Weddingbee Blog

My friends, I’ve reached the end of my recaps. I’d like to offer you two things: outtakes and obrigada.

I. Outtakes

These are photos and memories that didn’t really fit anywhere else, but that make me laugh or smile.

These first two photos are from our favorite RI bar, where we dined and drank with friends two days before the wedding. We signed a dollar bill to commemorate the occasion.

Wedding morning, getting ready, PH about to get the scooter and me…reading Us Weekly.

Me and my dad, on the way to the church. He could not contain his excitement.

Waiting in the church rec center/basement before the ceremony. The restroom was also downstairs, so we had to hide from guests behind a partition.

Our “Oh Happy Day” sign (thanks Mom, for painting, and Dad, for installing).

It now lives in our living room.

The home-brewed beer was a hit. And I’ll never forget how our karaoke dreams were fulfilled.

And then the after-party of course. And the next day brunch. It’s amazing that my bouquet survived, but it did, and it sat in a vase on my nightstand for a few days post-wedding.

And I think I forgot to add that we had a LOT of leftover alcohol. A whole truck-load’s worth, in fact. Oops. But also, yay.

II. Obrigada

I ended up buying perfume for the wedding day, a lovely citrusy scent by Jo Malone called Verbanas de Provence. I sprayed it on all week before the wedding, when we sat out on lounge chairs and watched VH1 and grilled pizza and welcomed friends to our beach house. I sprayed it on that wedding morning, after that damn warbling bird and my alarm clock woke me up, after I’d laced up my running shoes for a calming solitary jog to the beach. I sprayed it on throughout our ill-fated sitcom of a honeymoon. And every time I did I’d think, “Okay, scent memory! Do your thing.”

But I wasn’t entirely convinced that my scent-memory-plans had worked; in July the perfume still smelled pretty, but I wasn’t necessarily reminded of our wedding.

This morning, this cold November morning, we got our first New England windshield-frost. We’ve turned the heat on. To be honest, I haven’t left the house yet. I can’t believe it’s November. November! I’m wearing sweaters and eating my daily winter breakfast of steel cut oatmeal. I’ve been busy finishing up coursework and PH has been busy with his trillion jobs and school, but we still manage to fit in pancake breakfasts on Sundays. And we’re married—for almost five months now—and we’re happy.

Back to this morning: something made me reach over to that perfume in the back of my stash of cosmetics. And I sniffed it. And it all came back—the cloudy beach days, the funny little cottage, my shaking legs as I stood up in front of the church, the rush of wind as we scooted around town after the ceremony, the dancing, the eating, and the love the love the love!

I feel honored to have been able to document this journey with you. Thank you for being part of it and for all your wonderful, kind, helpful, informative comments. If you like, come visit at my other blog home, Sass and Pancakes. I’d love to see you!

From an overwhelmed engaged gal to a stressed out grad student, to a very happy and relieved bride, I’ve cherished it all. Thank you. Obrigada. For me, truly, it’s been all that and…well, you know.