Julia is counting the days before her marriage to Jason, for good reason. He’s in Iraq and will be back on South Carolina soil only seven days before they exchange wedding vows. The church will be filled with family and friends and five of Jason’s Marine brothers who will fly in just for the wedding.

It seems like the last couple of weeks most of the announcements I have received have been sent to me electronically. Blame it on the gas prices and busy schedules I guess. Don’t misunderstand, receiving engagement and wedding announcements electronically (traditions@heraldonline.com) is efficient for everyone, but the efficiency also takes away my chance to visit with brides-to-be and their mothers. I share this with you to explain why I haven’t been blogging the last couple of weeks.

Carolyn had given God her description of the kind of man He was supposed to send her. He especially needed to be tall. She signed up for match.com and was meeting some wonderful new friends there, but none were tall enough.

When Ritchie finally decided it was time to settle down and get married, he wasted no time. Monday, June 30, Ritchie asked Mary’s mother for her blessing. Once the blessing was given, Ritchie proposed to Mary and she said yes on Tuesday, July 1 with no hesitation. Wednesday Ritchie and Mary applied for their marriage license and went shopping for a wedding ring, her dress and flowers. They exchanged their wedding vows at a private ceremony Thursday, July 3 with their hands placed on a Bible that belonged to Mary’s late father.

until you have got new ones. — Dutch Proverb

When Herbert and Irma brought in the snapshot taken of them while they were on their honeymoon, you could easily see that Herbert was very proud to be sitting next to his beautiful new bride.

This week Herbert will prove that although some things are destined to change, some things can remain the same. He plans to takes his bride of sixty years back to that overlook in Tennessee, put on those same brown and white wing tip shoes and pose for the camera, holding the hand of the women he loves.

They had to keep the marriage a ‘secret’ for several months. Only the immediate family knew that Charles and Elaine were married on July 11, 1958, in Tigerville, S.C., because Elaine was a nursing student at the time and it was forbidden for the girls to be married. Charles lived with his parents and Elaine stayed in the dorm, coming home on the weekends to be with her husband. It’s a good thing that they were able to pull off the secret and she didn’t get kicked out of nursing school — otherwise our community would have been robbed of a gifted nurse and administrator.

It’s been a quiet week at the Traditions desk. I guess people took advantage of the 3-day holiday, and forgot about wedding planning.

But, because it was a slow week, when Rhyan stopped by with his recent wedding photo with his bride, Taundra, I was able to stop and chat with him. Rhyan started talking about their honeymoon trip and had me totally convinced that my summer vacation this year should be a cruise!

• Joe and Josephine have been married for 50 years. Not too unusual you think? Probably not, but Joe, the youngest in his family, has one brother and three sisters, still no big deal. Factor in that Joe’s brother and sister-in-law and sisters and brothers-in-law have all celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and I’m thinking the odds have increased!

Another neat bit of trivia, all four siblings and their spouses live in the area and celebrated Joe and Josephine's wonderful milestone with them last month.

Kara and Robert are getting married this weekend. And like all brides, Kara has had some stressful moments planning and preparing for her wedding day. She thought things were coming along nicely, the dress, wedding portrait and the newspaper announcement for The Herald were all taken care of and she could move on to other important details.

Daniel had been praying that God would send him a godly woman.

Obviously God can use any means He chooses to bring His children together, but Daniel wasn’t expecting to find the love of his life online.

He was instantly attracted to Amy when he saw her picture on Facebook. They started communicating electronically, became friends and eventually meeting in person and falling in love.

Amy’s mother, Suzanne, was alarmed when she first found out how Amy met Daniel. But once the family met “Mr. Right” all their fears vanished and they came to love him too.

• When she was 9 years-old Kendyl wrote in her diary, “I love Brad and I hope someday he’ll love me…” Brad was 13 years-old and wasn’t paying a bit of attention to her.

Growing up together in the same church, their families were friends, but for several years Brad just didn’t notice the little girl with a huge crush on him.

Unknown to Brad, she even kept a picture of him by her bed.

When he turned 18, Brad started to look at Kendyl from a different perspective. He asked her out on a date and before long they fell in love.

• When I started typesetting Brooke and Christopher’s wedding announcement I thought Brooke had gotten mixed up on the form and put her groomsmen on the lines reserved for her bridesmaids. Good thing I asked. Brooke explained that during college she had several ‘guy friends’ that she hung out with. They were like brothers to her. She called them her “Boone Boys.” The Boone Boys have stayed close to her over the years and immediately accepted the fella Brooke choose to be her husband, therefore it was only natural for them to be part of Brooke and Christopher’s happy day.

• When Leroy and Evelyn had their picture taken at the York County Fair, on their first date, I’m positive they never, ever imagined that the picture would end up on the June 1, Traditions page as part of their anniversary announcement! Their kids, Gary and Julie, brought in the photo, along with a photo taken on their wedding day, which occurred a slightly less than five years after that first date.

• David and Mabel are a delightful couple, and it was a treat to visit with them while I typeset their anniversary announcement. When I asked how they met, David remembered every detail of the first time he saw Mabel. They attended the same high school, the boy Mabel was with was being disrespectful to her, and David told him so. The boy said, “If you like her so much, you take her out.” David did.

It’s been busy at the Traditions desk this week, as you'll see this Sunday with two pages of announcements!

• Amber and Brandon’s engagement announcement on Mother’s Day will be a surprise to them. Not surprised they are getting married — they have been looking forward to their June wedding for months. The surprise will be it’s in The Herald. Amber’s mom, Tammy, brought in the paperwork and photo without telling them what she was up to.

• Family and friends will be celebrating with Carl and Barbara this weekend. Fifty years ago, Mr. Rock Hill High School and his high school sweetheart said “I do” and meant it. Their love and commitment to each other is a wonderful legacy for their children and grandchildren. Congratulations Carl and Barbara!

It’s stressful to plan a wedding, especially when you can’t set the wedding date. Lindsey and Timothy had to wait before they announced the day of their wedding because he didn’t know if he would be here in June. Timothy’s unit has been serving in Iraq and he had to wait to get permission to come back stateside. Lindsey and her mother, Robin, sprang into action as soon as he got approval and now can get everything with the wedding date finalized including the engagement announcement that will publish April 27...

I met some interesting people this week…

Sandra stopped by with her paper work. She and Stevie are getting married this June. I don’t know how we got on the subject, but Sandra has her CDL (commercial driver’s license) and was an over-the-road truck driver for six months. She’s back in school at York Tech now, to prepare her for working in the family business, In her spare time she rides a bike — a BIG bike, a 750 Suzuki…

I have the best job at The Herald. Every week I work with brides, MOB's (mother's of the brides) and my favorites, the grooms-to-be and the FOB's, and my OTHER favorites, the married couples who are celebrating 50, 60 and even 70's years of marriage.