Weddingbee Blog

After our pictures were taken, we waited anxiously outside the doors until amazing bridal brigadier/wedding coordinator extraordinaire Laurie told us we could come in, and we were announced “Seahorse and Fancee TheNewLastName!”

The tables were gorgeous, with all of the beauty and simplicity we wanted:

We sat down, and the toasts began. I don’t have a copy of everyone’s toasts, but I do have my sister’s, along with her permission to share some excerpts from it. I’ll try to include the parts that make sense even if you don’t really know us. Let it be known that the other toasts were also amazing and tear inducing and one of the best parts of the day. Not only do you get to stand up with your partner and hear them tell you how much they love you and how much you mean to them, and not only do you get the blessing of all of these other people who love you…but then you also get some of the other most important people in your life to do essentially the same thing. This is a pretty powerful thing.

Fancee’s best friend’s toast

My mom’s toast

Fancee’s mom’s toast (here she’s describing how Fancee was willing to share fresh peas with me: a sign of her true love for me)

But before all that was my sister’s toast:

I just want to thank Seahorse and Fancee for throwing me this big party! Sometimes people get new siblings, and they don’t get a party at all. I’m pretty sure that when I was born—no party. When Alex (our brother) was born—no party. But here, Alex and I both get a new older sister, AND a party, so I’m glad you could all make it to celebrate with us.

In a round-about way, this is my party because I introduced Seahorse and Fancee. Well, sort of. I got Seahorse a job at the non-profit where I was interning, and where I had trained with Fancee. I didn’t interact much with Fancee during my internship, but I knew that there was something serious there when Seahorse called me to tell me about this girl she liked. I was in Russia for the semester, and Seahorse called me from literally across the world to tell me, in one of the happiest and most excited voices I’ve heard, about Fancee, with whom she was quite smitten.

As many of you may remember, Seahorse and I have not always gotten along. Like many siblings, we went through a horrible pre-teen to early-teenager phase during which we hated each other, and thereby made everyone around us hate us, too. But during high school and college, and especially in the past year, we’ve grown very close, and I think have come to appreciate each other in new, more complex ways than we could have imagined not too many years ago. Seahorse is very passionate about many things, such as her dog, the idea of getting a new dog (it’s okay, Fancee won’t let her), bicycling, roller derby, her family, her friends, and Fancee, with whom she is creating a new family today.

When Seahorse sets her heart and mind on something, she will make it happen, and, if you’re lucky, you get to make it happen with her. Which I think means that Fancee has a very lucky life ahead of her.

So first, I’d like to toast Fancee. I want to thank you for the happiness that I heard in Seahorse’s voice from across the world and for the happiness and excitement that you have brought my sister every day since. And second, to toast Seahorse, my sister, and one of my best friends, who always paved the way for me strongly, gracefully, and beautifully, and who only got mad a few times that I got to do things that she couldn’t do when she was my age. I couldn’t have asked for a better sister to have asked for me, though of course now you’ll have some competition.

Before this, we:

• Had a chaotic evening before the wedding and an early morning rehearsal.
• Got ready together, got ready some more separately, and then had a first look.
• Watched our family and friends process in and met each other in front of all of our guests.
• Listened as our minister welcomed our guests and some of our best friends gave some lovely readings.
• Watched our rings traveled among our guests while more poems were read.
• Said our big words and were blessed by the universe.
• Breathed a sigh of relief as our rings returned, not only unscathed, but also blessed, and we exchanged them and heard another reading. Oh yeah, and then we danced up the aisle.
• Were for serious married! We took off in a canoe and returned for family pictures.
• Took pretty and seriously fun pictures with our bridal brigade!
• Ran off into the woods together and snuggled.