Wills bett..I mean other half is back

Okay, so Will has done enough blogging for the both of us, but he has been pestering me to pull my own weight on this website, so here I go. No really, I have wanted to write, but I have just been so preoccupied with wedding planning, then the wedding, then the honeymoon, then the settling in, then the....you get the point.

So much has happened in the last month, that I really don't know where to begin. I guess I'll go chronologically, and see where that takes me.

1. Pre-Wedding Recollections

The last few days leading up to the wedding went by SO fast (as everyone told me they would), but not just because of all the last minute planning and details, but because two of my closest friends came up from Toronto just to be with me (and Will), to be at our beck and call. I was overcome by their loyalty and love. Yes, we have been friends since grade school; Yes, we have gone through thick and thin together. Some of the oldest friendships still don't survive the test of time. But these ones did. I was humbled by their unfailing readiness and willingness to help Will and I with whatever we asked them to do, be it fetch something from the car, make some signs, watch me get my nails done, decorate the church, write a song for the processional and perform it...and things we didn't ask them to do, like tell old inside jokes to remind me to laugh, comfort me when I worry about things, put together a slide show for the reception. They did the aforementioned, and then some. Whenever I showed surprise or gratitude for their help, they brushed it off saying, "That's what friends are for. That's why we came!" Maybe I just need a better lesson in what friendship is all about, because they certainly taught me a thing or two.

2. Rehearsal Night Recollections

I'd have to say that the day before the wedding was THE MOST stressful of all. I guess it makes sense; All the last minute things HAD to get done, no if, ands or buts about it. That meant yet another late night for me and my friends. The rehearsal was hard too, just because I was expected to answer so many questions (understandably) that I didn't know the answers to, which made me feel very unprepared...although I thought we were quite prepared given we had done pretty much all the planning ourselves. That night at the restaurant where everyone was having supper, I had my first and last wedding breakdown in the bathroom. It had to happen at some point, I guess. Did that EVER feel good. That night following the supper was crazy and fun. My two girlfriends and I were joined by my other close friend, who was in my wedding party, and the three of us drove around town getting last minute stuff done, until 3am. We were going to have cappucinos together when we got back, but instead we just crashed.

3. Wedding Day Recollections

After the most stressful day of all, I had the most stress free day of all! The wedding day itself was a blast, and I knew that everything had been done, and if not, it was too late to worry about it (I can't say the same for Will---he was running around getting last minute things done for us that morning). Driving up to the church in the morning, we pulled a Mission Impossible when one of my friends ran ahead to make sure the coast was clear of any groom or groom associates, and we bee-lined to the bathroom. There we camped out and got ready, and had a false sense of comfort that the ceremony wouldn't start without us. Well, it did. We (my wedding party and I) could hear the musical cue coming from the sanctuary, and the girls were supposed to be there for the procession. Uh oh! We ran for the sanctuary doors, and managed to keep to the processional plan, although a few beats behind. The ceremony was beautiful, including an excellent meditation by Chip Bender, an unexpected laughing fit by a member of my wedding party during the signing of the register, a comedic foot washing, where Will and I had a silent argument over who would take his shoes off and put them back on, and wonderful singing by the quartet.

Our plan for outdoor photography was sabotaged by the rain, but that didn't get to us too much, as it forced us to take pictures in the sanctuary, with the beautiful banners that we had made for the ceremony, by my great aunt. We did attempt to take some photographs outside, but I imagine all those pictures are blurry from my shivering about.

The reception was SO much fun, and so relaxing, considering we had done all the preparations that needed to be done. The speeches were heart warming, as well as the (3!) slide shows, and the kissing game (as an alternative to clinking glasses) was quite hilarious (where people were invited to show us how to kiss). The only downside to the evening was that my key chain went missing, and I did not feel comfortable leaving until we found them. We didn't, that night. It wasn't until after the honeymoon that I found them in the back pouch of my bag, where they had been THE WHOLE TIME, even on the honeymoon.

4. Honeymoon Recollections

As Will stated, we went to Cape Breton for our honeymoon. The first day of our honeymoon was not without it's stresses. To start things off, we missed our early morning flight from the Toronto airport (despite our staying in a hotel AT the airport--go figure). So, we just had to stay in our room and wait for the next flight at 4:30. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we needed our sleep like nobody's business. Arriving in Halifax, we were unable to rent a car that night, because we did not have enough money on our credit cards, and they required full payment through plastic. Doh! We had to shuttle over to the airport hotel, where we would spend the second night of our honeymoon in a hotel. This TOO turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because it meant we could make the 5 hour drive to our cottage in Cape Breton in DAY LIGHT, which made for good sight seeing and not getting lost.

It was SOO beautiful there, as we had come in time to see all the trees with full leaves, and in full colour. We stayed in a log cabin in the woods, on Bras D'Or Lake, and it was more than we could have imagined. We managed to see much of the island, driving all the trails around it in the week we were there. We completed our goals of seeing lighthouses and eating lobster. We did go whale watching one day, but it turned out to be "wave watching" as that was about all we saw for the first hour. We did see the tail fin of a Minke Whale, but that was it. We had just missed the whales' migration. We also missed Ceiligh season, which was another disappointment for us, but we had our own little ceiligh at the Sydney fiddle (the world's largest fiddle, I'd say), where you can hear celtic music playing from it. Another downside to showing up after tourist season was that the Fortress of Louisberg was closed, in that there were no staff there in costume, no food being prepared, and most of the buildings were locked. The upside is we got a private tour of the place, and were taken to some places tourists weren't usually taken. Even with missing most of the tourist attractions on Cape Breton, though, I can still say it was the best honeymoon I've ever had (doesn't have too hard an act to follow). But really, it was wonderful.

5. Returning Home Recollections

We were excited to come home to our new apartment. We looked forward to being able to live together, without one of us having to drive to another place for the night. It was hard getting back into the swing of things, though, and when I went to work the following day (after returning) my mind was elsewhere. I can't say much of it has come back since, and I'm still struggling with that. Work aside, married life is proving to be "fun" so far, just as many people told us it was. I look forward to a lifetime of this.

   [ posted by Anabee @ 10:10 AM ]