Wedding
So, we got married on Himself's family farm in Galena, Illinois on June 26, 2004.
It was a perfect wedding, very relaxed and casual and full of good food and friends and family.
These are only selected photos, mostly of the two of us, as we don't have all our photos back yet and I figured those of you who know me online are probably more interested in us than in our numerous and wonderful friends and relations.
We rode in on "the Gator", an ATV his family uses for getting around the farm. Everyone thought this was hilarious, including us. It was a bumpy ride and hard to hang on to my veil and bouquet, but a great way to get there. My veil was sort of pasted on with a safety pin, as none of my friends knew anything about veils.
We had dozens of cameras trained on us at almost every moment. In the background of this photo is my best friend from middle school/high school, who took most of the main photos for the whole day (thank you, R!) We have hundreds more photographs coming to us soon, but I wanted to get some up while the day was still fresh. The bouquet is all herbs, with the lavender, thyme, and rosemary sent from Washington byt my friend N, who has an organic farm in Port Townsend and couldn't attend on account of new fatherhood - the best of reasons.
After signing the licenses, etc, we walked into a hall full of all our loved ones. This wedding was a real community effort - Himself's outfit was brought by relatives from India, my veil by relatives from the Philippines, I made my dress and my bouquet, my mother made the cake, and many other friends and family helped with getting everything ready and making it all go smoothly. Perhaps best of all...
My parents and younger brother (my brother couldn't be there for the wedding) had made a thousand paper cranes in the months leading up to the wedding - it was a total surprise, they told me a few days before - and they hung all over the barn. It was a festive and personal touch and a wonderful way to have part of my brother there in spirit. My grammy, who also couldn't make it, send an afghan she'd hand-crocheted.
I'll post the ceremony in its entirety in a separate post, but suffice it to say - it was short. No attendants or poetry or anything, just us getting married. About 5 minutes, tops. We exchanged rings and a kiss, then did a recieving line. Afterwards, I changed my necklace to wear the thalli, the "married woman's necklace" his relatives had brought me from Kerala.
We thanked everyone in a nice short speech from the balcony - I wrote up a list that morning of everyone to thank, and Himself did the speech. At the end, his mother said, "Why didn't you say anything? Let the bride speak too!" and I looked pious and said, "Now that I am married, my husband speaks for me." Then we ate. Oh, did we eat. The food was insanely good - lamb rogan josh and chicken and veg tikka masala, and naan and pakoras and samosas and rice and saag paneer and oof. Yum.
This is the lovely cake my mother made - I helped for the first day, but then burned out. A DIY wedding is tough and not recommended to those with no wedding experience (I'd done flowers for a lot of weddings and had some idea of how hectic it could all be.) Everyone agreed - best. wedding. cake. ever. Four flavors, and recipes will go up within a week or so. The toppers are a little turtle statue wearing a monster head that Himself keeps on his desk and a Monkey King statue I keep on mine. In this picture Himself is wearing a barong Tagalog, the traditional formalwear of the Philippines.
It was exactly the wedding we both had wanted, and the only thing I regret is that we didn't have more time to spend with all the wonderful people who showed up to celebrate with us. We got some time the next day with friends, and the week before with family, but there is never enough time with good people, really. I imagine there will be several more wedding-related posts before I am done rehashing it all.
It was a perfect wedding, very relaxed and casual and full of good food and friends and family.
These are only selected photos, mostly of the two of us, as we don't have all our photos back yet and I figured those of you who know me online are probably more interested in us than in our numerous and wonderful friends and relations.
We rode in on "the Gator", an ATV his family uses for getting around the farm. Everyone thought this was hilarious, including us. It was a bumpy ride and hard to hang on to my veil and bouquet, but a great way to get there. My veil was sort of pasted on with a safety pin, as none of my friends knew anything about veils.
We had dozens of cameras trained on us at almost every moment. In the background of this photo is my best friend from middle school/high school, who took most of the main photos for the whole day (thank you, R!) We have hundreds more photographs coming to us soon, but I wanted to get some up while the day was still fresh. The bouquet is all herbs, with the lavender, thyme, and rosemary sent from Washington byt my friend N, who has an organic farm in Port Townsend and couldn't attend on account of new fatherhood - the best of reasons.
After signing the licenses, etc, we walked into a hall full of all our loved ones. This wedding was a real community effort - Himself's outfit was brought by relatives from India, my veil by relatives from the Philippines, I made my dress and my bouquet, my mother made the cake, and many other friends and family helped with getting everything ready and making it all go smoothly. Perhaps best of all...
My parents and younger brother (my brother couldn't be there for the wedding) had made a thousand paper cranes in the months leading up to the wedding - it was a total surprise, they told me a few days before - and they hung all over the barn. It was a festive and personal touch and a wonderful way to have part of my brother there in spirit. My grammy, who also couldn't make it, send an afghan she'd hand-crocheted.
I'll post the ceremony in its entirety in a separate post, but suffice it to say - it was short. No attendants or poetry or anything, just us getting married. About 5 minutes, tops. We exchanged rings and a kiss, then did a recieving line. Afterwards, I changed my necklace to wear the thalli, the "married woman's necklace" his relatives had brought me from Kerala.
We thanked everyone in a nice short speech from the balcony - I wrote up a list that morning of everyone to thank, and Himself did the speech. At the end, his mother said, "Why didn't you say anything? Let the bride speak too!" and I looked pious and said, "Now that I am married, my husband speaks for me." Then we ate. Oh, did we eat. The food was insanely good - lamb rogan josh and chicken and veg tikka masala, and naan and pakoras and samosas and rice and saag paneer and oof. Yum.
This is the lovely cake my mother made - I helped for the first day, but then burned out. A DIY wedding is tough and not recommended to those with no wedding experience (I'd done flowers for a lot of weddings and had some idea of how hectic it could all be.) Everyone agreed - best. wedding. cake. ever. Four flavors, and recipes will go up within a week or so. The toppers are a little turtle statue wearing a monster head that Himself keeps on his desk and a Monkey King statue I keep on mine. In this picture Himself is wearing a barong Tagalog, the traditional formalwear of the Philippines.
It was exactly the wedding we both had wanted, and the only thing I regret is that we didn't have more time to spend with all the wonderful people who showed up to celebrate with us. We got some time the next day with friends, and the week before with family, but there is never enough time with good people, really. I imagine there will be several more wedding-related posts before I am done rehashing it all.
posted by The Stute Fish at 17:49
1 Comments:
Happy anniversary! Wow, it's a big week, with a birthday and an anniversary.
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