Well, I did it! I tied the knot! And my wedding succeeded my expectations, which is rather unusual for special events in my life.
Technically I tied the knot twice. Doug and I married in a courthouse in Winston-Salem on Monday. My best friends, Bizy and her boyfriend, Trent (my "baby brother"), served as witnesses.
Because Doug and I couldn't elope to New York like we planned, Bizy volunteered to let us use her house as the ceremony/reception site, and a friend of hers volunteered to take photos (since I wanted some wedding photos). Trent told me he had talked some musician friends into playing at the wedding, which I thought to be unusual, considering the wedding was considerably small.
Doug and I arried late to Bizy's house, and I only had forty minutes to get ready. Fortunately, we were able to work fast. Trent helped me relax, then combed out my hair. Bizy then proceeded to apply a few finishing touches to my make-up, then styled my hair in an elegant updo, garnished with a white silk flower (by the way, it was the only flower in sight, as I am allergic to pollen and whatever hypoallergenic flowers we did have were never picked up in time. I never cared for flowers anyway). Finally, I slipped into my dress, in a manner of speaking (Bizy actually did beadwork on the dress), and Bizy, Cat (Bizy's sister) and Trent all told me I looked "gorgeous." By this time, it was nine o'clock and time for me to head out of the bedroom.
I noticed only Doug, Bizy and the musicians were in the room. It was a truly classic moment seeing Doug's face when he saw me in my wedding dress. He had a silent beam on his face and could only utter the word "wow." I also noticed the musicians were playing Canon in D, which was odd considering I had requested music from the musical
RENT. Suddenly, the music switched and went right into "Seasons of Love" and I heard several voices singing, "Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes," and quite beautifully, I might add. I looked around to see where it was coming from, and finally I saw Trent coming into the room- with several faces I recognized. I should add that Trent played Benny in a community production of
RENT, and the people singing with him were his castmates, and they were decked out in costume (scarves, coats, jeans, clothes in loud colors). Doug and I sang along, and when the song was over, the cast sat in the chairs, and Trent came up to me and told me, "I know you wanted to get married in New York, but since you couldn't afford it, I decided to ask my friends in the cast to sing for you guys."
"Oh, my God! I would recognize them anywhere! This was such a great surprise. Thank you so much, Trent," I said before we hugged.
Bizy presided over the ceremony. She even started with, "December twenty-fourth, nine P.M., Eastern Standard Time. From here on in..." (RENTheads will get this reference.)
The ceremony was mostly traditional. We started with a Spanish tradition, in which Doug handed me a small, beautiful sack filled with thirteen coins. Then we went into some Celtic traditions, including handfasting. While our hands were tied, we read our vows. I'm not sure how I got through my vows, as I was weeping softly and saw the other guests crying, which made it much worse. Doug picked up the mood with funny vows (he figured he'd need to induce some comedy in the ceremony, as he knew I'd be emotional).
Finally, we exchanged rings and kissed. Inducing a little comedy of my own, I blurted out, "On that note,
let us fuck!" (I knew Trent and his castmates would get that in-joke. It's a line someone ad-libbed during the song "Contact".) Trent and a castmate sang "I'll Cover You" for the recessional, then Melnyk, who played Roger, sang "Can't Buy Me Love" by The Beatles (Trent knew The Beatles are Doug's and my favorite band). Finally, everyone sang "Finale B".
Before the reception started, I requested to sing "Take Me or Leave Me" with Bizy. My reasoning was, "I didn't get the part of Maureen, and I want to compensate for it right now!" Needless to say, our performance induced a lot of laughter and applause among the the guests. (Later, the castmates complimented me and told me they wished I were in the production with them, which made me feel great.)
Our cake was all chocolate (chocolate ganache frosting on top of dark chocolate cake) and our first dance was to "Overjoyed" by Stevie Wonder. My wedding was everything I wanted it to be, and then some. I have the greatest friends and I take comfort in knowing that I have people who care for me so much and went through hell to make sure I got the wedding of my dreams.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
ms10123403325's Friends Page
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
lyrical_ink and 
pleased
nostalgic
ecstatic
lazy