Joy Anew in Timeless Celebration of Love

Maasai Amewa |

Does love have a time line? Is there an amount of seconds, hours, months, years, or even decades that can capture the emotion?

Nathan Ashford doesnt believe so. He waited twenty-one years before Fannie Mae Bentley finally said, I do.

Ashford and Bentley met at University Apartments, a 160-unit property that provides affordable housing for the elderly located on Chicagos South Side. During that time, the two became a couple and through the years, Nathan repeatedly asked Fannie to marry him, but she rejected him each time.

But on Saturday December 4, at First Greater Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church, the couple met in front of friends and family and joined in holy matrimony. The church isles were decorated with white linen and each row had multi-colored ribbons attached to the seats.

Groomsmen and best men looked just as sharp and wore black tuxedos, black bow ties, with carnations fixed to their lapels.

The bridesmaids wearing a combination of red, lavender and pink, most teary-eyed, passed tissue back and forth.

Wedding guests and family members witnessed the ceremony officiated by Pastor Robert Williams whose message was straight and to the point. Quoting scripture he said, She is part of my own flesh and bone! She will be called woman, because she was taken out of a man. This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

As the pastor read the couple their vows, they sat patiently, both smiling, sitting on an all white bench. Nathan wore a white suit, with a cream, yellow, and green tie with a matching carnation hanging from his left lapel. Fannie Mae looked elegant in her white dress as she held a bouquet of roses.

Dedicating the song, All My Life, Gods Been Good to Me, to Fannie Mae and Nathan, vocalist Reverend Charlene Johnson powerfully sang the song suitable for the occasion. After the pastor announced the couple as husband and wife, the groom kissed the bride and the crowd responded by celebrating the new holy union.

After the ceremony, the newlyweds held a special floral presentation. During the presentation, Ashford thanked the wedding coordinators, Dr. Layreese Williams, Yvonne Dill, Dorma Guice, and Betty Thomas with bouquets of roses for a job well done.

When asked why she chose to marry her husband after 21 years Fannie Mae said, When I woke up out of my coma [referring to a past experience which required she undergo rehabilitation] I asked God for two things, to walk again, and to be married, she said.

For the new Mrs. Ashford, on this past Saturday, both wishes came true.

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