Topics by letter--W
This'll be the last installment unless someone else wants to chime in. (For the love of all that is good and fluffy, please do. I'm quickly running out of ways to keep myself busy during the day while I'm alone. Munkys were not meant to fend for themselves for extended periods.)
Lots of openings here. At this point, repeat players are allowed and welcome. The limit of three is flexible should anyone feel particularly intrepid.
W is for wedding.
For those of you new to the journal (hi there!), I'm recently married--as in just over a month ago. The boy in question is the Kent.
In the beginning of our engagement, we figured things would be kind of small--fifty to seventy-five people tops. We ended up putting a lot of effort to keep the list as close to 100 as possible since the chapel seated 95 with about a dozen more seats in the balcony. But the balcony was up a very steep and tightly wound staircase, so it was dubbed strictly for emergencies only. (A freak cold snap would render our planning moot, but that's not exactly something you can predict two months in advance when the invitations go out.)
Having a quiet "intimate wedding" didn't make sense for us. If we wanted to stay quiet and private, we could have run off to the courthouse. Hell, we probably would have skipped the whole marriage thing altogether. We were together, we were happy, and a marriage license wasn't going to suddenly make our relationship bigger or more important. So if we were going to have a public event, we were going to involve as many of the people who had touched our lives as possible. The wedding became just as much, if not more, for our guests as it was for us.
The idea of community became our focus when it came time to work on the actual ceremony. We wanted everyone to be involved and not just sit there passively. I started thinking about all the church services I had attended while growing up. I remembered joining hands with others, answering along with the congregation, and just being present with others and coming together for the same reason. I missed those feelings and wanted to bring that same closeness into our ceremony.
The first breakthrough came when I was grappling with the "who gives this woman?" issue. I didn't need to be given away. My own father had already weighed in earlier in our engagement on the fact that Kent and I were both adults and didn't need anyone's permission to get married. (Which made him respect the hell out of Kent for talking to him and asking for his blessing before proposing, but that's another story.) We were coming into this of our own free will and that was enough. But in doing so, we were asking something from our family and friends. We wanted them to recognize the choice we had made in each other and to support or at least respect that decision.
When Dad and I came to the front, Lon, our officiant, said a few words about family and friends and our desire and hope to be welcomed, together, in their lives. Lon asked who would support us and everyone responded "We do" before I hugged Dad and took the last few steps to stand with Kent.
During the ceremony itself, our rings were passed through the crowd and everyone was invited to make a wish for us, say a prayer, and just generally offer something positive. Rather than having them engraved, our rings carry the love and support of those people who were there on the day we got married.
But not everything was solemn and symbolic. My bridesmaids each had one charm from a "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" monkey trio tied to their bouquet. Kent wore Converse that later left our DJ speechless. We exited to a cover of The Darkness' "I Believe in a Thing Called Love." Under my dress I had a blue crinoline and shimmery teal polish on my toes. chgu did our ceremony music in a top hat and monocle. Our first ceremony reading equated love to being a dog owner. And in the end, it was "us."
And now, because a wedding post wouldn't be complete without pictures, I'll leave you with some picspam below the cut.
Dad asking if I still wanted to get married while my Aunt Linda fixed my train.
Austen, my nephew, getting into position to pass the rings for our ring warming.
Our ring box with a ribbon my maid of honor, Jennifer, and I braided that morning.
Ring warming
Srs bizness in progress
I got a ring...
... and Kent got a ring.
We kissed
And we was married. Where's the music, chgu?
Running around the building to hide out in one of the dressing rooms before pictures.
We actually look like respectable people.
Kent's parents actually came and I have proof!
And after lots more pictures, it was time for cake and booze.
I was kind of excited with how the puppy cake turned out.
There are still more pictures to come, but for those that are curious and/or have some time to kill, our photographers have two galleries up for our pictures here and here.
Lots of openings here. At this point, repeat players are allowed and welcome. The limit of three is flexible should anyone feel particularly intrepid.
W is for wedding.
For those of you new to the journal (hi there!), I'm recently married--as in just over a month ago. The boy in question is the Kent.
In the beginning of our engagement, we figured things would be kind of small--fifty to seventy-five people tops. We ended up putting a lot of effort to keep the list as close to 100 as possible since the chapel seated 95 with about a dozen more seats in the balcony. But the balcony was up a very steep and tightly wound staircase, so it was dubbed strictly for emergencies only. (A freak cold snap would render our planning moot, but that's not exactly something you can predict two months in advance when the invitations go out.)
Having a quiet "intimate wedding" didn't make sense for us. If we wanted to stay quiet and private, we could have run off to the courthouse. Hell, we probably would have skipped the whole marriage thing altogether. We were together, we were happy, and a marriage license wasn't going to suddenly make our relationship bigger or more important. So if we were going to have a public event, we were going to involve as many of the people who had touched our lives as possible. The wedding became just as much, if not more, for our guests as it was for us.
The idea of community became our focus when it came time to work on the actual ceremony. We wanted everyone to be involved and not just sit there passively. I started thinking about all the church services I had attended while growing up. I remembered joining hands with others, answering along with the congregation, and just being present with others and coming together for the same reason. I missed those feelings and wanted to bring that same closeness into our ceremony.
The first breakthrough came when I was grappling with the "who gives this woman?" issue. I didn't need to be given away. My own father had already weighed in earlier in our engagement on the fact that Kent and I were both adults and didn't need anyone's permission to get married. (Which made him respect the hell out of Kent for talking to him and asking for his blessing before proposing, but that's another story.) We were coming into this of our own free will and that was enough. But in doing so, we were asking something from our family and friends. We wanted them to recognize the choice we had made in each other and to support or at least respect that decision.
When Dad and I came to the front, Lon, our officiant, said a few words about family and friends and our desire and hope to be welcomed, together, in their lives. Lon asked who would support us and everyone responded "We do" before I hugged Dad and took the last few steps to stand with Kent.
During the ceremony itself, our rings were passed through the crowd and everyone was invited to make a wish for us, say a prayer, and just generally offer something positive. Rather than having them engraved, our rings carry the love and support of those people who were there on the day we got married.
But not everything was solemn and symbolic. My bridesmaids each had one charm from a "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" monkey trio tied to their bouquet. Kent wore Converse that later left our DJ speechless. We exited to a cover of The Darkness' "I Believe in a Thing Called Love." Under my dress I had a blue crinoline and shimmery teal polish on my toes. chgu did our ceremony music in a top hat and monocle. Our first ceremony reading equated love to being a dog owner. And in the end, it was "us."
And now, because a wedding post wouldn't be complete without pictures, I'll leave you with some picspam below the cut.
Dad asking if I still wanted to get married while my Aunt Linda fixed my train.
Austen, my nephew, getting into position to pass the rings for our ring warming.
Our ring box with a ribbon my maid of honor, Jennifer, and I braided that morning.
Ring warming
Srs bizness in progress
I got a ring...
... and Kent got a ring.
We kissed
And we was married. Where's the music, chgu?
Running around the building to hide out in one of the dressing rooms before pictures.
We actually look like respectable people.
Kent's parents actually came and I have proof!
And after lots more pictures, it was time for cake and booze.
I was kind of excited with how the puppy cake turned out.
There are still more pictures to come, but for those that are curious and/or have some time to kill, our photographers have two galleries up for our pictures here and here.