Seven years.

Seven years, five months, and 27 days.

That's how long we dated before we finally tied the knot. But today's the day. I finally get to marry my best friend.

Rachel thought as she rose and looked out the window of the bed and breakfast. Snow swirled through the air in tiny flurries that made chills roll down her back. Across the little winding, Pennsylvania backroad stood her happy place. A tiny family-owned amusement park called Knoebel's.

She had dreamt of having her wedding there ever since she had first visited. Though not everything had gone according to plan.

Her dress, a knee-length, one-shoulder, lace cocktail dress was more suited for a summer wedding. She had had to make last minute changes to her outfit just to be able to ensure that she didn't shiver to death as she said her vows.

They had originally planned to get married in her parents' spacious three-acre backyard a few weeks after she graduated from college. Stephen wanted a grand, country wedding. After three years in the Navy, of being stuck on an aircraft carrier with a bunch of jerks who would tease the heck out of him for still being with his high school sweetheart, Rachel wanted to give Stephen the wedding of his dreams. But when her parents had suggested what Rachel was really dreaming of, well...

Stephen couldn't say no.

Rachel was pulled from her thoughts as the smells of chocolate chip pancakes and bacon wafted up the stairs. Her stomach rumbled in protest. After all the festivities from the night before, preparing the food for the picnic reception they had planned and dying her hair from its more natural auburn to a light strawberry blonde, which had made her look like she put honey mustard in her hair until her bridesmaids had rinsed it out, she hadn't eaten in a good twelve hours.

Rachel rushed downstairs to the large dining room where grandparents, siblings, friends, and other acquaintances already sat, digging into their lovely meal. The chatter warmed her heart.

Eager to get the day underway, she scarfed down her food. Not a hint of nerves in her system. She was ready to say her vows and get her new life started. Rachel ran back upstairs to get into her formal attire, glancing fondly out the window again.

The snow had lightened up significantly as the sun rose higher in the sky. Thank God it was too warm for it to stick to the ground, though she could already hear the grandparents' complaints.

A light smile curled the corners of her lips. She looked up for a moment, thinking about those that couldn't be at the ceremony, but knew that they would still be proud of her and the man she had chosen to spend the rest of her life with.

With them in mind, she unzipped the garment bag and removed the trash bag covered cloth inside. Her reception outfit had quite a bit of glitter on it and she did not want a speck of the dreaded herpes of art to touch her carefully chosen attire.

She carelessly slipped out of her pajamas and meticulously dawned the white lace as a knock tapped on the door.

"Rachel, you decent?" Her mother asked.

"Yeah, I'm covered." The door swung open. "Can you help me with the zipper?"

Her mother hurried over and yanked the zipper up with a hard tug. She took a step back and examined her daughter from head to toe. A tear welled up at the corner of her eye. "There you go. Oh, Rachel, you love absolutely beautiful."

"Thanks. I just hope Stephen likes it." Rachel said as she slid her red and blue flannel over top of the lace. It wasn't the warmest piece of clothing that she owned but it would go nicely with Stephen's outfit of choice.

"Speaking of Stephen, he and the boys went over to the park to help set everything up. You are safe to come downstairs whenever you're ready. We still have about an hour before the ceremony begins and Michael wants to get some photos of you while the park is still empty."

Rachel nodded. "We should probably head over then. The bride shouldn't be late to her own wedding just because she was busy taking photos."

"A bride is never late to her own wedding. Everyone else is simply early." Her mother commented with a straight face. They both burst into laughter a moment later.

Due to their desire to get married out-of-state, Stephen and Rachel had already had a small ceremony roughly two months earlier. They had technically been married since the beginning of August. Stephen had been late to that one because he got distracted getting doughnuts at their local grocery store. Rachel still hadn't let him live it down or the fact that he had smashed wedding cake into her eye later that day.

Two weddings. Two cakes. Two very different ways to say I love you.

The ceremony and the after-party were going to be very different indeed.

oOo

"Hey Michael. We only have about thirty minutes, so we're going to have to make this quick." Rachel said as she walked up to him.

Michael was fantastic photographer, a member of ACE, American Coaster Enthusiasts, and was a good friend of Rachel's parents. He was more than happy to lend his services in exchange for a day at the park.

He held up his camera. Together, they walked through the empty park, stopping occasionally to take a photo or chat about the different rides and where they came from.

One of the most unique aspects of Knoebel's is that all of the rides are recycled from other parks. For example, The Flying Turns, a wooden, trackless, bobsled coaster that is situated in the middle of the park, started its life at Euclid Park in Ohio, which, coincidently, is where Stephen's grandparents had their first date.

"It really is a small world after all." Michael commented as he looked at his watch. "Oh, goodness. We need to get back. It's almost time."

They hurried down the paved main road and made it back to the pavilion just in time. Everyone was seated and waiting for them.

Rachel stopped for a moment to take it all in. Fifty people max in one picnic pavilion. No aisle to walk down. No pomp and circumstance. Just friends, family, her childhood pastor, and the man of her dreams at the place that she felt most at home in.

Nothing could have been more perfect.

Her dad, dressed in his Sunday finest, held his arm out for her. He smiled brightly, his goofy grin putting her at ease. She took it, beaming back with tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.

A hush fell over the pavilion.

"Who give this woman to be married?" Pastor Jeff asked.

"Her mother and I." Her dad said proudly. He gave her a little nudge then took his seat in the front row of picnic tables.

She stepped forward to stand face to face with Stephen. Her blue-green eyes met his cow-like brown. A gentle smile curled the corners of his lips. 

You ready?

Rachel nodded and passed her bouquet of fake tiger lilies and mums off to her bridesmaid. She grabbed Stephen's hand as Pastor Jeff started to speak again.

"When Stephen and Rachel came to me and asked me if I would be willing to be their officiant, I thought what an amazing couple. But when they told me that they wanted to get married at an amusement park, I thought oh good Lord what have I gotten myself into. I am not personally a fan of roller coasters and the shear thought of having to do a wedding on one scared the bejesus out of me. Thank God, they decided to have it in this picnic shelter instead."

He pulled out his Bible and read a passage from Timothy, but Rachel was too wrapped up in Stephen's brown eyes and goofy half-smile to hear it. He gave her hand two light squeezes to bring her back to the moment.

"Now I believe that Rachel and Stephen have created their own vows for each other." The pastor said, looking at them both expectantly. They looked at him then each other then back at him, a silent exchange of did you floating in the distance between. They both shrugged.

"Wing it?" Rachel asked.

"Or traditional?" Stephen suggested. She shrugged again. "Traditional, it is."

"Rachel, you first." The pastor said as he turned to her.

"Ugh, if I have to." She meant it as a joke, but the confused glances that she got told her that it didn't fall the way she wanted it to.

"Alrighty. Rachel, do you take Stephen as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, till death do you part? If so, say I do."

She looked him up and down, knowing that this was her last chance to back out, and knowing that she would rather die being trampled by a rampaging rabid moose than spend another day without him.

"I do."

The pastor turned to Stephen and repeated the question.

His brown eyes glistened. "I do."

"It is my pleasure to present to you, Mr. Stephen Pate and Mrs. Rachel Leach. Stephen, you may now kiss your bride."

And he did. He kissed her over and over and over again for the rest of their lives.