Member-only story
I got married barefoot.
No flowers or bridesmaids, no order of service. No expensive wedding dress and flustering fittings.
No make-up artist to turn me into someone unrecognisable.
No church or other building curtailing my spirit and boxing me in.
Just freedom and the sensation of earth under my feet, the wind caressing my shoulders, and the soothing sounds of lapping waves — nature’s lullaby.
Maybe if I had married when I was younger, I would have wanted a travelling circus and fireworks.
But by now, I’ve been to enough weddings to know the drama that comes with them. Perhaps most painful is the complexity of the entanglement of estrangements within my own immediate family. The thought of amalgamating all these people together gives me palpitations.
Sure, weddings can be a big celebration for friends and family — an opportunity to love and laugh together — but they can also be occasions of calm and peaceful serenity.
If I’m honest, I don’t know how people do it. I mean, planning my tincy tiny wedding was stressful enough.
