It’s hard to believe that I haven’t written any entries this year, since it has been filled with pinnacle moments in our lives. This May we celebrated one of the happiest days in our lives! We celebrated our marriage in front of our friends and family, some whom I hadn’t seen in 14 years and those who came to celebrate with us all the way from South Africa, London, Florida and L.A.A year and half’s worth of planning – this was an extremely busy time between working fulltime. Although I tried to maintain some normalcy, I admit that wedding planning took on a life of its own – sometimes rearing its ugly head with tough decisions on guest lists and seating arrangements. I knew planning a wedding would be busy, but no-one told me about the stress. Shawn and I got along fabulously, though navigating the waters when it came to third party opinions was, at times, choppy. I recall one meltdown. But, then there were many more times of extreme euphoria when we knew that each step of planning was bringing us one step closer to finally being together, after four years of a long distance relationship. If anything, this experience has taught us about teamwork, trust and open communication with each other.
We’re also grateful and extremely lucky to have family and friends who love and who’ve supported us, not only during the planning but throughout our relationship. Without the help of our bridal party, our wedding day would not have run as smoothly as it did. It truly was one of the most amazing days of our lives, as I reminisce:
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Shawn and I worked on our wedding website together. It was a labour of love, and a tribute to our parents and the bridal party.
- My sister defended her Ph.D thesis splendidly. She also organized a fun-filled bridal shower, and stagette which then evolved into an overnight slumber party at a hotel downtown. I was thankful that we skipped the clubbing, and it was great to stay up with the girls and chat till early hour of the morning.
- Mother nature blessed us with sunshine for our outdoor wedding- The guys were on time! Yay!- We were able to incorporate Shawn’s late grandpa’s vintage cars into our day.
- We were in a playful mood after our session with the photographer. We were on such a high that we were relaxed when it came to saying our vows.
- We wrote our own vows, and both vowed never to take our love for granted. My husband also promised to “bring a zest for life, to all that we do together, to bring fun, laughter and spontaneity to our union”.
- Shawn’s aunt, a musician, played a song on her flute during the ceremony.
- The emceeing by Chris was seamless, and Kim our wedding coordinator extraordinaire took care of everything –from managing all of our timelines to everything else behind the scenes. I did not have to think that day, I didn’t have to make one call that day or manage any vendors.
- My sister made two different seating charts for us, one alphabetical and another by table. They looked beautiful. We were spoilt :).
- Shawn’s brother created a slideshow for us, and we saw it for the first time during the reception.
- The speeches had me laughing, and crying. Shawn’s mom wrote a song about Shawn for me and got our guests to snap their fingers and sing along to the chorus “Don’t worry, be happy!”
- My dad chose a song for the father-daughter dance. We couldn’t get it in time, but it was really sweet -- the chorus had something to do with “daughters being angels”.
- The food was delicious.
- Little cousin Kimmy was so tired, she kept being passed from one person to the next on the dance floor – some of them were strangers. But, it was very cute!
- The wedding video was our best gift to ourselves. We got to see what everyone else was up to that day. And, we noticed that we fed our wedding cake to each other with forks!
THINGS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER
- Shawn’s brother created a slideshow for us, and we saw it for the first time during the reception.
- The speeches had me laughing, and crying. Shawn’s mom wrote a song about Shawn for me and got our guests to snap their fingers and sing along to the chorus “Don’t worry, be happy!”
- My dad chose a song for the father-daughter dance. We couldn’t get it in time, but it was really sweet -- the chorus had something to do with “daughters being angels”.
- The food was delicious.
- Little cousin Kimmy was so tired, she kept being passed from one person to the next on the dance floor – some of them were strangers. But, it was very cute!
- The wedding video was our best gift to ourselves. We got to see what everyone else was up to that day. And, we noticed that we fed our wedding cake to each other with forks!
THINGS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER
- We had few photos where we weren’t kissing each other. We also did not get enough photos with our friends, or family.
- We didn’t get around to speaking to all the guests.
- The partying got started after our videographer left.
- We wanted to dance more, but the night was over too soon.
We hope everyone enjoyed the food and had a good time.
I was so overjoyed that I couldn’t stop smiling all day – from sheer bliss. When I asked my new husband how he thought the day went, he said that he had a lot of fun. Had he known what fun it was going to be, he would have asked me to marry him sooner! (What took you soooo long :).
At the end of the night, Shawn’s brother drove us home in his two-seater, with the top down. I had to ride in my new hubby’s lap.
We spent our wedding night at a suite at the Pan Pacific. In the morning, we saw the big white sails from our window. We could see the spot where Shawn proposed a year and a half earlier. It was drizzling lightly, as it was on the night of our engagement. It all seemed fitting.
We hope everyone enjoyed the food and had a good time.
I was so overjoyed that I couldn’t stop smiling all day – from sheer bliss. When I asked my new husband how he thought the day went, he said that he had a lot of fun. Had he known what fun it was going to be, he would have asked me to marry him sooner! (What took you soooo long :).
At the end of the night, Shawn’s brother drove us home in his two-seater, with the top down. I had to ride in my new hubby’s lap.
We spent our wedding night at a suite at the Pan Pacific. In the morning, we saw the big white sails from our window. We could see the spot where Shawn proposed a year and a half earlier. It was drizzling lightly, as it was on the night of our engagement. It all seemed fitting.
