The Day Itself
Jul. 4th, 2006 03:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grinninfooleFor M and I, the day began oversleeping meeting my friend Joke (who had also arrived very late Saturday night) for breakfast at Sylvester's, which was as good as always, though I was so full from the previous night that I could barely eat my waffle. This was the first time I'd seen him in 8 years (since his wedding) and Millari had never met him before, so we ran over time because I wanted them to have a little time to get go to know each other...and I wanted to show off the store, too.
We got back to the house after folks had started to arrive, but I guess it worked out OK. I actually had to go and lie down for a bit, because I felt queasy. Then, there was an amusing hour or so wherein people would exhort M and me to go and get dressed, that it was our day and we should stop doing things, and then two minutes later would come and ask us where something was or what we wanted folks to do about something or other.
Eventually, I put on my expensive new tux (a Canali, which I bought at Yale Genton and had tailored by the folks at Cassandra Holden's shop--thankssydneycat for the recommendation) and Millari put on her gorgeous (and super cheap--she spent as much on two dresses as I did on shoes for this shindig) green dress, and did her makeup, and finally everyone was here (except for one of M's dear friends, who came down sick at the last minute, alas) and then...
Well, then everyone gathered in the garden, and Millari, my brother the Best Man, and I went out of the bedroom onto our deck where Karen Cadieux (from the Easthampton mayor's office and who served admirably as a our JP) awaited us. Our friends and family started cheering and clapping as soon as we opened the curtain.
Karen read a lovely preamble that she had brought with her, and then M read me the vows she'd written at 3 AM that morning. They were beautiful, and made me cry, and she'll posting them in her LJ (link TBA). Then, I read her mine, which were as follows:
For all these reasons, I am going to promise you now in front of our friends and family what I have already promised you. I promise to put our relationship before everything else in my life. I promise to be your friend, partner and lover for all the days remaining to me. I promise to be a husband to you, a son to German and Martha, and brother to Gabe and Alana.
Then, I ad libbed something like the following: I give you this ring, as a constant reminder of our love, and that we are a team.
Then, everyone cheered.
Then, we sat, and ate the delicious food that we and friends and family had made, and drank lots of tasty drinks, and had the scrumptious cake made for us at the Henion Bakery (which we served with ice cream from Herrell's--thanks toomnia_mutanturand wandelrust for picking those up for us, and cooking, and helping arrange the jewelry, too) and danced. A dog from somewhere nearby got loose and crashed the wedding, in a totally charming 'hi, I'm friendly and I'd really like some food' kind of way.
To be honest, it was lovely, but I don't remember it very well, because it was a little overwhelming. Like Feisty, I spent some time hiding in my room because I was having too much fun. Many people wrote lovely comments in our memory book, and we got many thoughtful gifts, too.
The party went late into the night, with some folks going to hotel to change and then coming back to help us eat some of the hoard of leftovers. And then, GFZ and Joke had to leave so they could catch their very early flights. We stumbled into bed.
Monday, we slept late, tidied up a bit, though Mami, Papi and others apparently spent hours doing most of it on Sunday. I'm so grateful to them for doing all that work so we didn't have to. Then, Rob, M and I drove to Boston, put him on Virgin Atlantic flight 12 and sent him home. I slept for a good part of the drive, I think, and I'm really glad that they kept right on having a great time without me. I'm glad that they have a bond apart from knowing me. (For that matter, one of the nicest things about the wedding experience was hearing from everyone how much they liked meeting everyone else, and what lovely friends and family we had. Which is true, but I always fret about folks not getting along, so it was such a relief that they did, and that everyone had fun.)
M and I took advantage of being in the city to stroll on the Common for a bit, and then had dinner at the Bhindi Bazaar, which is right at the end of Newbury street on Mass Ave, which I guess was our little honeymoon. Then home to collapse into bed again. Today, we rose late, and have spent the past four hours posting all of this.
And now, we're married. Thank you to everyone for help, good wishes, gifts, and love.
We got back to the house after folks had started to arrive, but I guess it worked out OK. I actually had to go and lie down for a bit, because I felt queasy. Then, there was an amusing hour or so wherein people would exhort M and me to go and get dressed, that it was our day and we should stop doing things, and then two minutes later would come and ask us where something was or what we wanted folks to do about something or other.
Eventually, I put on my expensive new tux (a Canali, which I bought at Yale Genton and had tailored by the folks at Cassandra Holden's shop--thanks
sydneycat for the recommendation) and Millari put on her gorgeous (and super cheap--she spent as much on two dresses as I did on shoes for this shindig) green dress, and did her makeup, and finally everyone was here (except for one of M's dear friends, who came down sick at the last minute, alas) and then...Well, then everyone gathered in the garden, and Millari, my brother the Best Man, and I went out of the bedroom onto our deck where Karen Cadieux (from the Easthampton mayor's office and who served admirably as a our JP) awaited us. Our friends and family started cheering and clapping as soon as we opened the curtain.
Karen read a lovely preamble that she had brought with her, and then M read me the vows she'd written at 3 AM that morning. They were beautiful, and made me cry, and she'll posting them in her LJ (link TBA). Then, I read her mine, which were as follows:
Michelle, there are many reasons why I love you. I love how you laugh and smile. I love how you hold me. I love how you look when you are intent upon something and you don’t notice me looking. I love your sense of adventure. I love the joy we share in stories. I love the stories we create together. I love the way that you encourage and inspire me to choose the life that I want. I love the way that you light candles instead of cursing the darkness.
For all these reasons, I am going to promise you now in front of our friends and family what I have already promised you. I promise to put our relationship before everything else in my life. I promise to be your friend, partner and lover for all the days remaining to me. I promise to be a husband to you, a son to German and Martha, and brother to Gabe and Alana.
Then, I ad libbed something like the following: I give you this ring, as a constant reminder of our love, and that we are a team.
Then, everyone cheered.
Then, we sat, and ate the delicious food that we and friends and family had made, and drank lots of tasty drinks, and had the scrumptious cake made for us at the Henion Bakery (which we served with ice cream from Herrell's--thanks to
omnia_mutanturand wandelrust for picking those up for us, and cooking, and helping arrange the jewelry, too) and danced. A dog from somewhere nearby got loose and crashed the wedding, in a totally charming 'hi, I'm friendly and I'd really like some food' kind of way.To be honest, it was lovely, but I don't remember it very well, because it was a little overwhelming. Like Feisty, I spent some time hiding in my room because I was having too much fun. Many people wrote lovely comments in our memory book, and we got many thoughtful gifts, too.
The party went late into the night, with some folks going to hotel to change and then coming back to help us eat some of the hoard of leftovers. And then, GFZ and Joke had to leave so they could catch their very early flights. We stumbled into bed.
Monday, we slept late, tidied up a bit, though Mami, Papi and others apparently spent hours doing most of it on Sunday. I'm so grateful to them for doing all that work so we didn't have to. Then, Rob, M and I drove to Boston, put him on Virgin Atlantic flight 12 and sent him home. I slept for a good part of the drive, I think, and I'm really glad that they kept right on having a great time without me. I'm glad that they have a bond apart from knowing me. (For that matter, one of the nicest things about the wedding experience was hearing from everyone how much they liked meeting everyone else, and what lovely friends and family we had. Which is true, but I always fret about folks not getting along, so it was such a relief that they did, and that everyone had fun.)
M and I took advantage of being in the city to stroll on the Common for a bit, and then had dinner at the Bhindi Bazaar, which is right at the end of Newbury street on Mass Ave, which I guess was our little honeymoon. Then home to collapse into bed again. Today, we rose late, and have spent the past four hours posting all of this.
And now, we're married. Thank you to everyone for help, good wishes, gifts, and love.
