Wedding, pt. 3
No post yesterday, something came up and I lost track of time.

If I remember any part of my wedding until the end of my life, I'll remember the hour immediately before and the exact moment we were married. You see, I refused to see the wedding dress after Dani had it altered. Even though she thought the tradition of the groom not seeing the bride before the wedding was silly, she indulged me and hid the dress for over a month. About an hour before the ceremony started, and long after all our respective relatives had arrived, Dani's mother and sisters whisked her away and told me I had to stay in the bedroom/living room until the ceremony started.

The first 10 minutes or so confined to those two rooms were fine. People came in and out, and through small talk I was able to pretend that it was just like any other slightly surreal day. However, as the time loomed closer, fewer people entered my two rooms (no doubt they were running errands). I started to pace about the room. I didn't have any regrets or unease, but I did have a profound realization of "this is my life, I'm on the edge of a huge life change. I can't believe all this is happening." In order to realize that today is the first day of the rest of your life, you need two things
- A day that abruptly changes the way you view your life
- 10-15 minutes to dwell on that change
Luckily Ben and Melissa came in to save me from those ruminations, with Ben adorned in a fez. Billy, Nathan, Kaylie and Beccah came in shortly after that to talk with me, and I was able to again hide in jokes and bad puns.

I'll also never forget the time standing at the flower arrangements we had substituted for an altar. I was hot, my shirt was starting to stick to my back, and even outdoors everything was quiet. I remember everyone staring at me, and being extremely self conscious of keeping in my gut/standing up straight. And then she came from around the side of the house, and all I could think was that I was that even though she was as nervous as me, she looked absolutely radiant. My next thought was a realization of what this ceremony meant, and that I was the luckiest guy in the world.

Before I go, here are some choice memories from the ceremony
- We didn't know which hand the ring should go on. Apparently your ring finger on your dominant hand is larger than your sub-dominant hand, so we thought my wedding ring didn't fit. I wore my ring on my right pinky during the whole ceremony.
- I messed up my vows because I was too busy looking at Dani to listen to the justice of the peace. I don't think I repeated it verbatim.
- Billy and I sword fought after the wedding
- As is custom after "in game" marriages, Dani and I both rolled a d10. I rolled a 1 and a 2, she rolled a 10.
- My dad tried to give a toast during the wedding, but got choked up half way through and had to sit down
- My sister toasted us, and alluded that we should start having kids.
- I gave a toast at the wedding as well, after my sister. I have no idea what I said.
- I remember sitting with Brock, Amanda, my cousin Ethan, my Mother, and others at the beverage table after the sun went down. We had a good conversation ,and my Dad told the full version of the red chair story.

All in all, I think it was a good wedding. The wedding hasn't changed much for Dani and I, we've been married for years. I see it as a big party where Dani and I got inducted into a very small club of two, complete with our own membership rings. I keep telling her we should get secret decoders inscribed on the back.