I certainly do. I want to share a compelling story about my daughter Lauren and her husband Gabe on their wedding day, August 17, 2019.
As the days led up to Lauren's wedding, we'd had no rain for six weeks. On the day of the ceremony, I woke up to a beautiful morning, and I immediately looked at the forecast. My heart plummeted when I read 50 percent chance of showers in the afternoon and evening. The ceremony would start just before sunset, at six in the evening.
But I felt a since of calmness, and I continued to trust that everything was going to be okay, as did my daughter.
This was the day Lauren has been waiting for since she was seven. Her dream was to be married on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean at our beach house. Over the years she had never wavered, not wanting any other venue. The beach was it! Our family has traditions we've built as beautiful memories of our times together at the beach.
Lauren's heart was full of joy, happiness and love. Both she and Gabe love the beach. So this was the perfect spot to have their sacred ceremony. In choosing this location, they also wanted to honor their ancestors and deceased loved ones. They felt being there by the ocean helped them feel those connections.
Over 200 guests traveled from 21 states to share this beautiful ceremony with my daughter and her fiancé. All day, you could feel the excitement and energy in the air. Up until noon there was no rain, but predictions were calling for showers from early afternoon until late in the evening.
Lauren, all the bridesmaids and myself were getting ready at our house. We were laughing and sharing stories when we noticed the rain starting. We looked at each other, and you could feel the energy in the room shifting. I said, "Okay everyone, we need to set the intention that there will be no rain during the ceremony!" Everyone agreed, and that was it! As I looked around, I felt this strong sense of energy among all of us. We shared calmness, joy and laughter, but most of all we held the thought of how glorious this day would be for Lauren and Gabe.
By mid-afternoon, we all knew that a decision had to be made by the wedding planner, Lindsey Boyce, to have everything ready. We needed to know whether the ceremony was going to take place on the beach or in the back-up tent, which was located on our property. When decision time came, it was pouring down rain, and I could see the look in Lindsey's eyes. She knew how important this was for Lauren, and she had to be sensitive to all our guests. She came up to me and said, “We're going to have it on the beach." She was making a bold, courageous decision, and she stuck to it. Lauren was ecstatic, confident that her dream wedding was about to happen.
Everyone was ready to go by 5:30. The guests arrived by trolleys at the site on the sand. At 5:45 I was waiting with the bridal party to go down. As we were about to step outside the house in the pouring rain, Lauren said she needed five minutes by herself. She was calm and focused as she went back to her bedroom. She sat on her bed and prayed, called out to her angels, ancestors and deceased loved ones. She said all she wanted was 20 minutes for the rain to stop.
When Lauren rejoined us, she had a gleam and a certainty about her. The power of her intention and faith was radiant. We all gathered up the umbrellas and hustled into the trolley. As we got aboard, Lindsey looked at her weather app — and it said no rain in the next 20 minutes! We took a deep sigh of relief and cheered. When we approached the site, the weather app said we had 27 minutes.
Everyone walked down the boardwalk fully dressed and barefoot. It was a sight to behold. The sky opened up long enough for Lauren and Gabe to have their ceremony on the beach. The guests were all there despite the weather conditions. As soon as the ceremony was over, everyone got up and cheered before they walked to the trolleys to be transported to the reception.
The rain came back in exactly 27 minutes! Lauren, Gabe and the photographer stayed on the beach to get some more footage. They took shots of Lauren and Gabe running down the beach together in the pouring rain. Then a beautiful rainbow appeared across the ocean. Later, guests were talking about all the dolphins, pelicans and sharks that showed up by the shore close to the ceremony.
The takeaway from this story is:
*Never underestimate the power of intention when it comes from your heart.
*Forget your ego. Let go of expectations and trust that everything is taken care of. Sometimes we may have difficulty seeing things that way. Find the precious moment between the lighting and thunder with the intent and focus of your will, and you can move and choreograph the energies of the universe. But, taking a step back, I witnessed a beautiful, magical wedding unfolding before my eyes. Most of all, I witnessed the power of prayer and intention with my daughter when she trusted her intuition and held on steadfastly to the vision of her dreams.
Photo Credit: Sarah Smith of Simply Sarah Photography