Note: The adorable Mrs. Octo pointed out how funny it was that I went with straightforward “Wedding Recaps” as the header for my recaps. I was never good at writing headlines; straight-up terrible. But I gave it some thought and determined that Taco Supreme was a lot better than “Wedding Recaps.” Thanks, Octo 
Now, back to recapping the Tacos’ supreme event.
A few weeks prior to go-time, I started to freak about tripping in the aisle. Had I tested the shoes well enough? What if my dad rolls over my train? How slippery *is* that floor, now? How many layers of dress are there? A 2010 bride buddy and her husband gave the best advice: kick out. Kick the dress layers away from you as you walk, and it’s way harder to trip over everything. I was glad to have the advice, but I was also skeptical about my ability to follow it. For better or worse, I did glance downward a lot to make sure there weren’t any rolling-over incidents or errant banana peels on my journey down. More on that later.
While I concerned myself with this and other worst-case-scenarios, the room was set up and ready to go. Some guests arrived and hung out on the balcony, while others milled about in ceremony space. I got a quick peek through an open door of the room, and I was blown away; I couldn’t wait to see everything up close. In fact, during the ceremony, I distinctly remember darting looks over to the arrangement behind and over from my groom. (I promise I was paying attention, also.)
All pictures by Ashley Forrette and Gem Photo, unless otherwise noted.
The ladies and our flower girl walked down the aisle to an Iron and Wine cover of Postal Service’s “Such Great Heights.” While we were all in line and ready to go, I got a major stomach-dropping feeling as soon as the first chords of their song played. It was nerves, but it was also another point at which I could not believe I was getting flippin’ married, like, now. I listened to the song a million times and I imagined the scene in my head, but it (predictably), was nothing in comparison. No matter how many times you do or don’t rehearse, you just can’t predict or recreate it. In retrospect, this is a good thing. It was a lot of fun imagining it beforehand, but part of why it’s a special memory was it being a one-time deal.
Oh, our flower girl was our nine-year-old, 12-pound Boston terrier. Tinypants did such a great job. My groom called her from the front and, just like human flower girls and ring bearers, she stopped to stare at a couple people along the way, including one of our photographers and a couple of guests. We highly recommend a pet role, if you want to incorporate your fur pal and you can swing it for your venue. I can see boisterous labs being a problem, but if your pet can become more of a bulldog than a terrier (she’s equal parts of both), it will work well.
She sat in the audience with her other mom as we up and got hitched.
Me and my dad made walked to a harp-y version of Wagner’s “Bridal Chorus.” In my previous recap post, I said that the first-look issue (to do it or not to do it) hinges on how you feel about the ceremony, specifically this part: your walk down the aisle. Is it a personal moment for you and your groom (where a lot of people you know just happen to be there) or is it something communal to share with everyone you invited? Or, was it a moment where you leave your old family and are formally, per the symbolic giving-away, becoming part of someone else’s?
(B&W pic by Kevin Wong at Right Angle Images)
At the end of the day, my walk down the aisle was just a nice thing to do with my dad. It was a nice lead-up to our ceremony, where we verbally promised, with shaky voices and snotty tissue, to do a bunch of difficult stuff because we like each other so much. So, the walk was good, but it was a means to the bigger event at hand. I locked eyes with my groom (and some friends and family) a few times, but that moment was one of many starry-eyed ones in a starry-eyed day.
Listening intently. Seriously, though, that arrangement off behind my groom was so cool. Florals by Amy Burke Designs.
I did most of the crying, it seems.
We wrote our own vows, then we had a friend (our officiant’s wife) read them beforehand to make sure they were fairly even in tone, length, and content. She apparently attended a wedding where the groom crafted these well-written, touching vows, while the bride came unprepared and resorted to saying over and over again how “awesome” her groom was.
Knowing my groom and Mac, our friend officiant, all too well, I put the smack down on corny humor peppering the ceremony. Think about every pun you’ve ever heard, probably via your dad or a wacky uncle. Mac joked during a ceremony powwow that he should include, “I just flew into town and, boy, are my arms tired!” and I definitely wasn’t convinced that was in jest. “No comedy hour” became a rallying cry every time we talked about it. It still comes up when we’re with Mac, and it probably will for the rest of our lives.
But, now I’m deservedly getting some crap because I added a few giggles to mine, including one that’s key to this whole arrangement: that I’d “always love, always honor, but almost certainly not obey.” I expect the same sentiment from him, of course. In all fairness, it wasn’t just fun and games. My favorite, most easier-said-than-done vow was remaining honest to myself; we all lie to ourselves all too often and it’s even more dangerous, I think, than lying to someone else. Thankfully, I held out to prove that your spouse can be both your number-one fan and your toughest critic, challenging you to be the best person you can be.
Unsure what the tiny green lights in the center are. Probably good-luck fairies.
Rings
Smooches.
Mr. and Mrs., you say? Hot damn! I like how this one came out with the feathers and the lights. And, if you look closely, you can see our dog watching us walk away. She’s surely wondering why she has to wear tulle and why she can’t play with her b-a-l-l or b-o-n-e.
We stopped in the back of the room and high-fived the bridal party as they came walking down behind us.
Special-special: I inherited a couple of brothers- and sisters-in-law that day, including this fella right here. That’s a big deal for Onlies like me. I spent a large part of my childhood mildly curious about siblings, but it didn’t bother me much that I didn’t have them. As I got older, I thought more about how nice it would be to share adult, emotionally taxing familial responsibilities with at least one other person. My groom often says, including in his vows, that I’d always have a partner; I’d therefore never be alone with such matters any longer. So, given all that, I was especially appreciative to not only have a partner, but to have a second family, siblings and all.
Next up: post-ceremony portraits and cocktail hour.
To catch up on our journey:
- First-look goodness and bridal-party portraits.
- The ladies (and sort of the gents, but mostly the ladies, of course) get ready.
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