Love was in the air.

My parents slowly strolled down the aisle, a flurry of sweet smelling cherry blossoms sprinkling the grass, like a carpet at their feet. It was occasionally blown around, shifting its pattern to appease the wind, scattering a new wave of perfume in every direction. The cherry trees above swayed gently, shedding sweet-smelling pink tears from their limbs. The breeze overhead was only one of the many spectators in the crowd, laughing with joy like a carefree child, watching my parents proceed down the satin carpet. Only a few puffs of white cotton candy were scattered in the baby blue sky.

An angel descended straight from heaven, my mom sashayed down the aisle. As she met my dad’s eyes, her lips curved up into a smile, the dimples deepening around her mouth. She was wearing a laced red wedding gown sewn from gossamer silk that wrapped around her legs like a rose. A veil masked her face, but her eyes still shined behind it. The center of her eye was like a tiny pebble, a warm reflecting brown, spreading out to waves of sea blues and greens under an overcast sky, golden honey dripping from a spoon. My mom’s wedding train trailed behind her, a billowing sheet of silk. The pearl beaded fabric slid smoothly across the floor, reflecting light from the sun’s gentle rays.

My dad was at her side, clasping her hand as if nothing else in the world mattered. He was beaming, with softness in his eyes and gentleness in his smile. His irises were the color of milk chocolate edged with a slight forest green, swirling together like moss creeping over rich brown soil. Flecks of pale bronze in his eyes were like chocolate melted in a warm fire. He occasionally leaned over to give my mom’s shoulder a light squeeze. There was much cheering and whistling among the guests, along with shouts of “Bravo!”. 

The couple slowly made their way to the altar, where my grandma was sobbing into a handkerchief. She watched as the bird at last left the nest and flew away to start a new family. Even my grandpa quickly blinked away a few stray tears, smiling slightly as his daughter got married to such an amazing man.

Mom was grinning as she stood facing Dad across the altar. It was like the stars themselves had decided to rest in her smile, peeking out from the soft cushions of my mom’s lips. It was her smile that had first captured my dad’s attention. Three years ago, neither knew who the other was. They were both graduate school students but with different departments when they joined a tiger team researching the country’s oil problems one thousand miles west of the college. My dad had overheard that my mom was an excellent student, so he assumed that she was a rather nerdy type of person.

However, when they met, he was shocked to see a beautiful, fun-loving young woman! My mom, noticing he was quite handsome, struck up a conversation, and they soon became good friends. They travelled throughout the country while working on that research together. At the famous Crescent Moon Lake, which featured crystal clear water, curving slightly in the shape of a new moon among hundreds miles of the Gobi Desert, magic happened. Beside the slightest touch of turquoise water, gurgling over smooth stones, my dad knelt, and asked my mom to marry him. She immediately replied yes, the answer her heart had known all along. Now, as she watched my dad, tall and confident, she didn’t regret a single moment of her decision.

The pastor stood beside them, his rotund face gleaming in the afternoon sun. A smile flickered around his lips, accompanied by an amused glint in his eye. “On this beautiful day, I gather you all here to witness the joining of two love, Gigi and Josh,” the pastor beamed. “Do you, Josh, take this woman to be your lawful wife, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish, until death do you part?"

“I do,” my dad replied, his fingers readjusting his tuxedo, fingering the white lily in his shirt pocket.

“Do you, Gigi, take this man to be your lawful husband, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish, until death do you part?"

“I do,” my mom replied, her petite lips curving up to reveal pearly teeth.

“Then I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the pastor concluded, smiling knowingly. “You may kiss the---”

Before he could finish, my dad lifted off my mom’s veil. They locked lips and the crowd went wild.

Above the newly married couple, firecrackers boomed, all in a cascade of colors, all different sizes and shapes, some shooting straight up before exploding, others whirling in a spiral. A red firework above shatters into thousands of sparks, while another tumbles apart like a scarlet waterfall. A third floats gently down to Earth in a glittering silver shower.

My parents were wed under a wooden arch, polished and shining in the sunlight, a combination of variations of blooms in shades of magenta, quiet orange, and pale yellow, like a sunset that had fallen down to earth and landed on the arch. The vines curled around the base of the structure, the moss green leaves swaying slightly in the breeze.

The day that had been awaited for so long finally came. It came to my parents in a swirl of love and cakes and rings. Two hearts had wanted and hoped for the other, but all that wishing became a reality when they got married. At last the love between my mom and dad could be sealed with a circle of gold, embedded with a pure crystal diamond, eternally shimmering and glittering, unbreakable.

The memory of that day had since then forever been in my parents’ heads, indelible, forged with love. They love to talk about their wedding even now, twenty five years later. Although my mom and dad’s looks may have been altered a bit since then, the memory of that day is still enough to bring a smile to their lips. That wedding was the start of a very long road that both of them had to travel together. There may have been some bumps and ditches in the road for each of them, but in their hearts my parents both knew that there was never going to be a fork.