for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.  Twenty years ago on September 3, 1988 - DeWayne and I repeated these vows before God, our family and friends.  There is no way we understood the magnitude of these vows or how hard it would be to honor them - for LIFE!  The two best pieces of advice we received during our engagement was from my grandmother Edith and DeWayne’s father Herschel.  His dad told us that getting a great education, making a living, raising a child would be easy - the most difficult thing we would have to face in our life was being successful in our marriage.  He said the secret is working hard at it every day.  Never stop talking and never go to bed mad.  Even though that will mean a few sleepless nights.  And the most important thing - the husband should always have the last word - no matter what - and those words should always be "YES DEAR!"  Pretty good advice.  It worked for him for 57 years - until death he did part.  My grandmother Edith (Edie Grace’s namesake) advice was to hide several pair of clean underwear for DeWayne.  As long as he has clean underwear - everything else will be fine.  I can not tell you how many times I have opened a fresh pack of underwear and placed in his drawer.

We were married in a beautiful double ring ceremony at First Baptist Church in Statesboro.  It was my dream wedding and the next day we stepped onto an airplane (my first commercial plane ride) and DeWayne whisked me away for a honeymoon more fabulous than I could have ever dreamed.  We spent two weeks in Europe.  The first in London, the second in Paris.  What an unbelievable way to begin our life together.  I have included pictures here from the wedding and the trip.  The round bed was in our suite at the Royal Westminster in London.  We enjoyed staying in the royal suite for the week.  The bathroom was bigger than our house at the time.  It was the first hotel I had ever stayed in that had original artwork in the room. (and it was not nailed to the walls)  In Paris, we stayed at the Hotel Louvre Concorde across the street from the Royal Opera.  Of course, I had to do a little shopping at the famous Harrods department store.  One of our clients worked for Harrods as a personal shopper for the royal family.  We need to get him to write a blog entry about that experience.  We did get to see Princess Diana on the trip.  Of course, I was so star struck that I did not think to take a picture.

I was only 19, a college student and working full time in my photography business.  DeWayne was 22 and was starting his first business along with my dad.  We had the world before us.  What an exciting, challenging and blessed 20 years it has been.

Five years ago, we returned to Paris with Edie Grace.  It was so much fun traveling back there and sharing this beautiful city with her.  We will be officially celebrating our 20th in October as we take a Mediterranean cruise from Spain through Italy.