Why I Have No Pictures of the Courthouse :)

Here is the procedure for getting a marriage license in DC:

- both parties must go to the DC courthouse between 8:30 am and 5 pm
- both parties must present identification proving who they are
- identification must also show both parties are older than 16
- both parties must present the officiate's name
- the officiate must be registered to marry people in DC
- both parties sign the form
- there is a charge of $45 (or maybe $35? I don't quite remember)
- there is a 3 day waiting period
- someone must return in person to pick the certificate up

It is a process.

And it forced me to take some more time off from work, because how else would I make it into the DC courthouse before 5 pm?? That was frustrating. Ryan and I decided to head in one morning, because we figured that would take the least amount of time and I could go right to work afterward.

We got to the courthouse just as it started to rain. There was a long line out the door, since everyone had to go through security. As we waited, I noticed one particular rule on their sign: "NO UNAUTHORIZED CAMERAS" Uh oh ...

I slipped my unauthorized camera into the little change pouch in the center of my purse, which is how I got it into a Celtic Woman concert. (I didn't actually take any pictures, I just didn't want to have to go all the way back to the car!) Unfortunately, the government's Xray equipment is a bit more sophisticated than the security at the concert.

"Do you have a camera?" the security guard asked me.
What could I say? No? He already knew I had it! "Yes."

So they confiscated the camera and told me I could pick it up before we left by showing identification. "Some people try to take pictures of witnesses and things like that." Fair enough, but I'm just trying to get a marriage license, I swear! (I should also note that the only other time I tried to go into a courthouse, to pay a traffic ticket, I tried to bring in a knife ... )

After that excitement, getting the actual license was a piece of cake!

But I really did wish I had my camera. They must conduct weddings in that same room, because they had this old, sad awning thing as decoration. Paper signs were taped to the wall all around it: "You may not take pictures here. You can take pictures in a separate room after the ceremony!" How romantic ...

Ryan and I worried that our pastor might not be registered in DC - everything else was going right and that would be a huge problem - but she was. Someone else in the room had worse luck than us; she was frantically calling her pastor, trying to figure out why he wasn't on the list!

We signed the necessary documents and then went downstairs and paid our required fee in cash, no credit cards accepted. Various brochures in that room were translated into several languages, so I took a French one. Of course :)

And then there was the matter of getting my camera back at the end ... the exit/entrances are located at different places, so I had to push my way into the entrance through the stream of people coming out. I showed ID and they gave me back my camera. Then they immediately turned their attention back to the line of people coming in. So I did the only thing I could do: I walked back into the building, where I wasn't supposed to have the camera. Now, I went right out the exit afterward, but I could have just gone and did whatever I wanted with it!

There's a 3 day waiting period to get a marriage license, but only a brief waiting period before you can start taking pictures of witnesses, lol.

Love, Love, Love This "Tree" :)

Isn't this fantastic???

Shelley and Bob had it at their wedding and I just loved it. I ended up ordering it for ours too. (Now I just have to find somewhere to print it out!)

I didn't get a chance to ask Shelley about it at her wedding, as she was obviously pretty busy. ("Hi there. Great wedding. Can I steal your guest book idea thing?") I am really hoping she and Bob don't mind!!!

Shelley and Bob's wedding

Mmm ... definitely a good start to Ryan's cousin, Shelley's, wedding reception! They called it a Blushing Bride martini and I approve :)

I approve of the wedding overall, of course. We had a great time. Shelley and Bob looked so happy. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was fun.

For anyone else getting married out there, I highly recommend going to another wedding first before yours. It was definitely a great way to put things back into perspective right when things are getting crazy over here!

Plus, I got to take some cute pictures of our flower girl!







(Her mother is Ryan's sister-in-law and she has graciously agreed to be the photographer in our wedding. When I took out my camera, her husband, Ryan's brother, played the bodyguard and jokingly threatened to break it. Then he saw all the incredibly blurry photos I was taking and said "never mind." lol)

Shelley and Bob, thank you so much for having us at your wedding! We are so glad we could be there to celebrate with you! :)

Music: To Be Determined

On the music front, I turned in the questionnaire with "TBD" written on several lines. But hey, at least I got it turned in! lol

The dj emailed me and I explained that I just wasn't sure what to put. What do people normally play at a ceremony? He gave some suggestions, I pulled them up on YouTube, and picked one. So there's our ceremony music :)

I then told him that we had asked my cousin to sing during the ceremony. He checked for the background music for the song; he couldn't find it for that particular singer, so he suggested another singer's "version."

When I looked up the other singer, it was a totally different song! Eek. No good.

There's only one thing to do under these circumstances: I went to Ryan.

Ryan found a website where we can buy the backtrack for the song and I have now emailed it to my cousin for her confirmation/approval. Fingers crossed that this works out :)

Designing the Cake

Friday evening, a very nice young man answered the phone at the bakery. I explained that I had already ordered a cake and I needed to bring in the stuff for our final design. Could I set up an appointment?

"Well, our cake person isn't here right now," he said, "but you could bring the stuff in if you'd like and I will take great care of it!"

I appreciate that, but I couldn't come in Friday evening - I hadn't decided what the cake would look like then!

So he told me I could just show up on Saturday. "Just call beforehand, so we can make sure our cake person is here. He usually is, but there might be an emergency on a delivery or something."

When I called, the phone just rang ... and rang ... and rang ...

We really did just show up :) We milled around with the other customers for a bit before we got close enough to the cake person to let him know why we were here. "I called last night and they told me we could just show up!" I told him. I didn't want him to think we were the kind of customers who would just show up on a busy Saturday and demand attention without even calling!!

I had 3 pages of pictures of cake I'd printed out. See how helpful I am?

"Which one do you want?" he asked.

"Well, I want the ribbon from this cake, but in fondant like this cake, but not all white, so maybe with the dots like in this cake." I said.

"No problem," he said.

Then he wrote down 1 sentence on a sheet of paper and told me he didn't need the pictures I printed, so who really knows what the cake will look like, lol.

I also gave him a swatch of fabric from the bridesmaids' dresses and he will try to get as close as possible to that color. When wedding day comes, have the bridesmaids stand really close to the cake to see if he succeeded!

Planning the Ceremony with the Pastor

It was raining when we met again with the pastor. It was raining last time, too. I say this only because of the three of us (me, Ryan, and the pastor,) I am the only person who noticed this, lol.

On the agenda: planning the ceremony!

Ryan and I planned a good part of it sometime ago, at our favorite restaurant, but this time we went over our choices with the pastor. We also needed to pick readings, which I hadn't been quite sure what to do. Once we decided on a Bible version to use, the pastor went through a list of commonly chosen readings with us.

There are definitely some interesting verses in the Bible, lol.

"This one is kind of ... " I'd say.
"Yes," she'd agree.

Then there was the verses which mentioned divorce. It must be a bad omen to use readings about divorce in a wedding!

I picked the first reading because I thought it was very sweet and loving and fitting for our ceremony. I picked the second because I especially like the "Love is patient, love is kind" section.

"Now, most importantly, do you have a marriage license?" the pastor asked. When we hesitated, she said, "Okay, don't do this to me ... " But we assured her we will DEFINITELY have one by the wedding. Somehow, lol.

Finally, we looked over Ryan's and my family trees (which she had asked us to make for homework at our last meeting ... pretty easy homework considering I work on them all the time! lol) She had said we would look for marriage patterns. She was surprised/impressed to find that both of our parents and all of our grandparents had stayed married. No divorce in two generations. Pretty rare these days! We're very lucky to have such great examples of love around us and we know it :)

One Month Left!

Oh my goodness ... there's only one month left until my wedding!!!!!!!

More Music!

I have possibly been driving everyone crazy with the music selections ... I checked a few days ago and found that the dj questionnaire was supposed to be submitted BY MAY 11TH. Eeeeeeek.

For our wedding song, I proposed "After All These Years," by Journey, among other songs, but no luck ... Ryan said I had to pick something less dramatic, lol. I think we've come to an agreement now :)

I searched online for songs to play at various points of the ceremony. One of the recommended songs: The Dance, by Garth Brooks. Um ... have any of these people actually listened to that song???

Looking back on the memory of
The dance we shared beneath the stars above
For a moment all the world was right
How could I have known you'd ever say goodbye
And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance
Holding you I held everything
For a moment wasn't I the king
But if I'd only known how the king would fall
Hey who's to say you know I might have changed it all
And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance
Yes my life is better left to chance
I could have missed the pain but I'd of had to miss the dance

Oh yeah ... that definitely says happy wedding day to me ... lol

So we are not going to play that song :P

I asked Ryan and his mother about the mother/son dance and whether they were going to do one. Ryan's mother suggested some songs:

1) Where Has the Time Gone, by Barry Manilow
2) I Will Always Love You
3) Beer for My Horses
4) Sometimes When We Touch ...

After that last one, Ryan's mother isn't allowed to pick songs anymore :)

I submitted the dj questionnaire today with a few TBD's noted on it. I sent it to 2 people and both were out of the office, but my mother assures me we will still have a dj. Phew :)

On to the next crisis, lol

Torturing the Photographer :)

After the shower, Sandy and I tried to plan out how we would do the photos ... I have homework, lol ... she had so many questions for which I had no answers. I'm working on it, Sandy, I swear!

Wedding Madlibs

Ryan's mother may refuse to play bridal shower games (she says she cheats at the bingo game!! lol) but she wrote up this MadLib for us once we got back to their house after the Pittsburgh shower.

Pittsburgh Shower

And now, for the Pittsburgh shower:



Adorable party favors ... and I didn't manage to acquire one :( But I think there's extras someplace, lol



Everyone was so generous and brought such lovely gifts!



Everybody signed this umbrella for me:



We had a slight food disaster ...



But it turned out okay and so did everything else :)



Look, both of our mothers in the same place! lol



So many wonderful guests - it was great to meet / get to know better so many of Ryan's family's friends and relatives. I can now finally put faces to the names I so often hear (all good things, of course!) :)



People were so generous with their gifts:



Ryan's cousin, Shelley, warned me that cutting ribbon on your shower gifts means babies come faster, so we were veeeeeeery careful to slide off every ribbon! But, of course, we still made a hat :)



(PS - Ryan's sister-in-law, who we are fortunate enough to have as our wedding photographer, took most of these photos. She solved the problem of my setting down my camera and walking away, lol. Thanks, Sandy!!!!)

Maryland Bridal Shower :)

Folks, I didn't get too many photos from my Maryland wedding shower - I kept putting my camera down and losing it, lol



But my mother, sister, Michelle, and Kelly did a great job ... everything looked so cute!



I didn't get too many photos of the food and drink, but there was plenty!



And, of course, cake!



Everyone played a cute Bingo game




Winners could pick from these cute baskets:



And we gave out great party favors:




Last, but not least, we had hats, many hats:



I know other people took great photos, so I look forward to seeing those too :)

Wedding Bags

Look at these incredibly cute bags my mother got for the women of the wedding party!



This is a close up of the emblem on mine:



There was even one for our flower girl :)

Sage? Periwinkle? Pistachio? What?

After the dress fitting business, we swung by Men's Wearhouse to discuss tuxedo colors (aka to stare blankly at tuxedo colors.)

This is how we did it:



Then we met up with my mother and here's how she did it:





The male employee who helped us admitted he wasn't good at choosing colors, so Mom said she wanted one of the female employee's opinions. The two of them marched out into the main corridors of the mall and stopped pedestrian traffic for the opportunity to see the colors in a different light :)

And then here's Katie, just for fun :)

Walk Away When You're Done :)

Now for Michelle's favorite part of the whole wedding process ... lol

We went here to pick up her dress and get it fitted:



This is the dress displayed in the front:




Michelle and I walked past that and said "Yikes." Then, I had to run out to the car to get something ... when I came back, I was behind a large family shopping for a prom dress. One of the women in the group said, twice, quite seriously, "What about this yellow dress?" Lucky for the prom goer, everyone just ignored her :)

Unfortunately, our seamstress didn't seem all that interested in actually doing the fitting. One of the employees had to say, "This is Michelle and she has come ALL THE WAY FROM FLORIDA and she has a SPECIAL APPOINTMENT!" just to make the woman do it.

Some time later, Michelle came back to the dressing room looking confused. "I don't know if she's finished?"

"Did she just walk away?" asked another employee.

"Yes!"

"Oh, she does that sometimes. We keep telling her not to do that, but she doesn't listen. She's done."

Fabulous customer service there, huh? lol