my sister was first, last september.
she had a gorgeous wedding at a french-style hotel in lafayette, california. she ordered her dress from san francisco designer, amy kuschel in ivory-colored italian silk organza. my best friend officiated the ceremony, which my sister and her husband wrote together. the food was delicious and the cake was divine. everyone danced and laughed and cried...
***
my wedding, as you have seen, was quite different.
s and i decided pretty much at the last minute to get married, spurred into it sooner than we might have chosen otherwise by my visa problems (but happy about our decision). we couldn't get married in the UK since i had less than six months remaining on my visa; and i needed to apply for a spouse visa in either los angeles, chicago or new york. new york was the best choice - a bit of romance, a bit of a getaway, and (as it happened) more or less in the middle for our families. we did very little planning. i wore a dress that had been hanging in my closet since last summer. mamasita and my brother-in-law handled dinner reservations. s bought a new tie and some shoes.
the ceremony at the city clerk's office was practically over before it started. we were brought into a small chamber with a podium. our families surrounded us and took pictures. after asking if anyone had any objections (thankfully, no one did...!) we said our "i do's", exchanged rings, and were pronounced husband and wife. we were in shock that it happened so fast!
all things considered, though, i don't think we would have changed a thing. we're not big ceremony people; i have never wanted a long white dress; and the people we care about the most were all there with us. plus, we still get to have parties in california and england this summer! woo hoo!
we truly lucked out with the weather, too. we couldn't have ordered a more perfect spring day, and the cherry blossoms were beautiful.
***
next, it's my best friend's turn. she is having a BIG wedding at the end of this month! her fiance's family is from long island, so they have been celebrating bi-coastally for the past year or so: two engagement parties, two bridal showers. in fact, her long island bridal shower was the day after my wedding.
for those of you who are not familiar with the bridal shower tradition, it is a chance for the women to "shower" the bride with love (and gifts!) there are all sorts of bridal shower games, but one tradition is to make a bouquet using the ribbons on the gifts. the bride then uses the bouquet at her rehearsal. since she had already had one made at her california shower, i was tasked with making a matching hat.
isn't she lovely?!
i can't wait to be one of her "babes of honor" in a few weeks!
***
three weddings, each with a very different style but the same end result: smug happiness :)
one year ago, i barely knew s. i was the self-appointed president of the bitter singletons club, cursing all those "happy loving couples" and secretly wanting to throw them under buses. now i find it hard to walk down the street without holding s's hand (and not just because i'm clumsy.) see how far we have come?
No comments:
Post a Comment