Time for a catch-up
Welcome to married life!! Yay!
Today I got to introduce Graham to members of my extended family as "my husband" which was great. The only down side is that it was at a funeral reception. My cousin's husband died 3 days before the wedding last week. There wasn't a service that I know of though they will be having a private thing tomorrow and scattering his ashes for just his immediate family but they had a do for friends and family to come and chat and look at photos.
But the wedding? Awesome! There was a bit of stress but that's my own doing. We were late getting to the park for the photographs and i hate, hate, hate being late especially when someone's waiting but that's just my "thing". There was plenty of time before the ceremony and no chance of missing that. The rehearsal the night before went well and we had a meal out at the Chinese restaurant. Afterwards, there were a few of the guests staying over in the hotel so we had them to our suite for some wine. We had a guest from Vancouver and one from Quebec and the woman of honour was from Moncton. There were a few other out of town guests but not at the hotel that night.
The wedding day weather was a bit chilly, semi overcast but the sun came through now and then. We got to the spa in the morning for our hair and makeup and that went well. They did a great job making us look suitably bridal! We were a bit late getting away from there and the calls and texts started coming in. The backdrop for the reception was late coming and graham had to help put that together which made him late getting dressed. The flowers were early but my niece wasn't aware so was waiting for the women bringing them. The photographer was waiting for us at the park with the Best Man. The woman of honour didn't have the right shoes but her husband had brought six pair from Moncton when he flew down in the morning! We got the flowers sorted (beautiful!) and then got to the park about a half hour later than we expected. No worries. We had informed him that we'd get there. He was an oasis of calm!
The photos didn't take too long but long enough. My poor feet! The shoes weren't all that uncomfy but i'm not used to wearing heels of any sort even though the heels weren't high. The air was a bit chilly but not too windy so we didn't look too dishelved. He's going to get the photos to us by the end of this week, we're looking forward to seeing them! It's been great seeing other peoples' photos but the official ones will be the best.
Back to the hotel for family photos and then to the suite. Our suite was a business suite. another huge room aside from the bedroom with a conference table, a living room with chairs and a sofa, a wet bar and fridge and great views over the Halifax Harbour! Great for parties!
Time for the wedding! We went to the room that was set up for the ceremony and organized ourselves. We decided to walk ourselves down the aisle so we sent the Best Man and Woman of Honour up first. All my good intentions went a little bit south because the iPod disconnected from the bluetooth speaker so my nephew was holding up the iPod. Still, I could hear the music, Queen's version of the Wedding March so that was ok. We can put the music on the video when it's processed and nobody will know the difference! The minister is a good friend of mine, a Corrie fan and Doctor Who fan. She brought her blue robes in keeping with the RedWhiteBlue theme. The ceremony was great and the minister used her iPad instead of reading from paper or a book! We joked about the Holy iPad. I did manage to keep it together during the vows but it was a close call. I could feel myself wobbling and had to take a deep breath before each phrase I repeated, with Graham squeezing my hands to keep me encouraged. I just get so emotional! After it was done, the minister presented us as Diane and Graham Williams and all the guests hollered "IT'S ABOUT TIME!!" (but we knew they were going to do it. I don't think they did but it was great for the video!)
After we were done and signed, the speaker did get reconnected so we could proceed back down the aisle to the Doctor Who theme :) One couple were dressed up and flashed their sonic screwdrivers when we went past and another guest was wearing a Tardis dress and blue wig! Awesome! We had encouraged people to wear one of the theme colours or hats and there were a half dozen or so hats or fascinators and lots of colourful accessories and clothing! We had a receiving line and a few more photos and then came into the reception to the corrie theme tune.
My nephew was the MC and did a great job, with a lovely little speech of his own. But he'd got some of his material from the same website as the Best Man was using so that kind of used some of his material! The Best man was good to us, rather than teasing or that sort of thing but G. said he'd turn it back on him if he did so i think that kept him honest! Graham made a speech and so did I though I did forget to thank the MC! It's difficult when you go off the cuff. I had thought i'd make notes but i forgot to. Anyway it all went well. We cut our cake a little while later and had a first dance. The cake was awesome, looking like a Dalek and was chocolate and quite the best tasting cake ever! There was quite an emotional moment during our dance, though. It's "Someone like you" by Van Morrison. About 2/3 of the way through, my dad's cousin, someone he was quite close to, like brothers, cut in and said that if my Dad had been here, it would have been his job but since he wasn't, he decided to fill in. Well... I lost it. I had had an emotional moment earlier in the week but this was not quite as intense as that one was. But even he had tears in his eyes! That didn't help! It was a lovely thing to do, though. Graham went and got Mom for the last few bars of the song.
The rest of the time was mingling, serving the awesome cake, and chatting. I don't think either of us had a chance to taste most of the food but everyone said it was good (the finger foods and platter stuff). Again, most of the time on my feet but the shoes had come off once we got to the reception. Still hurt though. We had a good mix of guests from family , friends and a few coworkers and former coworkers. It was so nice to have everyone around and having all those wonderful people made the day even more joyful! Graham said later it was the best day of his life which made me feel all warm and fuzzy. I'm always right out there with my feelings about stuff like that, all excited and can't stop smiling but his British reserve means he doesn't show his feelings most of the time. It's nice to hear when he expresses how he feels!
We changed later on and went to the hotel dining room with a few of the out of towners plus my sister and cousin and had a nice, leisurely dinner to round out the day. Later in the suite, one last glass of wine It was a long and tiring day but one we'll never forget!
We opened our wedding gifts in the suite that night and are overwhelmed by the generosity of our guests. Cash, cheques, gift cards and some lovely presents, some inventive ones and a few were Doctor Who or Coronation Street themed which was ace! We've already gone to a movie (Avengers: Age of Ultron) with a gift voucher we received and bought a gel memory foam mattress topper as well. I think we'll put much of the cash to a new tv, tv stand and home audio system but will probably not pick it out until he comes back (hopefully for good).
Ah yes. On that note, we spoke to an immigration specialist and are going to move things forward there. Might take a few weeks to get all the documents together but it will be done right. We've been told that 99% of all family / spouse sponsorships/permanent residency applications are accepted and generally takes under a year. As far as proof of us as a couple, I have a mountain of evidence. We will continue to use the specialist even if it's a little pricey. It's worth it to make sure it's all done right.
It will be tough to say goodbye this time at the airport but I'll be over there in September and we'll have another wedding celebration then for his family and some friends.
I'll post links to some photos once we get some more. Have only got a handful from people but none from my cousin and his fiance which will be good ones and from the photographer who has promised them by the end of the week.