I so wish I’d got to know you more when we worked in the same office. It would have made my days so much more bearable! Really enjoying reading this, and you’ve only done a couple!
Wishing you both all my best wishes on your forthcoming wedding. And look forward to the next instalment.
This sounds perfectly lovely -- congratulations to you both, for finding your favourite person in the world!
The entire wedding-industrial complex befuddles me by its very existence. Case in point: I once attended a wedding where the bride had eight (8!) attendants, all dressed in fuschia and gold lamé off-the-shoulder gowns, their exposed skin dusted with glittering gold body makeup. The groom wore a tux that made him look like a maître de. The reception was at a dedicated reception venue, with an open bar, a hired master of ceremonies who told everyone what to do when -- including dictating an incredibly awkward garter-removal by the best man -- and was just generally icky, followed by a five-course meal, and a live band with dancing until the wee hours. I was told the whole rather-tacky affair cost over $20K, which at that point in time was equivalent to the down payment on a house.
By contrast, I got married in the small side chapel of the church where I had grown up, with a deliberately very small guest list. My niblings provided the music as a string quartet, and one of them doubled as organist on the chapel's hilariously carousel-like electronic organ (I'm not sure he's ever forgiven me for not using the main sanctuary, with its concert-grade Rieger Orgelbau pipe organ). Additional little niblings took part as a flower-girl-of-honor, a pair of ring bearers, and a non-usher (his job was to pass out hand-fans on that sweltering, 93F day, and to tell people to sit wherever they liked; none of that "bride's side, groom's side" nonsense). The youngest nibling of all, in leg casts from a corrective surgery, was given the job of looking as cute as humanly possible, which she totally rocked. The local university runs a hospitality services training program; we hired them to do the food for the reception in the church hall; Mom helped me pick out the the flowers from a local florist, and the cake (lemon, my partner's favorite) from a small bakery that's a local institution. Skipped dancing or a band, and went with some great 1940s music on CDs, playing in the background while we just enjoyed talking with everyone. No bouquet-toss; I gave it to my mom, instead. She planted some of the ivy, and seeds from some of the flowers, and kept it blooming for years.
What I remember most, 17 years later, is just how much the whole day meant "family" to me -- something no wedding vendor could ever provide.
WIshing you an absolutely lovely Declaration of Favourites Day!
I so wish I’d got to know you more when we worked in the same office. It would have made my days so much more bearable! Really enjoying reading this, and you’ve only done a couple!
Wishing you both all my best wishes on your forthcoming wedding. And look forward to the next instalment.
This sounds perfectly lovely -- congratulations to you both, for finding your favourite person in the world!
The entire wedding-industrial complex befuddles me by its very existence. Case in point: I once attended a wedding where the bride had eight (8!) attendants, all dressed in fuschia and gold lamé off-the-shoulder gowns, their exposed skin dusted with glittering gold body makeup. The groom wore a tux that made him look like a maître de. The reception was at a dedicated reception venue, with an open bar, a hired master of ceremonies who told everyone what to do when -- including dictating an incredibly awkward garter-removal by the best man -- and was just generally icky, followed by a five-course meal, and a live band with dancing until the wee hours. I was told the whole rather-tacky affair cost over $20K, which at that point in time was equivalent to the down payment on a house.
By contrast, I got married in the small side chapel of the church where I had grown up, with a deliberately very small guest list. My niblings provided the music as a string quartet, and one of them doubled as organist on the chapel's hilariously carousel-like electronic organ (I'm not sure he's ever forgiven me for not using the main sanctuary, with its concert-grade Rieger Orgelbau pipe organ). Additional little niblings took part as a flower-girl-of-honor, a pair of ring bearers, and a non-usher (his job was to pass out hand-fans on that sweltering, 93F day, and to tell people to sit wherever they liked; none of that "bride's side, groom's side" nonsense). The youngest nibling of all, in leg casts from a corrective surgery, was given the job of looking as cute as humanly possible, which she totally rocked. The local university runs a hospitality services training program; we hired them to do the food for the reception in the church hall; Mom helped me pick out the the flowers from a local florist, and the cake (lemon, my partner's favorite) from a small bakery that's a local institution. Skipped dancing or a band, and went with some great 1940s music on CDs, playing in the background while we just enjoyed talking with everyone. No bouquet-toss; I gave it to my mom, instead. She planted some of the ivy, and seeds from some of the flowers, and kept it blooming for years.
What I remember most, 17 years later, is just how much the whole day meant "family" to me -- something no wedding vendor could ever provide.
WIshing you an absolutely lovely Declaration of Favourites Day!