It’s been over a week now since we diplomatically tied the knot & married life is treating me fine!
First, I’ll direct any readers to the photo gallery: http://pix.ericles.com where you’ll find the “married” album for your browsing pleasure!
Next I’ll say that the only way to have a wedding is to have it small, fast & without pomp OR circumstance. When I proposed to Heather back in September she told me that she wasn’t in any kind of hurry to get married. Well, of course, it wasn’t even the new year yet & she was totally planning the wedding! Fortunately, she still wanted to just elope to avoid the pitfalls of a huge ceremony & the family, time & monetary commitments that it requires. Further more, we had heard horror stories of bride & groom unable to enjoy the reception after the stress of the ceremony. This made us realize that we needed to set some ground rules for how we get hitched. First:
The ceremony is for the married couple. The reception is for the friends & family!
With this in mind we decided to have our ceremony nice & quiet & quick & follow it up 6-8 weeks later with a wiz-bang reception pig-roast picnic! We just about blew it on the “small ceremony” part as we were torn with the guilt of deciding who could stand (or would stand for) being excluded. In the end we used common sense & decided to invite one parent each, & to invite the one who had to travel the greatest distance. The logic here is sound:
If someone is going to attend only one half of The Wedding, they would be more likely to attend the ceremony.
We both really wanted everyone to be a part of The Wedding, whether it be the first or second half. Bringing in her Dad from Colorado & my Mom from California just made more sense & cents (considering the price of air-faire). Besides, at least half of our guests are out-of-state & it just isn’t fair to ask anyone to make the trip twice. For this reason, the invites that we have sent out really sell the fact that the marriage isn’t official until it is blessed by our friends & family. The state of New Jersey might be satisfied, but we’re not! The minister of our church will be there. We’ll be exchanging vows. We’ll also unveil our long-term commitment rings. More importantly, at the picnic we’ll have a place for your John/Joan/Pat Hancock. With signatures collected & the marriage officially sanctioned by a governing body of our peers, only then will we feel the marriage is complete!
The Garden State couldn’t care less about us. It is family & friends that make a marriage official!
So there you have it – the two part wedding with full back-story. Will it be a story-book marriage? I think so. Will it have a happy ending? Probably, but I’m really just looking forward to the stuff between now until then. That’s what being married is all about. Hope to see you all in September!