Married! The Ceremony

We had an outdoor, nontraditional ceremony that we put together ourselves. It was important for us to have it reflect us, which meant short and unstuffy but still meanungful, great nonchurchy readings, and little bit of funny thrown in for good measure.



My cousin played the acoustic guitar for all the music - Bright Eyes' First Day of My Life for the wedding party, Ben Harper's Everything for my walk down, Plain White T's 1,2,3,4 for the recessional, followed by Jack Johnson's Better When We're Together while the guests were filtering out. Loved, loved, loved having a family member do the music, especially with songs and a style that were very much me and Ryan.

Walking down the aisle was very overwhelming and emotional for me, and it had nothing to do with Ryan. Coming out there and seeing so many of the people you love from different parts of your life, all in one place, and all for you, is a LOT to take in!

We had three readings: an excerpt from Captain Corelli's Mandolin, the ee cummings poem carry you in my heart, and an excerpt from the book What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day. When my uncle read the poem, which was in honor of those who couldn't be there, my grandma started crying, which made me start crying, and I couldn't stop for most of the rest of the ceremony. Which made my bridesmaids start crying. Sign of a good wedding right there, I guess?

We wrote our own vows, which were the same for except for one special promise each - let's just say mine for Ryan involved playing computer games. That's where the funny came in. : )

I loved the look on Ryan's face for the rest of the day - he was just giddy happy and hugging everyone. I kept saying "I have a husband. That's wierd." And even though I really didn't think being married would be any different after living together for more than 4 years, it is. Just slightly. It has almost felt like ... we're more of a team, maybe? Needless to say, we are loving married life so far.