Didn't I mention getting married?

As of May 17th, a lovely warm Saturday with a perfect breeze, Mul and I were married. Yes... I take credit for choosing the date - all that time studying the Old Farmers Almanac, looking for spaces between the wet and the hot, making sure that the three different areas that converge near our town at least didn't contradict each other - I picked the window in which our wonderful weather occurred. Mul teased me about that mercilessly, trusting to the OFA for weather predictions - until that Saturday turned out perfect. Then he thought I was a goddess. Of course, it could have been the gown.

We wanted all of our guests to feel casual and comfortable. We opened up our house, worked in the yard for a month (dodging some incredible storms and rain) mowing and trimming and planting new stuff (and let's not forget the mulching), and had practically all of our important people out to see us. Only one couple could not make it to the wedding and they had excuses - number one, jobs; number two, a new kid (very small still - love you, Wolfie!). Everyone else we invited made it! That made for a total of 19 people, including the wedding party.

We had people start arriving around 9 a.m. to help with the floral arrangements and laying tables out at the back of the house (in the perpetual shade, near a wall, breaking any breezes) so that the food could be laid out later. Then the pastor and his family arrived, early enough to talk us through the last minute changes (at our request) to the ceremony. Our parents and Aunt Helen & Uncle Bob arrived next, toting champagne flutes (and champagne!), extra chairs, salad, deviled eggs, baked beans and our gorgeous wedding cake. Eventually everyone was outside on the deck, introducing themselves around.

I dressed in my silvery-purple gown with a matching wrap over my shoulders. My high-heeled gold sandals were definitely old (and were pampered with a professional re-heeling the week before). I'd bought a new corset (my admittance to vanity and an attempt at looking slimmer). I had borrowed my mother's (perfectly matching) earrings, and my blue engagement necklace in my jewelry box waited for the quick-change after the ceremony. Mul wore his fabulous tuxedo and a boutonniere of mixed garden flowers (he looked so cool, quite dashing). With my hair up in a clip, the breeze felt wonderful. We gathered our guests to a corner of the yard chosen for the shady backdrop (so that we might show up better on film). At approximately 11:15 a.m., our pastor was dropping quotes from The Princess Bride such as "Mawwiage" and cracking us up. Perhaps a parent or two didn't get the reference, but everyone else did. I loved it.

There were some great shots taken with both our provided disposable cameras and the cameras our guests had brought from home. We've ended up with about 160 photos on a website that we've shared with lots of friends. Mul created excellent captions or descriptions for each and placed them in an order that makes sense. He was great all throughout, kept his sanity and everything. My sanity had to be returned to me later during the reception by a friend, dear enough to have held on to it for me all that time. She was the one who got to see me panic about the makeup mess I'd made and help me into and out of the corset so that I could at least feel like I looked thinner (even though the photos show a curve to my a$$ that looks distinctly like a bustle - note: I was NOT wearing a bustle). Mul and I (and the pastor because he didn't want to be caught on film drinking beer in his collar) ran inside to change clothes and help bring the food out.

Our mothers were wonderful, setting everything out for the buffet. My friend, the florist, even made an impromptu arrangement with the rest of the fresh clippings and placed them in a colorful vase with matching ribbon for the table. Our wedding cake was decorated in the purples and matching fresh flowers of our theme. The hot food stayed hot and the cold food lasted long enough for everyone to enjoy it. The champagne was ever lasting and the cake tasted better than I could have hoped. Even da Boyz got in on the act. The skinny one serenaded the crowd with his Siamese opera tenor. The pudgy one sniffed everything inside the house, inspected the baby's diaper bag thoroughly for security purposes, and attempted to be cute (pretty much a 9.9 there, he's nothing but cute). Everything was genuine and enjoyable.

My parents took off first. Then Mul and I opened the presents that weren't supposed to exist (we've been together for years, we didn't need new towels or another coffee maker), making sure to have someone take photos so that my parents would be able to see the fun later. We have a beautiful garden bench (which some saint of a guest put together for us), a fantastic new cookie jar (looks like a dragon defending the entrance to its mountain horde), and a couple of nice checks to help cover the expenses of everything. We plan to enjoy a gaming convention in a month as our honeymoon (with my daughter, now his step-d) for the full week... the checks will be very helpful for the gas purchases and souvenirs.

Then my daughter and I introduced our friends to a family yard game that was given as a gift. You may have seen something like it at a Target called Ladder Golf. This predecessor was termed Hillbilly Golf by its enthusiasts. Several new fans were born that day. Then we just sort of sat around in the yard, shooting the $h!t, drinking wine or beer and telling stories on each other. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the tour of the house. It was a glorious day. Did I mention that we got married?!?

After everyone was gone and my daughter went to stay the night with my parents, Mul and I took off for our regular LARP, hefting the leftover plastic cups and napkins. We treated our other friends to half a wedding cake (just one layer, we kept the rest in the fridge all that next week) and two bottles of champagne. They thought it was a nice treat and considered us rather "core" for showing up on our wedding night. We met through a LARP - it seemed appropriate to go and we had a lot of fun being teased by our buddies about my possible name change (which I haven't).

We finally got around to the thank you notes tonight (still have to finish them and get them mailed). Our garden is blooming (even more so than two weeks ago). We'll be sure to take photos and share them with all of our wedding guests so that they can see what we'd been intending. My mom (poor dear) got the ceremony on video and has managed to (she's really very sorry) either erase it or tape over it when trying to (she didn't mean to) save it to a DVD. Since that was the most of our wedding disaster, I am VERY relieved. Everything else went so smoothly, it was easy to forgive her. We have our wonderful photos and website, the pastor is going to send me a copy of everything he said during the ceremony, and my scrapbook is waiting for a new (rather purple tinted) entry. I'll save that for this weekend.