The Wedding of the Year (for me)

I'm very glad to report that my very good friend, G (for grace, the meaning of her name in another language), has gotten hitched. She's the one I mentioned in an earlier post. And she happily told me and her other friends (her poor friends who didn't get to see one of her most joyful days) all about it. I cannot improve upon it (not that I'd want to. The woman was a Creative Director! We'll have the fight of the century if I so much as touch a letter), but I did try to conceal her and her husband's identity since I don't want their privacy invaded.

To the ladies closest to my heart,

And so it happened. And boy do I have a huge smile on my face as I type this.

At 11pm, almost 12 hours before leaving for our wedding ceremony I asked B, "Are you nervous?" He said, "No. Are you?" I shook my head. We planned to sleep an hour earlier but realized that we were too excited about tomorrow to close our eyes. We did. Eventually.

The next day, although I wanted to prepare a hearty breakfast (we expected the ceremony at the courthouse to end at around 2pm-- way past lunch time), we ended up eating just oatmeal. I was pleasantly surprised that B and I went about the meal and getting dressed as if it were a normal day. The last thing we needed was to have us running around going, "Oh my god! Where's my tie?!?" or "Arrrghhh! Where's that box of bobbie pins for my hair?!?" Guess who ended up doing that? His parents!

They arrived at our house beaming and went scuttling about: Pati heating up turkey soup and opening drawers for utensils and bowls so we can have an early lunch. Dan making a mad dash for the bathroom for he had to change from his office clothes to his suit. During the drive to the courthouse, Pati was a backseat driver. Then as we parked the van, Dan realized that he left his jacket at our house and had to retrieve it.

Although we were early, we discovered that other couples decided to arrive earlier. We were shocked to see 12 pairs ahead of us in line. After a few minutes, another set of 10 appeared. Later on, we were told that for the ceremony, we were couple number 13 out of about 29. What was equally shocking was that most of them wore regular outfits: a simple dress or office clothes for most of the ladies; a collared shirt and slacks for most of the guys. I was told that there was even one groom who wore sweat pants and a t-shirt! Talk about being a hillbilly! I wish I saw him. I was too focused on my own ceremony to do a full scrutiny of the other pairs. I did see an African-American bride and groom in jeans, jackets, and boots, as if they were just going on a date. (Cue: rolling eyes.) There were about three couples, including Brian and me, who took the ceremony seriously and wore proper wedding attire. Suffice it to say, that B and I were the classiest looking bride and groom that day! What's funny, too, was that our guests were dressed far better than most of the people who got married.

Those who were able to attend our wedding lived near the area and were able to either skip lunch or take a half day off work that Wednesday. It happened so quickly-- maybe 10 minutes tops from the exchange of vows to the witnesses signing our license. It was a good thing we took a video and snapshots of that whirlwind of an event. Afterwards, we drove to Forest Park and went inside the Jewel Box for our photo session. The Jewel Box is a climate-controled greenhouse of sorts and features seasonal flowers. Since it's made of glass and steel and has this beautiful pond right by the entrance (plus a rose garden off to the side of the building) many people hold weddings and wedding receptions there. Our reception was held at a French-inspired restaurant in downtown St. Louis. I liked the fact that while it was a very small and intimate gathering, we still had our wedding cake, good food, good wine, and champagne. Although it was scaled down, it was every bit the kind of wedding party that I would've gladly attended had I been a guest. I think you'll notice from my photos how happy I was last December 3rd.

Looking back, I remember being upset that I wasn't going to have my dream event-- me in a gown, B in a tux; all you girls present, with my family and other friends around; holding a grand reception at my destination of choice and looking up at fireworks at the end of the party. But as I stepped into our house, tipsy and giddy at 11pm on December 3rd, I smiled at my husband and realized that this was my dream come true.

(Although I still wish you were there. ;)