It's all in the details, part 2

Here's a compilation of some of the details of the reception that I agonized over for months, but made me smile on our wedding day.  The image is big, so feel free to click on it to see it original size.

From the top left corner, in clockwise order: 

• our sailboat cake topper, purchased from an online favors website, spray painted brown by my husband, and accessorized with a pennant by me
• our initials for our chairs at the head table
• wedding or honeymoon photos of my grandparents, tucked into this locket that was pinned to my sister's bouquet, as well as one that was pinned to my own
• Justin's & my blue shoes, in sync on the dance floor
• a close-up of our table centerpieces, which featured single white hydrangeas in bottles found on my great-great-aunt's farm in PEI, atop reproduced 1866 maps of Portsmouth Harbor
• my brother-in-law clinking glasses with Justin's sister during the toasts
• one of the firepits for s'more making
• our ceremony flowers & all the bouquets, repurposed as head table decor
• the seating lists & seating chart (designed on top of a reproduced 1616 map of the New England coast by one of my bridesmaids) on the "greeting table."

I'll have to check on the photo credits & update later - some of these were taken by the photographer & some by friends.  I really like how just looking at these details can give you a pretty good sense of the reception as a whole.  :)

Joy at the Ceremony (& just before & just after)

Continuing with my series o' joy, here are some of the big smiley moments from the ceremony, plus a little before & a little after.
  

My mom's friend Linda, upon sighting me & my entourage walking towards the church.

Our groomsman Adam's awesome girlfriend Molly, who I had only met a few times before the wedding, but ended up being a do-anything, help-everywhere superhero.

My sister & bridesmaids and our minister, sporting big grins as my littlest nephew speeds down the aisle towards them.  :)

These two go together.  :)  I forgot exactly what our minister said to prompt the wave from Justin's nephew (below), but I remember how smiley & happy it made us.  See, just look at us (above)!

This is around the time that our minister extemporized a bit about the particular challenges that an introvert (Justin) & an extrovert (Stacey) have in their relationship.  Because we both so very stereotypically embody those definitions, the whole congregation cracked up.  As did we.

I like to make big smiley faces at Justin to get him to lighten up sometimes.  That is not what is happening here.  We're both simply giggle-grinning with joy, just after being pronounced husband & wife and smooching.

I love our smiles in this pic, but even more, I love looking at all the loving faces around us, also smiling joyfully.

A lovely hug with my sister in the church mansion hallway.

The whole dang wedding party, arrayed along the awesome oval staircase.  Check out those grins!  :)

Joy at the After Party

I want to start a new series of posts chronicling what I consider one of the most important aspects of a wedding - the joy. Those wide smiles & bright eyes that you get when you're marrying the love of your life, or laughing at an old friend's joke, or belting out a cheesy 80s song - all things that happened at my wedding.

I probably won't have the discipline to go in chronological order, so I'm going to randomly start near the end, at the after-party that my parents hosted in their hotel suite. I find that I can't look at these photos without smiling, even 5½ months later. The photos are captioned for your edification (sometimes it's important to know the person in the picture is an old friend!). Enjoy!

(L-R) Adam (groomsman & SBF - "shared best friend"), Brad (my friend from Prince Edward Island who I've known since I was 13 years old), me.

Foreground: Me & Andrew, best man & another SBF. Middle ground: Justin. Background: my parents & Dave, one of their old friends. This was during the 80s sing-along & yes, Andrew is rocking the air guitar.

My lovely friends Monica & Kate, met 7 years ago while studying in Scotland. They're giggling after doing an wild, limbs-waving impression of lobsters boiling in the pot.

Me & my mother, laughing about something.

Andrew, Justin, me, Adam. Adam's birthday was the day after our wedding, so at midnight, his lovely girlfriend Molly lured him into the hallway for a cupcake w/ a candle & a rendition of "Happy Birthday."

(L-R): My friend Jim from high school, me, my friend Kate from Scotland. I met these two at different times in my life, but love them both dearly. And they get along really well with each other!

Reprise, with Added Perspective

For those of you who don't know us well, Justin is almost 3 months into a year-long military deployment. Yup, we got married, had 2½ months of newlywedded bliss, and off he went. :( I posted the following on my primary blog yesterday.

"So, I have a pretty good life, you guys. I honestly can't complain much about how fate has treated me - a wonderful childhood, a loving family, a career I enjoy, and a husband who has made me smile pretty much every day of the 2+ years we've been together.

Still. This deployment thing is HARD. I can't give many details about what Justin does, but he leaves for a mission soon. My husband, the other half of my being, is about to be out of communication for awhile, doing something potentially quite dangerous. How could that fail to infuse my daily life with fear & worry?"

That blog has a feed to my Facebook account and within a few hours, I was lucky enough to have numerous friends leave kind, caring, supportive comments. One of them was from an old, old friend who is also married to a military man. Her whole comment was thoughtful & helpful, but the following really helped put things in perspective for me:

"Those 14 months were the hardest of my life, but I can honestly say it brought us so close together, made me appreciate all of the little things so much more...and dismiss those little annoyances with ease...who cares that his socks are balled up in the hamper?? He's here to ball them up!"

And that's just it. I tend to be an impatient person. The only people with whom I have patience are old folks & little people. I have the unflattering tendency to get frustrated with my husband easily. It's not something of which I'm proud and I've been working on it for awhile now.

But, his absence reminds me every day that I would rather have him here doing every single thing I've ever found annoying than have him 6,000 miles away. And, God willing, if when he comes back to me, I will treasure every minute of our lives together & let the little annoyances just slip-slide away. Most of the time, that is. I’m only human, after all. ;)