Weddingbee boards

When we last left off, the girls had gotten pretty and the boys had gotten pretty and made a bucket full of margarita mix.  Our photographers had figured that we probably wanted a first look, even though we were not really on the ball enough to inform them of this.  Fortunately, they are super on the ball awesome party people and got my husband to go stand somewhere scenic where he couldn't see me coming:

Behold the glimmer of awesomeness that is the back of his suit.  We got a lot of comments that this was the first wedding where the groom's outfit was more of a story than the bride's.  My uncle even made a toast later about how his suit was so awesome that he was pretty psyched to have a new member of the family who shared his sense of drama and style.

But for now, he is more psyched to see me in a dress and makeup than he is about his suit:

We're pretty psyched to see each other after a whole two hours apart:

Reunited once again, we start taking some stylin' pictures:

Then we grab the rest of the wedding party for some group shots.  This was also our first chance to see if our "wear something greenish / wear a summer suit" strategy of wedding party attire actually worked:

Oh, hell yeah.  Though it's a good thing my husband chose such a bad ass suit, otherwise his brother might have outshined him in that stylin' white suit.

I find all this posing quite entertaining:

but alas, all unintentionally hysterical portrait taking must come to an end, and it's time to get married?!?!

We had a pretty non-traditional processional, since we wanted to walk down the aisle together.  We both are very close with our parents, but this was something we felt was really perfect for us.  So our parents went at the beginning.  First my father-in-law, his sister, and her partner.  Then my parents, followed by his mother and 10-year-old half-brother.  My parents get a picture here because they did something EPIC.  Can you tell what it is?

The venue owner said that in 20 years of running the place (and it is a pretty party-conducive venue), he had never seen anyone refuse to give up a drink for the processional.  I talked to my dad afterwards and he said that it was my mom's champange and that's why he couldn't give it up.  Given that we had secretly bought her favorite champagne (Roederer Rose - delicious!) and hidden it from her both for months before the wedding, and for two days when everyone was hanging around the venue (we sent patrols of guys down to the bar to cover the boxes with sweatshirts anytime she might see them), I can understand that he thought it might be the chivalrous thing to hold onto her no longer secret champagne.  But I still think it's pretty badass.

If I'd had that stroke of genuis, I could have given the bridesmaids champagne instead of bouquets.  Alas, we went with nada because I am lazy.  Anyway, the prop-free wedding party begins their procession:

As you can see, bridesmaid C is pretty pumped.  We had 6 groomsmen and 5 bridesmaids, so she got 2 guys. 

My brother is pretty psyched.  He only gets one bridesmaid, but it's his girlfriend and they are awesome:

skip past a few more processional pictures and now it's our turn!  Take a deep breath:

I really can't overstate how happy I am with the decision we made to walk down the aisle together.  It's probably not for everyone, and I am sure some people had really breathtaking moments seeing their groom at the end of the aisle, but walking out together and holding his hand when we saw our guests waiting for us was something I'll remember and treasure for the rest of my life.

Grad School friend B officiated the ceremony.  We wrote it ourselves with a little inspiration from the interweb.  Grad School friend B was an AWESOME officiant.

Here you can see everyone, including High School Friend I on the far left... he played ukelele for the ceremony.  Our processional was Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love) by Cole Porter and our recessional was Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits.  That's my parents in the front row... you can see my mom taking a picture.

We had the wedding party pass the rings down the line to us:

and we're married!

Thanks to our photographers, Kyle and Seba at www.kylehepp.com for the awesome pictures (and for figuring out that we wanted a first look and getting that set up).  I highly, highly recommend them.  I'd also highly recommend officiant B and ukelele player I and all the other friends and family who helped out with our ceremony, reception, and drinking, but it might be a little weird to link to the rest of them here.

ETA: Forgot to include more detail on the ceremony itself, and on our reading (Goodridge vs. Massachusetts Dept. of Health, read by our friend A)  Here's the vows I wrote, with help from my husband and B.  I can post more if people are interested, but the vows are my favorite part.

Entangled, do you take Mr. Entangled as your husband, and promise to love him, to honor and cherish him for all of your life? Do you vow to love him when it is easy, on the days when you look into his eyes and feel the excitement you did when you first met him? To be there when he needs you most, in sickness and sadness and to travel the hard roads of life’s journey with him? And do you vow to love him on the days when life and love feels routine - to remember how special your love is and how blessed you are to have him as your husband?

LOVE this wedding!!! Cant wait to see more pics. Your dress is adorable!! love it!

@Baileyh:  Thanks!  I kind of slacked for awhile on the posting since I have a computer virus at home... had to wait for a quiet week at work but hopefully I can get more up soon.  ;)

@cameronwedding:  Thank you.  :-D

@KatNYC2011: Ack - we were commenting at the same time.

Thank you!  We were so psyched about our venue, The Holly Farm, and they exceeded our already high expectations.  In pictures, it made our wedding look so stylish and well-designed when it reality we barely did anything decoration or details related, but the pictures really don't even begin to do it justice.

Wow, everything looks beautiful! And I just love all your girls dresses together!  You looked amazing!!

Everything is so pretty! You rocked that dress!

@hermitcrab:  Thank you!  I was a little nervous about the dresses beforehand since I love the mis-matched look, but everyone lives in different cities and no one was able to coordinate ahead of time.  Somehow it turned out just the sort of spectrum I was hoping for.

@RR: Thanks!  Most of the credit goes to the venue for being gorgeous.  The paper lanters and a few candles here and there are the only decorations we brought in.

@bakerella:  Thanks!  I aim to be amusing.  ;)  Well, except with the vows where I aimed to be serious for once in my life. 

I copied/deleted our names from the ceremony to send to someone earlier, so it's not a problem to post it in full.  We read through some ceremonies on the internet to get some ideas and then went off on our own.   I'm happy to share if other people are even remotely interested.

B: Welcome, family and friends, and thank you for traveling here today to celebrate the love between R and M. All of us have special stories of love and friendship that bring us here and allow us to share in the joy of this day in unique ways. Life is full of these stories, and through them we grow, transform, and change. We develop our potential as individuals, yet we also form relationships with others that dramatically affect our lives. Some of these encounters are bad; most are good. Some last only a short time, while others are with us for the rest of our lives. The effect these people have on our lives, and in turn the effect we have on theirs, is profound and creates a bond, steadfast and lasting, that shapes our future.

R’s and M’s journeys have led them to be here today as we celebrate the convergence of their paths and the joining of their journeys through marriage. R and M have asked A to share a short piece that describes what marriage means to them.

A: Goodridge vs. Department of Health- "Marriage is a vital social institution. The exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and mutual support; it brings stability to our society. For those who choose to marry, and for their children, marriage provides an abundance of legal, financial, and social benefits. In return it imposes weighty legal, financial, and social obligations....Without question, civil marriage enhances the "welfare of the community." It is a "social institution of the highest importance." ... Marriage also bestows enormous private and social advantages on those who choose to marry. Civil marriage is at once a deeply personal commitment to another human being and a highly public celebration of the ideals of mutuality, companionship, intimacy, fidelity, and family.... Because it fulfils yearnings for security, safe haven, and connection that express our common humanity, civil marriage is an esteemed institution, and the decision whether and whom to marry is among life's momentous acts of self-definition. "B: Today is not the beginning of their love or the start of their lives together. But today is the day they formalize their love and promise to share their lives and love in front of family and friends.

At that point, B read the vows above to each of us in turn.  Then he pronounced us husband and wife, and introduced us for the first time as a married couple (we kept our last names, so it was something like "announcing for the first time, the married couple, R Entangled and M NotEntangled"

The reading is from the Massachusetts decision legalizing same-sex marriage.  We got the idea from when reader A and her husband, groomsman A, got married in Boston.  It was one of their readings, from A's law school friend.  My husband and I are both very passionate supporters of same-sex marriage rights so we loved the idea of doing it and since A is someone we are both fairly close with AND the person whose idea we wanted to copy, it was an obvious choice to ask her to read it.

Ack - sorry for the late replies - didn't see these until now.  :)

@irin997:  Thanks!  You were a ton of help with that.  :)

@secondchances:  Thank you!  I was totally nervous about that, since we didn't give anyone much specifics.  The girls knew what my dress looked like, and everyone knew that my husband's suit was awesome but top secret.  Somehow it all came together perfectly - I was so excited to see that.

@pengoala: Thanks!  We gave everyone a lot of freedom and apparently got really lucky.

@BayStateBride: Thanks!  We were so excited about our venue.  It made decorating easy. ;)

@sfchick:  Thank you!!  I was so excited to see how everything came together.  I'm so glad I ended up going with the short halter dress. :)

wow! everything looks amazing! You look beautiful and I LOVE how mixy unmatchy yor bridal party is, and they all look great together!!!!

@.twist.:  Thank you so much!