The Tea Party: Sealed with a High Five

Previously: 1. Prelude , 2. Tea Ceremony , 3. Getting Ready, 4. The Kids, 5. Wedding Party, 6. Down the Aisle

When the ceremony began, I was taken aback by BIL GT's projection with his theater trained voice. I reacted with an audible whisper "WOW he's LOUD!" which cracked both boys up a bit, but BIL GT kept composure and did an amazing job.

"I do"

"Hey, I do too!"

We went with simple short vows along with the following reading, an excerpt from the book Gift from the Sea by Anne Lindberg. We also gave MIL GT a copy of the book for keepsake.

"When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity - in freedom, in the sense that the dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same pattern"

(photo by my friend Rob)

I nicknamed the mister's nephew 'Frodo' for holding the one true ring, and I just found out the other day that the mister thought all along it was because the nephew actually looked like Frodo. Oy.

I didn't realize it until afterwards, but we held hands the whole time. I guess it just came natural to us, and it's nice to see that in the pictures like I didn't come in a mail order.
Always the clown, I was exaggerating the shoving of ring onto da hubs' finger, which triggered laughter among our guests.
Poor hubs knew the giggles only fueled me so he endured it a little...
Then the party pooper in him came out and fun was put to a stop.
Never a PDA lover, I had really rallied for a 'first high five' in place of the 'first kiss'. I was denied, again and again. In the end, we did both, which also made people laugh. I think we actually made the final decision to do both right before the high five took place. Check out the little one's reaction:

"haha gross! he had to kiss a giiiirrrrrrllll!""Woot!"

Here I am already flagging down the barkeep...

Short was the #1 criteria for our ceremony. Real was #2. #1 was for everyone's sake because folks can only be real happy for you sitting in the sun for an X number of minutes. #2 was just us being us - no over abundance of mush, no unrealistic romance and commitment, just us goofing around as we sealed the deal witnessed by those we love most. We got exactly what we wanted.

How did/will you make your ceremony your own?


Images by Travis Hoehne except as denoted