Sunday, January 08, 2006

I got the church super early - about 90 minutes earlier than I really needed to be there as it turns out. But I was able to chat with the florists as they were clearing out - they did a wonderful job of making our very contemporary church auditorium look like a fairyland. I’m hoping our photographer got a good shot of some of their work - I forgot to ask for that. In any case, they far exceeded my expectations on the overall look and they did a great job with all of the finish work on the bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres. The halos that the flower girls wore were so sweet with miniature Scottish thistle, beads, and twisted wire.

We gals had a good time in the “bridal room” - laughing at the flower girls dancing around in their excitement; chilling out with sodas and chocolate. They were great to keep me mostly calm while I waited for my mother to arrive with my dress and veil. Once she arrived it wasn’t much longer to wait after I was all dressed and ready to go.

Denis set up his video camera in the back of the church to take some rough video of the ceremony since we decided not to hire a professional videographer. Beau and I just watched the wedding and enjoyed hearing the hymn singing, Scot’s message, Monty’s officiating, our vows to one another, watching our family and friends take communion, and all the pomp of the night.

Because of the dim lighting in the sanctuary and the bright lighting at the stage it was hard to see anything too clearly, but that’s OK. What we could see was the beads sparkling in little bursts from the bouquets and lapels of all on the stage. Very cool. I looked like a ghost in all white and Beau looked like a bald monk next to me because of the glare of the lights on the back of his head. He does have a full head of hair, so it’s pretty funny.

It was neat to hear that the tone of Christ-centeredness that we wanted for our wedding was present and we got a lot of feedback from folks who appreciated the worshipful tone we tried to set. It was a worshipful ceremony for Beau and I.

The reception we do not remember much of at all for a few reasons: 1) long receiving line post-ceremony, which we’re glad we did so that we were able to talk to just about everyone that we never had a chance to see at the party; 2) long photography session, which was necessary since we wanted to be sure to get a good group of family shots for my in-laws; 3) once we got to the party it was time for all of those things that people wait for at weddings - cake cutting, toasting, bouquet tossing. By the time we finished those things our car had arrived and we were off.

Fortunately, our caterer put together plates of food for us to take with us. The wedding cake was fantastic - she used my recipe (yes, I’ll post it) and it was perfectly delicious; there was a bunch leftover that Mom saved for us and half of it is in the freezer and the other half is thawing in the frig - we also have leftover groom’s cake from the rehearsal dinner, which was beautiful and yummy. We ate the food once we arrived at our hotel room - luxurious with a lovely bottle of champagne and chocolate dipped strawberries there for us compliments of the hotel. We tuned in to watch the ball drop in Times Square - kissed in the new year and then crashed.

The next morning we woke up to get ready for our long travel day when the doorbell rang - my parents had pre-ordered a light breakfast for us to be delivered just at the perfect time. We ate, finished getting ready, and headed off for the airport.

Next up: HD1 (Honeymoon Day 1) - Travelling Day

It was such a fun night and most of it is a blur. Thanks, Denis, for the video to help us remember.