Wedding Recap Part II

A continuation of my thoughts and memories of the wedding...

6. I didn't stuff enough tissues down the front of my dress. Anyone who knows me (or has watched TV with me, more accurately) knows that I cry. I cry involuntarily, sometimes the tears just fall and I hardly even realize it. always at cheesy sitcoms (the "very special" episodes get me everytime, like when Carlton took Will's speed pills and ended up in the hospital, or when Stephanie's friend tells her his Dad hits him, and she tells Uncle Jesse, or when that doctor/nurse/patient almost died on ER... oh wait, that's every episode...). Sporting events are fair game (even if my team wins, I cry because the other team lost and they look sad) and occasionally, I cry at the passing of an ambulance, because I know that it's on its way to someone who's hurt. So, it was just an accepted fact that I would cry through the whole ceremony, if not the whole weekend. What I didn't count on, however, was how emotional other people were. During the ceremony, all the guys were teary, not just Brian! It was really hard to find a place to focus my gaze, because if I looked at any of them it would set me off. I only had 2 tissues in my dress, and boy, was that a miscalculation. I was drippy and teary the whole time (luckily none of the pictures we've seen so far catch any inappropriate fluid trails, which believe me there were, and our photographer assured me he got photos without me covering my face with tissue).

Some evidence of fluids, from both of us! (Alan Y)

7. Writing the ceremony ourselves was a really good decision. At first we were going to do a really quick ceremony. In fact, it was going to be very small, only for close family, and a few minutes long. We saw it as just a legal necessity, and were even slightly resentful that we needed to pay a stranger to tell us that we were married. But as wedding planning went on, and I reflected on weddings we've been to in the past, I started to think that the ceremony was something I wanted to share with people, and that it could be a very personal, beautiful thing if we wanted it to be. Brian took a little convincing but I *think* he's glad we did it the way we did, in hindsight!

Writing the ceremony was really intimidating. Our officiant gave us a 3-page template, 90% of which could be changed. We had free reign, and I wanted to make sure it was meaningful, reflective of our personalities and respectful of the depth of our relationship, but fun and interactive at the same time. In the end, we were really happy with how it went, and I think all the parts and pieces spoke to different aspects of us and our relationship in a wonderful way. My favorite parts were: Sharon reading an excerpt from a supreme court ruling on gay marriage; the ripples of laughter from the guests when the Mayor asked if we would create a home filled with good food; us reading from "I Like You"; everyone blessing their buttons; Ashley and Donald fighting tears while performing "Annie's Song"; Mike and Misha's heartfelt blessing; and of course, kissing my new husband.

Wait, that's pretty much the whole thing... yes, a really good decision. Here are some pics from the ceremony:

The handsome boys walking in (Li F)

Here come the girls! (Li F)

Now everyone's waiting for me... (Alan Y)

I'm here! Let's get this party started... (Natalie M)

Donald and Ashley performing (Alan Y)

You may now seal your commitment with a kiss!
I love this picture (Li F)

Another gratuitous kissy picture (Alan Y)

Walking out as husband and wife, with our
happy Dads on either side (Li F)

8. Music matters. People always say how smells bring back memories really easily, but for me I've always found music to be a really strong touchstone. If a song speaks to me, I have a habit of playing it incessantly, so it gets inextricably tied to a certain event, time or mood in my life. Brian already posted about our dinner and slideshow playlists, but we also put a fair amount of time into choosing the ceremony music too. Like everything else with the wedding, we wanted the music to reflect us and to be meaningful and fun. A big highlight for me was of course hearing Ashley's cherubic voice singing "Annie's Song" (which already has a sort of ethereal feel when John Denver sings it) while she was playing the piano and being accompanied by Donald on the viola. The day before the wedding, Ashley and Donald were practicing in the Ceremony room (they hadn't played together yet!) and when I walked in, it was so lovely that tears just started to fall (I'm telling you, darn my overactive tearducts). Brian later told me that even before he saw me crying, he had gotten emotional at that same moment. Speaking of Brian, a big kudos to him for choosing our recessional music - walking out to the theme from the Calgary '88 winter olympics was a nice nod to our separate but parallel childhoods, and just a really fun, upbeat way to end the ceremony (even if only a handful of guests recognized it!)

That's it for this installment, I'll leave you with some pictures from the Friday night rehearsal...

At the rehearsal, practicing walking down the aisle with
my parents, complete with practice bouquet (Jen D)

Fumbling our way through the ceremony (Jen D)

I'm getting married tomorrow! (Jen D)