Friday, August 26, 2011

Married. Check.

Well, it's all over.  The wedding has passed, we returned from our honeymoon, our bags are unpacked (mostly...some...I'm going to finish today all right!).  The city of San Jose should have received our marriage license by now, so we are officially married.

We won't get our photos back for another few weeks, and I can't start recaps anyway until I fill you in on everything that you missed when I was too busy and stressed to post.  A lot of things happened in the final weeks before the wedding, and I was a complete wreck before the day rolled around.

But you know what?  It was awesome.  The wedding was better than I could have imagined, and Daniel and I had a fantastic time.

So too did our guests.  Most of them came up to us afterward and told us how amazing a time they had had, and many of them told us it was the best wedding they had ever been to.  After the months of toil we spent preparing for it, that was really good to hear.

But the most gratifying thing for me was our ceremony.  We wrote the entire thing ourselves and put a lot of work into its construction, and I'm so glad we did because it was perfect.  The ceremony will always stand out to us as the best part of the wedding and a true reflection of us.  It also provoked the most touching compliments we received on our wedding day.  Many, many people told us how much they liked it; several told us they cried during our vows even though they do not cry at weddings.  That really touched me because people often compliment the dress or the party, but they generally just tolerate the ceremony, and it meant so much to have so many people tell us that that was their favorite part of the wedding too.

Not everything was perfect, not by a long shot.  So much went wrong the day of the wedding that I doubt I even remember it all.  But our wedding was still amazing, and I managed to let the things that went wrong slide off and not ruin the day.  I don't know if I can call it the best day of my life, but it's certainly up there, and it was beyond any doubt the best party I will ever attend.

And I look forward to sharing it all with you...in a few weeks when I've recovered from jet lag and the general exhaustion that still hangs over me.

Until then, I leave you with this:


Thursday, August 11, 2011

It All Ends

I am leaving tomorrow morning, so I figured I'd better do my goodbye post tonight.  I've been so busy I feel like I haven't really had time to process all of this.

A lot of things have gone wrong or gone differently from the way we'd planned.  I haven't even told you about the biggest thing that happened a few weeks ago that changed everything.  We're lucky we're even having a wedding at this point.

I've definitely been stressed, but ever since people started arriving and helping us, it's been OK.  Even though we've only seen a few people so far, it's been nice to see them.  And whatever happens on Saturday, that is what I'm going to concentrate on:  having our friends and family all together in one place, getting to see all of the people we haven't seen a long time or won't see for a long time.

My mom keeps saying that she's glad we're doing a lot of things ourselves because she feels like she really gets to be a part of the wedding and gets to know our close friends in a way that would never be possible at the wedding alone.  I don't know how I feel about that, but I'm glad that all of the people who are helping us are having at least an OK time.

I'm not going to say that no matter what happens on Saturday at least Daniel and I will be married because we can get married anytime.  However, no matter what happens on Saturday, we will get to see everyone, and that should make for a good time.  And no matter what happens, we'll get to go to Jamaica (unless there's a hurricane--seriously, pray for me), and THAT will be AWESOME.

OK, I know I'm sort of rambling, but then again, that's usually what I do on here anyway.  Anyway, on the subject of people I care about, I want to thank each and every one of you for being there with me along this journey.  Without you, the wedding would have been a chore to a large extent, but I had so much fun planning and discussing with you!  From excitement to heartbreak to ever-increasing frustration to sadness to overwhelming joy, you have been with me every step of the way, you have been there to laud and commiserate, but mostly importantly, you have been there for me, and I love you.  Even though I have never met and never will meet most of you, I love you because you shared this journey with me.

Thank you all.  And I look forward to recapping with you!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Bridal Shower: Big, British Floppy Hats!

I knew my bridal shower was going to be awesome because people (read:  my mom) kept telling me how much work they were putting into it.  My mom is the type to go above and beyond anyway, and she's a teacher, so she has the summers completely free.  Thus, I knew it would be special.

I feel bad for how rushed I made my bridal shower and bachelorette party.  I had exactly 2 hours for my bridal shower while in Southern California, not the most to work with.  Still, my mom and MOH did a fantastic job.

My biggest request for that day was to have no idea what was going on, except for the when since I had to catch a plane.  I wanted nothing to do with the planning.  My only additional request was that I thought a British tea style bridal shower would be pretty cool.

Boy, did they deliver!

I know rather more about British tea traditions than most Americans having lived in England for a semester, and the place they chose was certainly authentic.  Scones, clotted cream, jam, and lemon pudding with finger sandwiches and cute little desserts and of course 3 kinds tea.  It was super tasty.

They also had 2 big tea partyish hats for me which was pretty cool.

Please excuse the sunburn I have in all of these photos.  I had just gotten back from Catalina an hour before.

Me and My Hat and My Ribbon Bouquet

Warning:  the rest of this post is not work appropriate.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Bachelorette Party #1: Got to Sing, Sing!

I was not expecting much from my Northern California bachelorette party.  I planned it myself, so I knew there weren't going to be normal bachelorette activities.

When the day rolled around, I was a little nervous about how few people had RSVP'd.  In my experience, you need a big group for karaoke bars to be fun.  Including me, there were only 3 of us there.

But you know what?  It was fucking awesome anyway.

I really owe it to Dana and Julie.  They definitely got into the spirit of it even though it was a Tuesday night, and they both had to work the next day.

Our night started off with some gifts from Dana.

*Note:  All photos were taken by either me or Dana.*


I got a bachelorette crown, a naughty girl scepter, and chocolate mousse cake.  Pretty awesome start.

Me and Dana

Then, Julie showed up, and the party really got started.

Me and Julie

I sang a lot.  Mostly with at least one of the other girls, but I sang "California Gurls" solo.  The video of that performance disappeared unfortunately for you, but I'm pretty sure more people got up and danced to that song than any other performed that night.  It was pretty sweet.


They were doing a contest that night, and the best performers would get a $50 tab for the next Tuesday.  Toward the end of the night, the lady MCing asked us if we would be able to come the next Tuesday, but I was going to SoCal that night.  So we didn't win, but I'm pretty sure we would have if I had been around the next week.

There was also a lot of drinking.  A LOT of drinking.  I'm not sure Dana will ever forgive me for the hangover she had the next day, and the damage that night did to her liver.  Never drink an "adios."

Personally, I was proud to have had at least 6 drinks and only pay for 1 of them.  I spent a grand total of $4 on alcohol that night because so many people bought me drinks.  It was awesome.  I've never had random guys buy me drinks before!  People seem to think this is weird, but Daniel and I started dating long before I was 21, so I've never had the chance to flirt at a bar.  It was nice to finally get some free drinks before getting married.  AND I managed to avoid a hangover the next day.  Not sure how I managed that, but I was pretty happy about it.

Downing a "chocolate cake."  Chocolate cake should never be dependent on lemon.  Just saying.

This particular karaoke bar isn't big on dancing.  That may or may not be due to the tone-deaf nature of the clientele.  But later in the night, there was some dancing, and it was good.


 Dancing the Night Away

It was a really fun night, and I'm so grateful to Dana and Julie for coming with me and making it awesome.  It may not have been the biggest or most epic of bachelorette parties, but I still loved it.

Classy Wedding by the Sea