8:24 p.m. - 2005-10-15
The Ceremony
Soooo�I got married. The end.
No, not really. I actually seriously contemplated not writing about the wedding, because there�s so much to say and it�s kind of hard to describe and I have a million other things I should be doing, but I knew I�d be mad at myself in retrospect if I didn�t write about it when I could still remember all of the details. Well, some of the details, anyway. So I�m going to write about it for my own benefit, and you poor saps just have to live with it. (Well, not really. Feel free to leave at any time.)
I actually wrote most of this about a month and a half ago, and then didn�t get around to finishing up the first part and posting it. I know, I suck. But it�s kind of this huge weight hanging over my head that I�d really like to get out of the way before NaNoWriMo starts, so I�m going to finish the next entries and get the whole damn story up. Hopefully complete with pictures.
I�m going to skip over most of the pre-wedding stuff, because I only have so much energy for these things and I have a feeling this entry is going to be a beast with just the one day covered. So I will start things out on Friday night, quite late. We (me and my bridal party � my sister, the Raisin, and Diana) were hanging around our apartment, doing last minute exciting things like writing speeches (Diana and the Raisin), shaving legs (me and my sister), and finishing wedding presents (me). (Note that 90% of my present for Jamie was finished about three weeks before the wedding, and I was just too lazy to do the last half hour of work until the night before. Me, procrastinate? Never.) We had the Lion King on as a background distracter, and it was an excellent choice since it required no attention paid to it whatsoever. It also meant we could periodically burst into song, which always improves the mood of things.
We managed to get to bed in reasonable time, which I was quite pleased about. After a brief chat with the Raisin, who was sharing my bed, I probably got to sleep not too long after 1. Since our hair appointment wasn�t until 9:45, I had set the alarm for 8:30, feeling that was quite manageable indeed. The weather was totally shitty, but the forecast for the next day was �showers,� which I figured was about as good as it was going to get at that point. I got off to sleep surprisingly quickly, and slept really well.
Until 5AM. When I woke up having to pee, and discovered that it was absolutely pouring. Torrential rain. The type that makes little rivers out of streets and is very noisy when you live on the top floor of an apartment building and sleep with your window open. After a few minutes of obsessively checking the sky for any bright points, I went out into the living room where two things were that would make me feel better: my sister, and the computer. I figured my sister was the one who would be most understanding about being woken up � plus I never mind pissing off my sister as much as my friends. And she was suitably soothing in a mumbly half-asleep sort of way, saying that even if it was raining, there wasn�t much I could do at that point anyway. I turned on the computer and the weather forecast told me the showers should be tapering off by early afternoon. Right � about as good as I could hope for. Back to bed, where I lay awake for another hour and a half. Ugh. Let me tell you, I was right pissed that I hadn�t gone out at midnight to pick up Harry Potter, because I could have gotten a lot read in those long hours.
I finally got back to sleep at about seven when I decided I�d rather be stuffy and hot than obsessing about the rain and shut my window. This was a smart move � I got in an extra hour and a half of sleep and I think that made a huge difference the rest of the day. If I�d been up from 5AM straight through, I don�t think I would have made it.
So 8:30 rolled around, and we all got up and drank our smoothies. There was some last minute running around that featured me almost forgetting my veil, but we were out of the apartment by right around 9:30. (The hair salon is in the mall that we can see from our apartment � it�s less than a block away.) This meant that we had time to swing into the bookstore to pick up a copy of Harry Potter. Ostensibly it was for the Raisin, but she kindly let me read it while I was getting my hair done. This was a very smart move, in my opinion, because it kept me suitably distracted and I wasn�t freaking out at all. I was, miraculously, the first one done, so I hung around and read some more while the others finished up. I chatted briefly with an extremely nervous groom who was in getting his hair done (which, from what I could tell afterwards, consisted of someone else tousling his hair for him, but hey, whatever), who made me feel like I should be really nervous, but I still wasn�t.
It was later than we�d anticipated when we left the salon, but I�d built in a ton of extra time so we were still in good shape. We drove to my parents� house in the Raisin�s car, singing loud Disney music all the way. The umbrella maneuvers that took place to get us into the car without wrecking our hair were quite impressive � even more so considering we also had a large suitcase, four wraps, and a bridesmaid�s dress to juggle.
Once we got to my parents�, things were a little nutty for a while. We had to steam all the bridesmaids� dresses and all four wraps (theirs and mine), and we also had to cram down some lunch. I ate a piece of bread, a large chunk of cheese, and a handful of ham, and after a glass of orange juice I figured that was good enough. Right around then the photographer showed up, which added to the slightly frantic feeling. I was unpacking the flowers (which were incredible), trying to make sure everything was ready to go, and obsessing about the weather. But I decided that getting ready was my big priority at that point, since it was shortly after noon and I wanted to be on the road by 1.
I headed up to my mother�s bathroom where the Raisin and I did our makeup together, with some hilarious commentary along the way. Diana and my sister shared the other upstairs bathroom, since it has more counter space and they had more stuff. (The Raisin and I are not known for wearing piles of makeup.) The photographer hung around and took some photos of us getting ready and goofing around, and it was still all totally surreal at that point. Even with a veil in my hair. 
My makeup didn�t take long, and while we were doing it, the flower girl and her mother showed up. (Jamie�s niece and sister-in-law, who was also our chauffeur for the day.) The flower girl, who is nearly four, was very impressed with the big girls and watched the proceedings with a great deal of interest in between having bows tied in her very cute pigtails and her dress, made by my mother, plunked onto her. (She totally stole the show.)
I changed into my fancy expensive bra and less fancy, less expensive underwear (the matching undies were, like, $50! I will pay a lot for a good bra if it gets the job done, but come on, underwear is underwear.), and got into my dress. I was very pleased about the fact that my outfit was totally independent � I could get dressed, undressed, and go to the bathroom all by myself � but my mother wanted to zip me up for the symbolic gesture. So we did that, and suddenly, I was ready. And yet, still not nervous. Go me!
The rain had pretty much stopped at that point, which gave me cause for a little jig of delight. We flung a lovely pink blanket down on the grass and took some pictures in front of my dad�s lovely rose garden. I figured that even if it started pouring again, I�d gotten some pictures outside, so I was pretty happy with that. I also got individual shots with the bridesmaids in case we ran out of time later on, so all in all I was feeling pretty good about life. I was obsessively asking everyone for the time every five minutes, because I hate not wearing a watch, especially when I have somewhere to be at a specific time. (Which, obviously, I did.) It was just about 1:00, so we all headed out to the van to pile in. There was a large sheet over my seat so I wouldn�t get dusty, and it was quite the production getting my seat belt on, but we were in and ready to go by about five after. My parents waved from the driveway, we put the Disney CD on, and we were off.
First stop was the independent bookstore where I used to work. I was determined to go buy Harry Potter in my wedding dress (although it was a bit of a sham since I�d already read 120 pages while getting my hair done.), so in we went. It was kind of fun sweeping around in my wedding dress, with lots of people staring at me, and I picked up my copies to great cheers from the staff.
We piled back into the van fairly quickly (I�d prepaid, and they obviously knew who I was, so I just got to walk in and grab my books and walk out again), and we were on our way to the very nearby church shortly before 1:30. After a quick pit stop for gum, we arrived at about 1:40 for the 2:00 church. Take that, Jamie who thought we�d be late! Arriving at the church was the first moment when I realised that this was actually happening � there were all these people arriving, people we knew, people who were at our wedding because we�d invited them and those invitations did actually go to real people and it wasn�t just some imaginary event. I waved to a few people as I went in, hustling so I wouldn�t run into the guys. I paused briefly to say hello to my grandparents, and then escaped to the basement.
Again, Harry kept me from totally freaking out � for all those who mocked me and my obsessiveness, it really was a good distraction when the nerves could have caught up with me. I went to the bathroom a few times (which is when I discovered I could pee unaided) so as to make sure I wouldn�t have to go during the ceremony, which I was totally worried I�d have to. But mostly, I hung around in the church basement, watching the Raisin run around like she always does when she gets hyper, saying hi to the people who wandered down to use the bathroom, and read occasional pages. My parents appeared, looking very nice but kind of nervous. The priest came down to pray with us, which felt like a bit of a sham given that more than half the people he was praying with weren�t particularly religious, but we were very well behaved. He went off to check on the guys, the various visitors we�d had disappeared, and suddenly it was time to go up the stairs.
Hearing the music start and knowing that the guys were processing down the aisle was a little bizarre. I�d been worried that Jamie would be able to see me through the windows at the back of the church, but I�d failed to take into consideration the fact that 200 of our closest friends and family would also be packed in there with us. Whoops.
I watched my bridesmaids disappear off down the aisle, and then, after what felt like a very lengthy lead up, the brass came in, our cue. And this is going to sound totally cheesy and lame, but just before we walked through the door, the sun came out, bright and cheery, for the first time all day. And I knew it was going to be awesome.
We went through the doorway, and my mum foomfed out my skirt for me. They were walking just slightly behind me, not holding my arms or anything, just walking along with me. I had a brief moment of nervousness � the only one all day, but as I came into the aisle, I caught sight of Jamie, and the nerves just disappeared. I wasn�t smiling quite as much as I should have � in pictures I look kind of terrified, and I really wasn�t � it was just this feeling of total glee and excitement. Given that I�d been kind of grumpy all week, I was delighted to finally be excited.
It was totally bizarre to have sooo many flashes going off all around me. I kept my eyes on Jamie the whole way down the aisle, and he was smiling back at me. At one point, he stuck his tongue out at me, which made me laugh (which I really hope the photographer caught � a friend of ours got Jamie with his tongue out, which cracks me up, but I�d love a picture of me laughing as I walk down the aisle, because it�s so genuine.) (Two months later note: no, he didn�t. Rats. But you can see it in the video, so that�s ok.)
We got up to the front, and I hugged my parents, and Jamie hugged my parents, and they went into their aisle, and Jamie took my hand, and we walked up to the steps. And there we were, getting married. The priest rambled for a bit (he�s very nice, but a bit rambly), and then our mothers did the readings � his mother, a reading from Ruth, and my mother, a Shakespeare sonnet. (The one everyone has � marriage of true minds, blah blah.) I totally can�t remember the actual order of everything � I think we might have had to do the �I will� thing right at the beginning (we used the Book of Common Prayer, featuring such excellent phrases as �Wilt thou� and �plight thee my troth.� Yeah! Even our wedding was nerdy.) There were two hymns, arranged for brass and organ by Jamie, featuring remarkably excellent singing from the congregation. (More than 60 of the people in the audience were at one point in a choir. It helps.) The entire wedding party also sang with gusto.
The priest gave a pretty long sermon that I totally wasn�t listening to, and there were a few points where our families and the congregation had to agree to support us. We did this elaborate hand crossing thing, and then we said our vows. I totally didn�t cry � I actually laughed a little at one point, because I�d said something my mother really wanted me to say. (It was a choice between pledge and plight, and she really though plight was rather nicer. Jamie said pledge, but then for mine, the priest said plight, and I laughed, just a little bit.) I didn�t talk too fast, or too quietly, or too loudly. Just said them, and meant them.
We did the rings, and my hands were sweaty as predicted and thus it was easy to get my ring on (although Jamie did put it on upside down), and Jamie�s slid on pretty easily as well. (It helped that it was really warm in there.) And then, suddenly, we were married. Weird. We went off to sign the registry while the brass quintet played another of Jamie�s arrangements, and after some confusion on Jamie�s part (he had to go back twice because he kept signing in the wrong place. Hee.), we got everything signed and went back to the front. The priest blessed us, and said a few more things, and then said that in the Anglican church, they don�t say �You may kiss the bride,� because they believe in the exchange of peace. And so he told us to exchange the kiss of peace. Which we did, and it was just the right kind of kiss � meaningful without being PDA, which was what we were hoping to avoid. And then after, Jamie meeped me on the nose, just like he always does, and everybody laughed, and holy shit, we were married.
The priest said something about introducing Sarah and Jamie for the first time as a married couple, and holy crap, the place went nuts. There was hooting and hollering and thunderous applause, and it was kind of awesome. The brass quintet struck up �I Got Rhythm,� the recessional that I insisted upon, and Jamie and up went back up the aisle with this stupidly huge grins.
Everybody else followed behind, and Diana and her groomsman, a friend of Jamie�s, did a most excellent little spin at the end of the aisle. Everyone in the congregation was clapping along with the music, and it was this totally joyful, spontaneous moment that I really hadn�t expected. And god, I loved that freaking recessional. I loved all the music � it was really, really good (not surprising given Jamie, but still), and I�m super happy that nothing we picked was standard wedding music. Anyone getting married who wants a processional, I cannot recommend the Chorale from Jupiter enough. It was perfect in every way � great tempo, beautiful melody, and these glorious soaring lines that just give me goose bumps. Jamie�s arrangement was awesome.
We stayed at the back of the church to say hi to people as they left (not really a receiving line, since there were only the two of us, but we figured it was the fastest way to say hi to everyone without dragging the wedding party into a receiving line.), and I switched my engagement ring back over to my left hand and turned my wedding ring the right way around. And then I started hugging people.
And wow, it was a lot of people. I am not a huggy person, and I have never hugged that many people on one day before in my life. It was great, and it was super neat to see the people who were there and thank them for coming and all that (and let�s be honest, also to check out the outfits, of which there were some spectacular ones), but it was also kind of overwhelming to see so many people at once. (I hugged total strangers, which is hilarious and totally unlike me. You kind of get caught up in the moment.)
And then people filtered out, leaving behind all my family who were sticking around to have a photo taken. 
The wedding was the first time in the lifetime of me and my sister that members of both my mother and father�s family have been in the same room. So we had to take a picture of everybody, and it was awesome. It was so surreal to have them all there, and yet somehow it seemed totally natural to be hanging out with all of these people. I am so, so, so grateful that my relatives from Wales came over for the wedding. They, and my relatives from all over Canada who came as well, were what made that week into something more than just the single day. That whole week was the most fun I�ve ever had in my life.
However, the day itself was definitely the best part of it. And since I�m already on page six and it�s only about 3:30, I think it�s time for part two.
