed, do happen. For what Christine and Larry have discovered in their courage to do this the second time only better is that in marriage you have to learn how to give…and forgive. And to get and forget. And they are willing to do just that in this newer understanding of love and life.

The first time it happened was around thirty-six years ago…she said it was his smile and voice that got her (and still does!); he said it was her legs and beautiful face. She was on the drill team at Elk Grove High and he was at the football game when he first set eyes on her. When they finally met in person years later the attraction was strong. They were married in the Chapel of Love in Tahoe—by Reverend Love…

• Trish and Ryan

They would both probably find it cheesy, but that famous expression, “You had me at hello…” That was Trish and Ryan. Their story is like a movie. Banker meets PR executive and time stops. She was to promote a grand re-opening of a community that his company funded. He wasn’t going to attend the thing but decided at the last minute, oh well, why not? He got there early and was told that someone from the ad agency wanted to talk to him. She was told that she needed to tell some banker about all the great PR work happening so they could get a second infusion of cash. She was expecting someone old. He just wanted to eat, get through the event, and get the hell outta Dodge. Someone pointed and said that she was the one he was to talk to, only catching a glimpse of some high-heeled lady obscured by a lamp talking to others. And in the midst of the growing crowd, she turned and they saw each other.

She was gorgeous. She smiled thinking, “That banker guy is quite cute.” Hmmmmm….. They quickly began to talk and cutting to the chase discovered in seconds they shared a passion for travel. Quick sound bites of conversation ensued, each being pulled away to talk to others and when they turned back, lost each other. He thought she had left and she couldn’t find him. He was gone. She didn’t know if she’d ever hear from him again, not realizing the determination of one Ryan L.!!!! The next day when she opened her email there he was! Did she want to meet him for coffee? From that moment on Ryan and Trish have been inseparable. Five months from that “had me at hello” they were on a plane together heading for Dubai, Ethiopia and Turkey. And so the journey continues….

• Ted and Lyndsey

Oh how Ted wanted to get out of L.A! In the throes of a divorce, the only highlight of what he deemed to be a miserable life was one of the coolest guys he’d ever met who worked with him in the mortgage company where Ted was a part time employee. The man, Thomas, was warm, funny, and just an all-around cool person to know—a bright light during an especially dark period for Ted. Thomas was his name and he had invited Ted to golf with him. “What? Me, golf?” Ted never even considered the sport, but Thomas was so engaging that Ted agreed to meet him the next day to try it out. But it never happened. Thomas died suddenly of a heart attack. Ted was so devastated he wrote about this man who he had grown to care for so deeply.

Not too much later, one of the women in the mortgage company told Ted that her best friend’s daughter was going for her dental hygienist boards and needed a patient; someone who especially needed a good teeth-cleaning.  Really? Could this be weirder? Oh whatever…Ted  reluctantly agreed to meet this woman, and, at least get a free teeth-cleaning session. The woman—a beautiful one at that—was Lyndsey. Oh wow. Thankfully, Ted’s teeth needed lots of scraping away, so he agreed to be her teeth-cleaning guinea pig for her Boards in Denver.

On the two-hour drive, both of them talked non-stop. A divorced mother with a little girl, Katelin, Lyndsey had just ended a three-year relationship. Ted was also ending his marriage. The two commiserated on the similarities of their situations, and he learned about the beautiful little girl, Katelin, who was such a force in this lovely woman’s life. The conversation was easy, comfortable. But the moment of Kismet was when Ted told Lyndsey about this wonderful man he’d written of, Thomas, in the mortgage company who died so suddenly and left such a huge hole in Ted’s heart.  Lyndsey stared at him in disbelief. “My father’s name was Tom and he use to work in a mortgage company. And he died…” The two felt a shock wave when they both realized—Oh My God! That very same man was Lyndsey’s father.  Ted nearly shouted, “I wrote about your dad!” It was like a veil had been lifted in an instant and their union leaped forward ten years.

Call it Divine Intervention or Fate or whatever you want to call it, both Ted and Lyndsey feel to this day that Thomas orchestrated their magical pairing. By the time Lyndsey was ready to take the Boards with Ted, all her trepidation about the test was gone. She was calm and peaceful. And, of course, she passed everything with flying colors and Ted had a smile that not only glistened—it never disappeared…

About Words from Cara…

Cara Wilson-Granat has turned her lifelong love for Romance and Storytelling into a flourishing business for Brides and Grooms. A published author and inspirational speaker, Cara understands the beauty and power of words to both inspire and move people. Now, with her guidance and wordsmithing, she creates something completely unique for weddings—both for the wedding couple and for their guests as well.  Welcome to the Love Story!

This is the couples’ own special story of how they feel about each other, how they met, how they’ve been changed because of their love for each other and many, many other perspectives that Cara discusses with each person separately in an in depth interview. The couple can’t hear each other’s words and promise not to reveal anything to each other after their individual, private talk with Cara done in person or over the phone.

The beauty of it all is that unless the couple requests to have their Love Story designed into their Save-The -Date or a framed poster to be displayed at their wedding or to be included into the Wedding Program or more, most of the time they never see or hear their Love Story until the actual wedding ceremony itself when it is read out loud either by Cara or someone at the wedding. The surprise result is lots of laughter and tears and sheer delight.

Cara also helps her couples write their personal Vows, and she’s also an Officiate. She has written Love Stories for couples re-marrying each other for the second time around; for those who just want to marry each other privately with no other guests included; for those involving children and others to be included in the ceremony; and many, many more.