I've Been Made an Honest Woman

Meaning yes, I am finally married!

I wrote a long blog yesterday and lost it, so I will attempt to recreate it today. But don't think I'm not pissed about it! It took me like an hour to write that entry. :(

Anyway, we got back on Saturday from our honeymoon in Bora Bora. One of the best trips of my life! Ryan is putting together the photos and a narrative, so I hope to be able to post that soon.

As for the wedding, everything went almost perfectly. There are only two things I would have changed, but I was otherwise extremely happy with how things turned out, especially since I've never planned a wedding before (or even been THAT involved in one) and was basically winging it. It was a very, very happy day, and Ryan and I loved every minute. :0) The two things I would have changed are:

-When I took my mom to the site to scope things out, I told her I didn't want an aisle runner. I thought it would bunch up on the grass and make it difficult to walk. So she suggested getting a short runner and putting it just on the steps to the gazebo. I compromised and said OK. Come wedding day, I walk out and find...a full-length runner. And because of the wind, yep, it bunched up on the grass and made it hard to walk. Not only that, but there were a few large-ish rocks attempting to hold it down, which I nearly tripped over. I was annoyed about the runner, but I know Mom had good intentions. Also, I think someone might have meant to cut the runner but ran out of time, since the roll was still on it. Here's what everything looked like before the ceremony:



-The other thing I would have changed is that I watched some videos someone shot of the ceremony and saw that there was a long waiting period between our parents being seated and the bridal party walking down the aisle. Someone told me they thought this was because they were waiting for the song to end, but I had scheduled the same song for the parental seating and the bridal party because I thought it wouldn't take too long to seat the parents...definitely not a whole song. So, in retrospect, I probably should have assigned someone to stand by the entrance and cue us to walk down the aisle. But, not a huge deal. There also seemed to be a small waiting period before I walked down the aisle, but this was because I chose a specific song and didn't want to have only 30 seconds of it play before it had to be turned off. ;0)

Here are some ceremony shots:


Father Dittler and Ryan waiting at the "altar"


Rob and Katie...our parents were seated and the bridal party walked out to Eva Cassidy's "Fields of Gold"


Brian ("Remy") and Julie...sorry the photos are on the small side, I had to copy them from the photo sites where my friends posted them


Jeff and Jodie


Ryan's best friend and Best Man, Bryan, and my sister and Maid of Honor, Dominique...didn't all of the bridal party look fabulous??


Our adult flower girl, Brooke! She was such a great sport


Everyone waiting for lil ol' me


My brother Henri and I walking down the aisle...my selected song was Edith Piaf's "La Vie En Rose," as a nod to my French background. Before the ceremony, guests received the lyrics printed in French and English.


Listening to Ryan's sister Allison read an excerpt from "O, the Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss


Ever the nonconformists, the bride dips the groom!


We have been pronounced husband and wife! And yes, I cried during the ceremony, despite my best efforts not to. Here we are recessing to "Linus and Lucy," otherwise known as the Peanuts theme.

After the ceremony, we took a buttload of photos, then arrived and were introduced at the reception to "The Imperial March" from Star Wars. Bryan and my sister gave excellent (and epic, in my sister's case) speeches for their toasts, and then Special Blend and I performed "The Shadow of Your Smile" from the movie "The Sandpiper" as a surprise to Ryan. I have to say, it's really hard singing in front of a room full of people you know! After that we had lunch, or, in my case, half a lunch because the other half would not fit in my dress. Seriously! Ryan and I then tried to make our rounds and talk to each table, but I ended up being whisked away in the middle by my friend/makeup artist to fix a blemish on my face that had scabbed and was falling off (gross, I know, but whaddya do). So, to my chagrin, I was not able to make it to every table before the end of the meal. My dear Lulu, I have apologized profusely, but I just want to publicly say again that I'm sorry we didn't get to talk! But I saw your grinning faces in the front row during the cake cutting. :0)

Here's what the room looked like:


The table-number cards were made using funny vacation photos of Ryan and I

I had scheduled in a song to be played in tribute to Ryan's grandfather, who died last year, and to my dad. One of my dad's oldest friends approached me during lunch and asked if he could say a few impromptu words about my father. I thought it was a great idea, and perfect timing, so I connected him with the DJ. But because I didn't know what he was going to say beforehand, I wasn't prepared, so yes, I ended up crying half my makeup off. But what he said was very nice, and then the DJ played "In My Life" by The Beatles.

Next was the first dance, to "Miracle" by the Foo Fighters. Foo Fighters have special meaning for Ryan and I because we had such a blast at their concerts over the past few years. We have always shared a love for their music, so we thought it fitting to make one of their songs be "our song."

Here's us dancing:


The first dance was followed by the bridal party dance, and the song was Garry Stevens' "Beyond the Sea." That song also had special meaning, because I have performed with Garry with Special Blend and the Contra Costa Jazz Band. Garry is something like 93 years old, and in the '40s he was the No. 4 singer in the country. (No. 1 was Frank Sinatra, so that gives you an idea of his competition!) Garry was the first to record "Beyond the Sea," but it never took off until Bobby Darin recorded the now-famous version. Garry still has a great voice and still performs. In fact, Special Blend will be performing with him and CCJB again this December.

Then the dance floor was opened to everyone and we boogied our heads off until it was time to cut the cake. Which ended up being a semi-annoying experience, because no one could find the photographer for a while. But, eventually she was reined in and we carved up some cake, even though we didn't really know what we were doing or were supposed to do. ;0) The cake was four tiers, with ivory buttercream frosting, gold bands, and cranberry-colored marzipan grapes with fresh ivy draped on the side. Ryan made the cake topper based on an idea we both came up with. It featured a little Lego bride and groom standing in front of two computers, to signify how we met on Match.com, and two little black cats (our babies). The cake-cutting song was "Knock Me a Kiss" by Louis Jordan, which was the DJ's suggestion and worked out perfectly. It starts with "I like cake..."


There were two different flavors: almond-vanilla and "chocolate obsession" (chocolate and raspberry)


The famed cake topper

Next was the bouquet toss, which I did to Eva Cassidy's "I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again." The bouquet went straight to my friend Lacey. She didn't even have time or a chance to avoid it! So, Lacey, you're next! ;0)

That was followed by the garter toss. The second I heard Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" start, I realized I had completely forgotten to even put the garter on! In a frenzy, I dashed upstairs, fished the garter out of my bag and jammed it onto my right leg. I don't even know if that's the leg it was supposed to go on, but nevertheless, that's where it went. Ryan made a cute little show of taking it off, which I can't wait to see the photos of. Who caught the garter? Ryan's 10-year-old nephew (and the ring bearer) Colby. Colby looked like he had just caught the plague. LOL. He's not into girls -- or anything even related to girls -- yet. It was cute.


Oh my goodness!

Then we danced some more, I went out for air, talked to people, took wayyyyy more photos and then it was over! Our last dance was to Trisha Yearwood's "To Make You Feel My Love." I love that song, but knew Ryan would think the Garth Brooks version was too country. So I tried to tone down the twang by picking the Trisha version. I think it worked out well.


Here's me taking a break. Whew!

It all went by so fast. Everyone tells you that beforehand, but you don't realize how true it is until it's all over. Our bridal party managed to sneak out to our car at some point and decorated it with "Just Married," our names and requests to honk because we were newlyweds -- which people did all the way home!

It was a beautiful day that we will always remember. We hope to have the professional photos in a couple weeks, so I will post some when they come in. And don't believe all the bad hype about married life. It's great!