Sharleen Joynt & Andy Levine - Bachelor 18 - Discussion

Wedding Recap, Part III: Surprises


I was touched at how many guests made a point of telling us that it was one of the most beautiful weddings they'd been to, or my favorite, that they loved our vows. (I know I'm biased but I happen to think our vows were fantastic.) People remembered specifics about the day—the vows, the sunset during the ceremony, how great the dance music was, the Chilean sea bass, the speeches, the cake. The feedback was not at all generic and felt really honest, thus the positivity was really nice to hear after having put in so much time, money, and energy. I suppose I underestimated how much of an impression your wedding could have on others... this was a really nice, unexpected post-wedding feel-good factor.

Easily one of the coolest things about having a wedding was having so many of the people you love and who have meant something to you over the years all together in one place. Yes, the "celebrating you" part is certainly nice, but it was just really cool to have childhood friends, high school friends, friends I'd met waiting tables in college, friends I'd sung operas with, friends I'd been on The Bachelor with, all in one room together, all at the same time. There's something fantastical and almost surreal about it. There was one particular friend I'd met while taking German classes in Berlin in 2009, who I remained friends with over the years (she lives in London), whose wedding I went to in Evian, France a few years ago. She came with her husband (all the way from London!! They win all the prizes) and it was just the neatest thing to see photos of her hanging out with a high school friend of mine. Like, when else would that ever happen??

I have to say, bringing together all the people from the different stages of your lives (thus far) was easily one of the most special things about our day. I of course knew everyone would be coming together, but I was definitely surprised by how gosh darn cool it was.