I'm married!

Well, I suppose my wedding blog is now finished. There is nothing left to write in its "pages". For we did it! The madness, the tears, the sweat that went into this wedding I think have left a far longer lasting impression on me than the wedding day itself. I can never thank my bridesmaids enough. Thank you for traveling from so far, only to have to support me, wrangle groomsmen (and the groom!) build bouquets, and create a wedding from nothing. I guess I'll break it down here to remember as much of it as I can... so much happened so quickly on so little sleep that I'm sure I will leave much out.

Monday: I had to get up at 5:00am to go to work to train people to do my job while I was away. I went to sleep at 3:00am. In a daze I ran over the tools, the procedures... the wedding.... I came home and memorized my vows. Then we had to pick up the house and we went and saw Inception. Went to be at 4:00am I think.

Tuesday: Woke up at 7:00am. Washed sheets and made the futon for guests. Set out towels and things in guest bathroom. Then we went to go get James so we could all go pick up Tiffany from the airport. Emma peed everywhere on the plane, the Houston airport lost Emma's stroller, madness! Kayla somehow ended up in Vancouver trying to get to the airport.... so we drove out there to meet her and drop off Emma. We all then went back into Beaverton and met up with Brittany while the boys... got their groomsmen attire. Tiffany, Brittany and I went and got our nails and eyebrows done, spray tans, purchased hair dye, and went to my grandma's to go start working on flowers. Then we came home, hung out for a bit and went to Montage for dinner. John, Brittany, and I then went back to my place and watched an episode of True Blood before crawling into bed in the wee morning hours.

Wednesday: Up at 7:00am, getting ready to go. Tiffany arrived from her night with James a little later. We ate some leftovers for breakfast and began our trek to weddingdom. Somewhere in there I dyed my hair, but I forget when... We went to David's Bridal to get my dress and garters, to Claire's for pretty bobby pins and a bracelet, to Winco for $70 in Jelly beans to fill shot glasses with (we still have sooo many - yay for overestimating!), and then I dropped Tiffany off to go pick up Az, and had Brittany stop by the Dollar Store to get ribbons for bouquets. When we were loading up the cars, John stops by to show me my wedding present. Her name is Jane and she is a glorious 1990 red convertible RX7. Ah the joy of FCs. We got everyone and thing together and headed out (late) to Seaside to check in to the Hillcrest Inn. The innkeep was a little... strange, but friendly. Our cottage was pretty spectacular. 2 bedroom, 1 bath, fully loaded kitchen area. We changed into some nicer clothes and headed to the beach to the rehearsal. . . only an hour and half late (sorry Grandpa!). We figured out walking and such, and then headed back to McMenamin's Sand Trap where we had the worst service ever. Then we went to Safeway and picked up some more alcohol for our girls night in. Once everyone was asleep apparently somethings happened... and I was woken at 5:30 by James coughing up a storm.

Thursday: Glass of OJ and back to bed til 9. When I woke up the bouquets were being done. (Thank you Az! and Brittany). Those got finished up and we got showered and doughnutted and headed out to set up the reception location. (After much harassing the boys to make sure they were awake after their Zombie stripper attacks and Oregon Coast bar hopping). We laid out the centerpieces and jelly filled shot glasses and bubbles and such. Then we went to breakfast at this place in Seaside.... I don't remember the name but they have deliciousness (and 3.95 biscuits and gravy all day). The service was apt and much better of a transition than dinner the night before. We then headed into Seaside again to get ready at my Grandma's hotel. So many people, and curling and bobby pins. Thanks to Tiffany for turning my face into something beautiful, my grandma and aunt Niki for creating my hair, and Az and Brittany for helping put on the finishing touches. Donned in a giant dress Azurell drove me to the wedding site. We tried to find a back entrance to our starting point, but ended up much farther down the beach and had to hike through the grassy dunes. When I got a glimpse of the ceremony site, I was blown away. White ribbon outlaying the aisle and site. A heart dug into the sand and laden with rose petals. The music started and it was time to go. I grabbed my grandmas hand and walked through the sand. John was so beautiful! When I arrived in the heart by his side, it was like no one else and nothing else mattered. We were together, and that's it. As we chattered away at each other, we realized that a wedding was happening, and there we were in the middle of it! Our vows were spoken, rings exchanged - a kiss. And we tromped back up the hill to take pictures. Thank you so much Brook and Samantha for capturing all that happened that day. John and I managed to have a bit of time alone as we waited for the chair rentals to be whisked away. We drove back up to the Sand Trap and were introduced to the crowd. Many hugs later we sat down for a delicious meal and drinks. A cake was cut, glasses were raised, toasts given, tears flowed. We danced in our awkward way and had our bridal party and family join us. A money dance was given (thank you Steve!) and then we returned to finish dessert. Chatting, a bouquet toss, a garter fling.... pictures and memories. The crowd dissolved, we counted our money, and headed to a hotel in Seaside - Rivertide Suites. I recommend it highly. 2 bedroom, 2 bath, a full kitchen, washer and dryer, jetted tub, living room, three flat screen TVs. . . John made us a giant bubble bath in the jetted tub and we drifted to sleep on pillows of down.

Friday: As the night was unprepared I had only my wedding dress to my name. I wore some of John's clothes as we went downstairs for breakfast, after figuring out how the toaster worked.... anyway, I called my grandma who was staying across the street and she came and took our things so we could zip back in my shiny new to me car. We drove with the top down in the sun, it was marvelous. We realized, we were married!

I married my friend, the person I can most be myself around. I love him more than anything else in this earthly existence. And, while we're not actually married - I realize most that it is what in your heart that makes a marriage. Nothing has changed. I am now introduced as wife (which was weird) and there are more rings on my finger. Catching a glimpse of John's hand shining makes me smile. Our day to day is the same. We wander around for things to do, drive around and hang out with people. We live, we love, we laugh. Once the bankruptcy goes through and we are finalized, when we go the city hall and make it so... I don't think anything will change then either (except our names).

Pictures are up on Facebook, once I get CDs of them I'll probably post them all together on some other photo hosting site.

Thank you to all that helped make this work, who provided the monetary means, the flowers, the carpooling, the bouquet making, the food providing, the everything! Thanks to the catering staff at Sand Trap for creating a wonderful room for us to be in.

Thank you John, for loving me.

<3