Today is the second day of our marriage. You are still in bed. You caught a cold (possibly related to your rowdy bachelor party the weekend before), and had improved a bit over the week prior to the wedding. But the activity of the wedding and the contact with all of our relatives made your cold worse. You sound like you have a frog jammed in your throat, and you are trying to hack it up (along with a lung). You called in sick at work today, and I hope a day of rest will leave you much improved. We leave for our honeymoon in four days.
Many people have told me that their wedding day is a blur in their memory. There was so much going on, they don't really remember all of it. This was not the case for me. Having spent so much time organizing and preparing for the big day, I spent very little time worrying about the details, because I knew they were taken care of. So I dedicated the rest of my focus to absorbing everything in.
I have come to one conclusion, which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. We are a lucky couple to be surrounded by so much love and friendship.
Years from now, when our kids ask us what our wedding was like, I will tell them it was perfect. I will tell them that we wrote our own vows, that I sniffled through them all, and that you dispensed a constant supply of tissue out of your tux pocket for me. I will tell them that you made your groomsmen, Andrew and Jeremy hold on to the used tissues-- which they did without complaint. I will probably not tell them that instead of promising to "compromise for you," I promised to "compromise you." They probably won't understand that until they're older...
There will be a lot of stories to tell, not all good. We will remember how my sister was lucky to avoid major injury when she was rear-ended on her way to the venue. She came to the wedding and MC'd anyway, later realizing that she'd probably had a concussion.
We can tell our nephew, Dylan, how he ran down the aisle to deliver our rings not once, but twice! And how he refused to come near me all night. The big white dress seemed to make him bashful and shy.
We will remember that Jeremy shaved his head into a mohawk. That Ashley and Heather teared up during their speeches. That Andrew had the room in stitches during his toast. We will remember that our candy buffet was a huge hit! The candy was gone before dinner was over. We will remember that your grandma was touched to walk down the aisle with you, and that your cousins Melia and Taylor had a blast on the dance floor. We'll remember how excited our parents were, and how nervous my dad was to give his speech. We'll remember all the work and thought Kelly-Ann and Lisa put into the slideshow they made for us, and the kind words my brother-in-law, Chris, shared with us later in the evening. Of course, we'll also remember how Steve danced himself sober, how Ben kept trying to "kiss" me, and how Jeff kept popping up with his instant camera! And we'll never forgot how much help everyone offered without being asked. Billy and Ashley D., and especially Shauna-- who I've heard kept the "dream team" in line.
We'll remember how many congratulations and good wishes were offered to us from our extended family, friends and colleagues.
But most of all, I will remember how everything about the night felt right. You were so at ease while you were thanking everyone, and so happy. You saw humor in everything-- like when you popped open the back of my dress during a particularly dramatic kiss, or when there were bugs crawling between the layers of my dress after tromping through a field for our photographer.
I love you so much. Our big day was better than I could have imagined. There was no better way to start our life together.
Amanda
Hubba hubba.
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