Funny story:
I got married. It's weird. Or at least, it's weird in that it's not weird. Yeah? People keep asking, "Soooo, what's married life like? >wink, wink, nudge< Is it different?" And no, it's pretty much the same. I mean, we live together, and there's sex now, which is pretty great, and About Freaking Time, but otherwise, things just is. Not that it's not good. It's just not that different. Which is good. I don't know.
Anyway, people said my wedding was cool, which is cool. I mean, I guess they're supposed to say that, but I think it went pretty well. I've been to some flop weddings before, and I was thinking, "How do I know if that's me?" The main thing I hate at weddings is the massive wait between the wedding and the reception, where the party goes off and takes pictures, and everyone else sits around forever not allowed to eat. I went to a wedding recently where the time and place of the reception weren't listed, only to find out after the ceremony that the reception was at the same place, so we all sat down and waited 3 Freaking Hours for the party to show up. Then the food was bad and there was no dance. Hell, just don't have a reception then. But anyway, I think I did ok, so here's some things I did. You can do them too, if you want to be as cool as me or whatever.
1) We took the pictures before the ceremony. Now, if you want to be traditional and not see each other beforehand, or if you have a guy who emotes a lot, then this probably isn't an option, I get that. My guy has like 2 facial expressions (a giant child's smile and a "neutral" face...those are seriously the only two), so I wasn't anticipating a big reveal. I had always wanted to follow the not-seeing-each-other tradition, but you know, I'd wanted him to ask my dad, and I wanted an older man, and I wanted to marry someone named Henry. As it turns out, none of that stuff happened, and it's ok. The asking my dad thing just wouldn't have made sense in the type of relationship we have, and the not seeing each other thing wouldn't have worked with the type of wedding we had. The reception was in the church gym, and therefore 50 feet away from the ceremony. I knew that Uncle Chris had been smoking that pulled pork for hours, and there was no way that I (or any of my guests) was going to wait for the food. So pictures happened first. It worked. One thing to note, though, is that you have to leave yourself plenty of time for this.
2) I picked just a couple things to care a lot about, and then let the other things work out the way they wanted to. I cared a lot about: having congregational hymns, having a garden of different flowers, and having pie. We had 2 congregational hymns, easy. The flowers were a struggle, since they arrived in bad shape, so we got a replacement shipment, and they arrived in bad shape. (Never, Never buy flowers wholesale online, especially from fiftyflowers.com, we had a terrible experience - get them at Trader Joe's.) But in the end, things got figured out. My Grandma did the flower arrangements, and the bridesmaids made their own bouquets, which was fun. It looked great. Pie was also easy, since I knew Jim Leystra of Leystra's Venture Restaurant, who makes amazing pies. Beyond that, I tried to stay flexible, so when things had to change or didn't work the way I wanted, it was ok. This came with some problems of its own, I guess, but things worked out and I didn't have a breakdown, so I'm counting this as good.
3) I asked everyone to dress like themselves. I did ask the bridesmaids to get their own dresses, but I figured that if I was going to do that, I had better make it as easy as I could. It stressed a few of them out, but they all looked fantastic. One had giant gold cicadas in her ears and bright orange stockings. One wore cowboy boots. I hate cowboy boots, but they are very much her thing. This is really the thing I loved the most, the decision I am most happy with. The point is, I could look down the row at these folks and see the women I love for the individual people they are. My wedding was a recognition of the relationship I already had with my husband, but it was also a great reminder of how in love with my friends I am. My bridesmaids were all wonderful and helpful, and that was great.
So anyway, it was a good time (for me at least). People said it was fun and didn't appear to be lying. It was pretty cheap for a wedding, which is the way to go, if you can do it without pissing anyone off. (I think it was like $6,000 all told, which is a lot, but still cheap for a wedding).
I also had a really great hair day, so clearly God smiles on this marriage.
I also got henna done, because it's awesome, and when will I ever have an excuse again.
The End.
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