Walked on the beach (in the cold)...
sat on the deck (in the sun)...
read Harry Potter...
saw the sun set over Barnegat Bay...
ate steamers...
went bowling...
and played mini golf...
All in all, a very successful 'moon.
The word on the street after our wedding last weekend was that it was the BEST WEDDING EVER. We certainly agree, and obviously so many of our family and friends can't be wrong. I put together a list of my Top 10 favorite moments from the day, even though it was nearly impossible to settle on just 10.
But quickly, before I get to the Top 10, I'd just like to say that the reason we had the BEST WEDDING EVER was because we really have the BEST FRIENDS AND FAMILY EVER. You can have a great band, and a cool view, and pretty flowers, but a wedding is only as great as the people who are there, and everyone had such great energy and was so happy and excited for us that it couldn't have turned out any differently. So a great big thanks to everyone who attended, for being the best ever and making the wedding the best ever. We love you guys!
10. The ceremony itself. I enjoyed this part a lot more than I expected to. Our ushers kept everything running smoothly, the readers did a fabulous job, and the priest gave an absolutely perfect homily that was funny, informative, thoughtful, and tailored to us. I sat there grinning the whole time.
9. When J-P had a waitress bring me THE LAST MINI BLT during the cocktail hour so I could try it. He knew that BLTs are very close to my heart, that I picked them out specifically, and that I would have been sorely disappointed if I had missed them.
8. The dance circle that formed when the band picked up the tempo about halfway through the reception. My dad started everything off with some…unique…moves of his own, and then J-P and his high school friends broke out their baddest break dancing moves. Mike did a mean snake, and J-P did his trademark backspin.
7. The space! The view! The sunset! The weather! Hearing all the positive comments from our family and friends about the location, and seeing people gather around the west-facing windows to get a picture of the sunset over Manhattan.
6. Our friends dancing: the Wagner kids doing pirouettes in an impromptu interpretive ballet, Linda and Elaine dancing with napkins and roses in their teeth, Karen cutting a rug, Ellie showing us all how to do the Hora, Jason trying to cha-cha with my mom while she tried to lead, and Gabriel starting the tunnel.
5. The beautiful toasts given by my dad, J-P’s dad, my sister, and J-P's brother. They all struck the perfect chord, and were funny and touching at the same time. We both have such great families, and it’s awesome that they complement each other so well!
4. My first martini of the night during the cocktail hour, and my last martini of the night during the after-party. Let’s face it, it’s not a party without martinis.
3. Walking down the aisle, with the church full, the candles lining the aisle, and all of our family and friends gathered around. I realized later that I didn’t even look at J-P as I was walking down the aisle, because I was so busy scanning the crowd.
2. Our first dance. The music (Come Fly With Me) was perfectly upbeat, and we twirled around the dance floor in perfect time, singing the words of the song to each other, seeing the faces of our families and friends flash by as the late afternoon sunlight filtered through the windows. This was one of those moments that I know I will be able to picture forever.
1. The Hora! We are forever in debt to our friend Javier for making this happen. He had been bugging us for weeks to have the Hora, but we had hesitated because most of our guests have never even seen a Hora, let alone participated in one. But I always secretly wanted to have the Hora at our wedding, and since everyone had been so energetic all night, we went for it. The band started to play, J-P and I went up in the chairs, someone handed us a napkin, people started to clap in a circle around us, and I’ll tell you it was the BEST HORA THAT A CATHOLIC AND LUTHERAN HAVE EVER HAD IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.
Every time my sister and my husband are around each other, they inevitably lapse into extended and extremely detailed discussions of HP. (That's HP as in Harry Potter, not Hewlett Packard. You can imagine my disappointment when I realized that they were not discussing the recent corporate scandal at the computing and printing giant.)
I had managed to avoid the HP craze all these years, and to hear Valerie and J-P go on and on about it made me want to run screaming from the room. But finally, after months of cajoling, I picked up the first HP. I figured I should read it, if only because it is a cultural artifact reflective of its time, kind of like most music from the 80s.
It turns out that I like the books pretty well. I'm about halfway through the series right now, and am on track to read the last book when it comes out later this summer. But I'll tell you, reading these books makes me feel like an idiot. Because they are kids' books, right? I mean, a ten-year-old is supposed to be able to follow what's going on. And every damn chapter, I forget what came before it. I've got the main characters down, but I can't remember the difference between Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, Hedwig, and Hagrid. There are hippogriffs, boggarts, aurors, dementors, Sir Cadogan, Peeves, Filch, Flitwick, and a hundred other characters with ridiculous names and even more ridiculous backstories. I'm too involved to stop reading now, but after this I'm switching back to grown-up literature. This stuff is just too friggin complex for me.
So this is a bit of an experiment. J-P has been encouraging me to try writing in a non-legal format for a few months now, and I decided to go for it since the two big time-sinks in my life -- billable hours and wedding planning -- are a thing of the past.
Here's a little of what you can expect...
For the next few months, as J-P and I are traveling, I will post updates, stories, and pictures from our travels. Once we're back and making our transition into our new jobs, new town, and new lives together, this blog will obviously become less travel-focused. We'll see what happens then. Some things I'm interested in, which may get airtime here, include food, politics, feminism, Notre Dame football, and Things People Do That Drive Me Up A Wall. I imagine Adjusting to Life in Nashville is another topic I may cover now and again.
I'm approaching this project with high hopes, but low expectations, and I suggest you do the same so no one will be disappointed.
