So, I got married...

I met the groom nearly eight years ago. You can read more about him here - but please only skim it. I've reread it since, and if I wasn't my own grandma (more about that later), I'd get a little sick to my stomach. It's saccharine. At any rate, on my birthday last year, he proposed to me. If you'd like to, you can read his vivid accounting of it here.

This will be short and sweet. I absolutely lied. It will be long and drawn-out. No professional photos up yet, so I'm borrowing from my talented friends and family (and oh, I do know some talents) to recount the wedding in my Blue Ridge Mountain place of birth.

First, getting the marriage certificate. It was empty the day we went, but the little lady behind the counter said it was usually hoppin'! We noticed on our application that children 16 or under needed to be accompanied by an adult. When we inquired, the lady raised an eyebrow, lowered her voice, mouthing "PREGNANT". There is a law, that in SC, you must be pregnant in order to seek marriage....if you are younger than 16. She, apparently, thought this was a bad idea.

Moving on...The rehearsal dinner hosted by Dr. & Mrs. Fair-een-yee was at the Lodge in Hendersonville, NC - it was seriously a beautiful night. Appetizers outside, then inside for a fantastic Southern bbq and a round of "toasts":

>Here's The Best Man, Ken's little brother Oliver, with his adorable girlfriend and two out of three of my new nieces. Seriously? I get THREE! How awesome is that?

>Kenny getting misty-eyed....Me getting misty.

My brother, Jody, made a surprise toast about how he's inspired by the two of us, what a sweet surprise....Jody has always been an inspiration to me, and I was so so happy he was my groomsman. Blake also gave a surprise toast that was almost as touching as his speech at the reception (which made me cry). He said I wanted two things out of life: "To not be a fat man, and to not be Moe from 'The Three Stooges'". I was neither. So, congrats, he said!

And below this, Ken's older brother, Tycho, and his younger brother, Max (he's got THREE brothers, so now I have FIVE!) enact a tale of trauma from Ken's childhood when Ken wouldn't let Tycho on his bike. Karma may have been in play when Ken's cape then got stuck under the wheel of his tricycle (oh, it was a tricycle, not a bike) Ken was strangled by his cape on his tricycle, catapulting himself forward, busting open his head.

Ken and I had several friends fly in for our big day. Ken especially had an amazing turn-out of college friends show up, many of whom he hadn't seen in a long time. It was truly touching that so many people made the effort to come out to this country-in-the-sticks (albeit beautiful) place, because I know it takes a lot of patience, time, and money to plan something like that.

I sometimes scoffed at weddings, thinking "who wants to throw money into something like that? It's only one day". But then my parents threw us this wedding. And these people came to honor this decision Ken and I were making with our lives. To show us they thought it was a GREAT idea. My brother's wedding was one of the happiest days of my life, and I understand now that throwing a party like this creates memories and connections with the people most dear to me in my life.

The morning of the wedding, an old friend came over to watch the Chelsea Soccer match at our house:

I did laundry, yoga, and then my heart started to palpitate a little too much. I was having trouble with my hair. At least I had my sister-in-law/bridesmaid to distract me....I decided I'd do her hair and wait for some inspiration to hit me.

Mom helped, too.

I decided a few months ago that I wanted my big brother Blake to be my "Mate of Honor".

He used to be my nemesis, but now he's my alter-ego. Because of this complexity, I wanted him by my side on the big day. He was very attentive throughout the day. Calling out the time, begging to pack my bags for me. But he was fired from doing my hair. We did a test-run the night before, and it didn't turn out too hot.

More pictures of us helping each other out:

That picture is Blake carrying my wedding dress in the rain.....

Oh, you didn't know? My did it rain.........

In fact, on the way to the wedding, it

H

A

I

L

E

D.

It hailed. Hard. And I don't remember a single time it hailed when I was growing up. My dad had taken out his new, dream car. His toy. His seafoam-green bug. And it was hailing on it.

We pulled over and waited for it to stop hailing. Half the wedding party was directly behind us. Jody thought to bring a lucky, pink elephant. See how it forlornly watches on? (By the way, this is 3:45pm in the afternoon and it's that dark):

The other half of the wedding party and many of our friends were following Ken. Ken called me while we were pulled over to say they'd be rather late. In fact, they wouldn't be making the rehearsal (which was to be directly before the ceremony) at all. They'd make it in time for the 5pm wedding, but they had gotten a real bad start to the day. They were having trouble with directions.

But the cell phone was cutting in and out. And at one point, one of us said "it's complete chaos" and the conversation was no more.

About seven vehicles were following Ken up the mountain. He later said "it felt like a caterpillar trying to do a sit-up". I later found out what had happened...there'd been a lost tuxedo, forgotten important things, a shoddy GPS, and an Uncle who had test-driven the route to the chapel earlier but got lost....so the paper directions were discarded. And I am so laughing about this right now!

Meanwhile, I started dressing in the dressing room. The professional photographers were there, and I felt like I was on reality TV with the snapping and everything.....

............The groom arrived at 4:42! I remember distinctly...

That's The Best Man pinning the boutonniere on Ken. And that's Kimberley, Blake's girl, hugging Ken on his arrival. She and Amy were invaluable to have around. Especially when Kimberley came in to fetch my engagement ring because "Ken forgot to bring the rings". :) She had to repeat this a few times before I realized she wasn't joking.

At this moment, the clouds began to roll out, and guests I was worried about not making it, began to make it.

This is Pretty Place Chapel in NC. Well, right on the border of the two Carolinas, but technically, it's in South Carolina.

Before I knew it, the wedding party was lining up.

Here's Mom and the boys...Doesn't she look beautiful? I haven't spoken to Mom about this yet, but I'm sure she was thinking "Why isn't the guitarist playing 'Greensleeves'"? :)

Here's our Ring Bearer and Flower Girl. Vivie holds my engagement ring, and my Dad's wedding ring. We used those for the ceremony!

Here's Dad and I. See everyone looking at my train drag through the puddles? Even though Jody mopped up some of the water with a dish towel...

We had some friends do some readings....Beautiful Katherine read Sonnet 116

Brad read Corinthians

And Doug read ee cummings. Ken and I were making all sorts of funny faces during this reading, trying to hold back tears.

Dad and I crying after the ceremony....

A few pictures....

Then, it was off to party at this place with this albino peacock. The peacock was a sight. When we were dancing inside the lodge, it started to thunder and lightning and rain again, and we were called outside to see the peacock had flown up high into a tree....maybe 40 feet!

The cake was made for us as a gift by Tycho's mother-in-law, Jenny (pictured below with her husband, Joe). Seriously? She MADE this. It was amazing. And the flowers were from our bouquet: Purple Iris with a yellow stripe, Scottish thistle for good luck, among others.

Some more beautiful portraits (taken by the talented Katherine). First my generous and adoring in-laws:

As you can see, the love was thick this night.

I was so thankful for the little girls. Before the alcohol kicked in for everyone else, they were my earliest dancing partners.

Oh, but we danced.

The party didn't quite start until Blake put on Kimberley's shruggy. It was a tradition started when Jody got hitched, and I was happy to see that it has actually become - a Gibson wedding tradition.

Oh! I stand mistaken....The party ACTUALLY started when DJ Arroz played "The Duck Dance". A Fair-een-ye family tradition.

Oh,

there

was

LOTS

of lame dancing.

It was Shelley's birthday, also. Shelley is the blonde in the bridal party pictured up a bit...and down below. She's a long-time friend of Ken's and I'm lucky to have her as my friend now. She's good people:

Dad's champagne toast was brilliant, but his ebullience embarrassed my Mom. Here's a classic picture taken by Jodes. See my Dad's mischievous expression?

The lamest of all, the conga line! My Uncle Paul (behind me) might have danced longer than any of us combined....

My good-lookin' "bridesmaids":

My good-lookin' bridesmaids part 2:

Anything else? Oh yeah! Mom and Dad, look at the party you threw!!!

Oh! And thank you so much Ken, I love you. The past month has been an amazing ride. I think we know by now we're fortunate to have found each other. We're lucky. I look forward to my life --- with you.

photo credits: Matthew, Katherine, Jody, Blake, Bobby, Becky, Max, Joe, and Kimberley