Wedding and Honeymoon

So much has happened in the last two weeks that it’s hard to recap everything. The week leading up to the wedding was mostly uneventful, though jam-packed with wedding preparation to-do lists.

I had a bridal shower with my family on Sunday; dress fitting was on Monday, and everything fit beautifully. The top was actually a little big (we may have overcompensated) so Mom sewed the buttons on about an inch in from where the pattern instructed and we ended up safety-pinning the sides right before the wedding so there was a bit less movement.

Thursday, the wedding party went to a couple bars and had some drinks – I actually just had soda, since I had to drive my mom’s car back home later that evening. On Friday, we went bowling with both families and then had a “rehearsal” dinner (no rehearsing actually occurred) with Daniel’s dad and stepmom. The food was delicious lasagne, catered by Ivano’s since they are such nice people.

Then… SATURDAY!

I got up super, super early and drove out to my parents’ house to collect all the wedding related items like the dress, decorations, and beverages. We made it to the wedding site at 8am to start setting up and a ton of people helped out – it was great.

The one and only wedding injury happened to me and it was my own fault. I was holding our glass “wish jar” when it started to fall off my lap. I moved to catch it, and instead of catching it, I PUNCHED THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS out of it with my ring finger. IT HURT SO BAD. I started laughing since it was the only way I could keep from crying, especially since I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet and I was already cranky. I ended up bruising the nail a little bit and walked around for a while with my finger in a cup of ice. It’s still tender a week later, but not anywhere near as bad as that day.

During the setup, there was a linen-ironing station, a flower-setup station, a food station, and a music station… which brings me to the one and only crisis of the day.

All of the music for the wedding and reception was on my iPod. I brought my work laptop to run iTunes but the actual music files resided on the iPod and the iPod only, since the music originated off my home computer. I have had my iPod for several years, and the only time it has EVER done anything weird was when I unplugged it improperly and had to restart it. Of course, you will by now have guessed that something went wrong with the iPod, and you would be correct.

If you own an iPod, you know that when it is plugged in, it shows the words “Do not disconnect” plus a flashing red “no” symbol. I picked it up and noticed the no symbol was missing – it wasn’t flashing. I ejected the iPod and plugged it back in, whereupon it came up with the “charging” screen. This usually means the iPod has been run down to the point where it has to charge a bit before you can use it, but I knew for sure it had a full charge. Eject, restart. Daniel’s stepsister Tori held it while it was starting up, checked it out and then said, “I don’t want to freak you out, but… um… there’s… there’s nothing on this iPod.”

I took the iPod back and confirmed that it thought it was empty, and decided that since it often fixes computers, another restart was in order. I held the buttons down and held my breath, but the screen that came up was far from reassuring. I have heard of the iPod screen of death, but did not witness it firsthand until the morning of my iPod-requiring wedding. It is a terrifyingly sad screen, one that struck fear into the very pit of my stomach: A DEAD IPOD WITH X’s FOR EYES AND AN UNHAPPY FACE.

Daniel’s brother Paul has a friend named Justin who is, by all accounts, an iPod wizard. Paul proclaimed, “Be back in 10,” grabbed the iPod and left to find Justin, who performed his iPod wizardry and FIXED MY DEAD IPOD. I have no idea what transpired in those ten minutes Paul was gone with the gadget, but it worked and I owe Justin a giant thank-you card for saving my wedding music.

The wedding itself was beautiful and special and perfect. We got lots of compliments on the flowers, the decorations, the italian catering, and the ceremony itself. Everyone liked that it was very simple but meaningful, and it all just turned out so well. I really have no complaints. We even preserved our wedding flowers through a flower preservation service.

We stayed at Schweitzer Mountain Lodge that night. Daniel’s sister Gretchen snuck up to decorate the room at some point on Saturday, so we were welcomed with rubber duckies (there was a huge jetted tub in the room), champagne, tiny boxes of cereal, string cheese, “smoochers” mints, and loads of other silly things. It was awesome.

The next morning we had a brunch out at my parents house. There was leftover food and dessert from the wedding, and we had mimosas and Daniel and I opened presents. Mom kept sending flowers home with everyone that stopped by.

We left for Victoria, BC on Monday and, as I write this, we will be leaving tomorrow. It’s been lots of fun and yet very relaxing at the same time. Daniel bought me a reflexology foot massage for Tuesday (that was the “don’t make any plans for Tuesday” mystery event, for those in the know) and we’ve been doing a lot of walking and touristy things. We saw the Craigdarroch Castle, Miniature World, the Wax Museum, the Undersea Gardens aquarium, and the new Narnia: Prince Caspian movie. We didn’t make it to Buchart Gardens, and I’m not sure if I’m going to regret it or not; it was kind of a money/time decision, but I figure if we decide we desperately need to go, we can revisit Victoria. It’s been wonderful up here all week and I’d totally come back.

Today was rad, because I finally got to meet Rose! So far, I’m two for two on meeting awesome Internet friends that are not axe-murderers. Yay! We chatted a bit about work and travel and websites at a cute coffeeshop called Habit. Pictures to come shortly, as soon as I can find my camera cord and upload everything to Flickr. So, yes – for those curious, neither Rose nor I are 80-year-old creepy men with a penchant for murder. Also, she’s a very cool girl and I’m glad I got to finally meet her! *waves*

Note to self: I am SO GLAD I do not have TV because I am apparently hopelessly addicted to HGTV. The homes! The renovations! The decorating! I CAN’T LOOK AWAY. It’s horrible. Every waking moment not spent out doing something, I am glued to the home renovation shows. I don’t even own a home. Daniel has been taking this opportunity to watch some basketball games and make fun of me for my HGTV addiction, but I suspect he enjoys it as well.

All in all, this has been a wonderful two weeks and I am so happy that we are finally MARRIED (!!!) and thank you all for your thoughts and well-wishes. It means a lot!

File Under: General, Wedding

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