Newly Wed!!!

Welcome Back avid blog readers,

That's right! You read that correctly! James and I were officially Married on Monday November 3rd 2008

We had to jump through a few hoops to get to this point, and I'm here to share our story.

As previously mentioned, James and I could not get married as planned in Canada. Of course that's not we wanted to hear after all of the planning we put into making that happen. But we came up with a Plan B, and that was to get married down here (in the United States) and luckily his parents agreed to take the 7 hour drive down to attend our ceremony.

So, Monday morning we drove over to City Hall and picked up our Marriage License.
We came back here to decorate a bit, move the furniture around, get the appetizers on the table, and make our wedding cake.

His parents arrived a little early, but no biggie... James was keeping them company while I made the final touches on our cake. For those inquiring minds, I made a 2 layer carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, decorated with festive autumn leaves.
The Justice of the Peace (J.P) was also a little early. Which really worked out for the best.

James' s dad took great pleasure in recording our ceremony, while his mother (who sadly was suffering from a migraine headache all day) had the best seat in the house.

After the J.P verified our marriage license and verified that we still wanted to use our own Vows, we were ready to begin

At this point all is going well, James and I are smiling like the Cheshire cat, looking into each others eyes with excitement and with a feeling of relief, knowing that with in a few short moments we will be Husband and Wife!
The J.P reads through the first part of our ceremony, Then it's time for us to read our Vows to each other. I went first, hoping I could get though them with out sniffling and crying too much... Not an easy task I lasted 2 paragraphs before my hands started trembling and my eyes started to water.
James was next and he appeared cool as a cucumber while reading his Vows. The J.P was impressed and complimented us on how well they were written.
Next up.. time to say a few words and place the rings on each others finger...

James went first this time, first grabbing his ring... then realized it was too big and grabbed the smaller one hehehe... as he's saying, " In token and in pledge of our constant and abiding love, with this ring, I thee wed." He's trying to place the ring on the wrong ring finger, and I'm trying to let him know very subtly by pulling my hand away as he's holding on to it.
I repeated the same phrase and was trying to gently place his ring on his finger... I was having issues getting it passed the knuckle. The J.P notices and tells me to rub his knuckle and that should help...Hmm.. no it really didn't... this goes on for a few minutes with me wiggling and trying not to cram it on his finger, and as I'm doing this his mother sneezes( or so I thought) She apologized.. I guess for disrupting the ceremony... until she made another noise.... yeah, that wasn't a sneeze... she just threw up on herself and my carpet. No, it wasn't the booze.. like I said earlier, she was suffering from a migraine and the piece of bread and ginger ale she consumed an hour earlier had just came back up. Fabulous!! Keep in mind she's literally 3 feet/ 1 meter away from my bathroom with her husband video recording. Do you think he stops to help her?
Nope... he doesn't move out of the way... She continues to get sick a few more times all over the carpet, my couch, and herself before James speaks up and indicates that maybe she should get into the bathroom Once she's in there, his dad is still in the same spot, leaving the bathroom door wide open, she's still getting sick.... His dad doesn't think to close the door, or grab a towel,something to clean up the mess... Seems he was more afraid of missing a few minutes of our ceremony... which we of coarse stopped and waited to make sure she was alright. Not like the J.P was being paid by the hour. At this point I was going to grab something to clean up the mess.. James insisted that I don't.. hoping his dad would take the hint... NOPE... only after his mother was done, she came back out... Then his father grabbed a towel and placed it over the mess... I suppose that was better than Not covering it up...

Anyhoo... on with the ceremony...The J.P continued with a poem from Wilferd Arlan Peterson called The Art of a Good Marriage. Then we went on to the next part of the ceremony which I held James's hands so his palms were facing up, and the J.P read a little something about how these are the hands of my best friend, they are young,strong and vibrant... these hands will work along side of mine, together as we build our future....
We reversed the roles... he held my hands with my palms facing up and the JP read to James, that these were the hands of his best friend, they are smooth, young and carefree..These are the hands that will comfort you, console you through the tough times. These hands will love you passionately love and cherish you through the years for a lifetime of happiness.

Well there was a lot more to that part, but you get the idea.
The J.P also included a little part of the ceremony for his parents to take a part in..basically just agreeing to continue showing their support for us. And then by the powers invested in the JP, we were pronounced Husband and Wife.

I looked over at James, his eyes were starting to water, The JP said he could kiss his bride and the tear trickled down his cheek... that was the sweetest moment.

Our Ceremony was really sweet... all things considered... The J.P was really cool about everything and especially about being available with less that 7 days notice. Naturally he was tipped generously.

The J.P left and we cleaned up the mess, I let his mother borrow some clothes to change into before dropping her off at their hotel... His father took us out for a great dinner and we went back to their hotel room to visit with them, have some cake and champagne, before calling it a night... more like early morning. Since it was after 1:30am before we arrived back here.

I suppose all weddings have that 1 thing that makes them memorable... Sometimes it's the long train on the wedding gown.. Sometimes it's the grooms men drinking a little too much.. or it the food at the reception.. or maybe the fancy pants Ice Sculpture... and sometimes it's how amazing the Wedding cake turned out, so incredible it would be a shame to cut into it. In some cases it's not the wedding but the Honey Moon that the newly weds remember most... their exotic get away, or their lost luggage

It will be interesting to see how our video comes out... James will get the untouched version to edit as he sees fit, then I'll get a copy... Definitely makes for a crazy story.

So yeah, that's our wedding night in a nutshell. James is back in Canada now... considering the time... he's actually in Toronto waiting for his flight to Ottawa and hopefully his friend will remember to pick him up.
It's always hard saying good bye. I know it's not forever and I know we made plans for Christmas. I'll be making the drive up to spend the holiday with him and his family. But I still miss him and wish we didn't have to spend time apart.
Hopefully this next month will go by quickly... after all I still have to change my last name That should keep me busy.

Well I've rambled on for far too long... I hope that you enjoyed our story. As things develop, I'll keep you all posted.


To Be Continued....