Details

So, as promised, I told everyone I'd post the dirty details of the wedding. I'd like to preface by stating that the most important thing of the whole event DID happen: I married the love of my life. Now on to the fun part. My wedding felt like the very strands of fate were woven against it. If things could go wrong, they went wrong. This is a small list of some of the things that did not go well....there is more, but some of it I won't mention to protect the innocent LOL. All I can say is, if the old phrase "weddings that go wrong just mean that the marriage will be great," is true, then my marriage is going to be Freaking Fantabulous!

1. Wedding invitations were designed without saying "Marriage or wedding" or anything of the likes.
2. Wedding invitations never got to people. 80ish of them are still MIA at this point. Nobody knows what happened to them.
3. Friend who was going to throw bachelor party found out his dad got into a terrible car accident, broke nearly every bone in his body and was in a coma. Needless to say, he isn't throwing any parties, nor attending the wedding.
4. Best man couldn't get rental car, because his "temporary" license wasn't considered legitimate per the car rental company.
5. Father-in-Law, who was going to rent a 7 seater car for us to pickup family and such, couldn't get his own rental car due to a problem with his own license. His rental car was delayed for 2 days.
6. Mother-in-law became ill on Thursday and was taken to urgent care where she was promptly diagnosed with pneumonia.
7. When the flowers arrived, we forgot the ribbon, flower wires & pins for corsages and boutonniere, went to store to buy more, bought the wrong supplies. Wasn't enough time to get all the appropriate stuff, so we had to rig it with the ghetto stuff.
8. Mother-in-law got worse on Friday had to go to ER and was admitted, looking quite blue in the face due to lack of oxygen.
9. Mother-in-law's laptop was going to play ceremony music, but was left in her hotel room while she was in hospital
I Had to scramble to reload my laptop with ceremony music and inform my wife's cousin that he would be playing it for us (had to show him what to do, the day of the wedding...WHILE people were being seated)
10. Morning of the wedding, during a last minute run to the store for some missing items, I almost T-boned a truck due to the RAIN... yep, it was raining. Did I mention our wedding was supposed to be outside?
11. Both bride and groom forgot to bring the guest book
12. Both bride and groom forgot to bring the video camera, which had been purchased for the purpose of taping the event
13. The hotel's sound system for the wedding had a TON of feedback and was not working, up till 3pm. (the time of the ceremony)
14. Father-in-law arrived to the hotel promptly 10 minutes till the ceremony began, with the boys and her uncle.... Not a single one of them was dressed in their tuxes.
15. Father-in-law realized he left the camera man's camera at home. He had to go home to get it. The ceremony was delayed by about 45 minutes.
16. Due to last minute seating issues from the rain, nobody knew where to sit, or where to stand and our wedding coordinator threw in the towel... she lost all hope and was obviously upset with everything, thereby stressing us out.
17. Both mother's forgot to light the unity candle after being walked to their seats... I had to come down and remind them. :)
18. During the unity candle portion of the ceremony, my wife's wick wouldn't light... Eventually we gave up without it lighting.
19. After our grand entrance to the reception hall, nobody knew what to do because our wedding coordinator didn't fill us in or work with out DJ. She apparently upset our DJ.
20. We found out that all the music provided to the DJ, in advance, was not working.... the DJ had to stay up til 1am the night before to download all the songs, or re-purchase them,
21. The wedding certificate was placed somewhere after it was signed and was moved.... It was lost..
22. My blood sugar dropped by the time my wife and I got to our wedding room. I'm sure you can guess how that ruins the next part of the evening.
23. Next day, the wedding certificate was found, along with the party favors that had been forgotten under a table somewhere
. . .

WHEW!!!

Well..... We survived! We did it. We are married. I must say, it was beautiful, but man was there a LIST, and I do mean LIST in all caps, of snags along the way!!!! I'll definitely post a follow up with details here, but it's late and I'm really stinking tired.

Here's a tickler photo of my beautiful bride and I to keep your attention till next post.

The Writer's Wedding Vows

My bride-to-be and I met with our officiant yesterday evening to discuss the ceremony details. We are having a traditional non-denominational Christian wedding, in which vows are said, rings are exchanged, a unity candle is lit and the big kiss seals the deal. So, as we discussed the options for vows, we were hit with the option of writing our own vows.

ME!? Write the vows?

Why was I so nervous about it, after all I am a writer? It's not like I don't have hundreds of pages of written work that I hope to have published some day. Haven't I entered contests for short stories and poetry? Shouldn't writing these vows be a simple act? Heck, I could even invite a few agents to the wedding and tactfully wink at them claiming "I will now read the vows I wrote," in hopes of landing a deal for my next novel.

Uh, no. Try again.

I realize that we, as writers, all (well most of us anyway) have a concern about letting other people read our writing. After all our sweat, blood and tears are put into those words, it can be devastating to hear that someone didn't like our masterpiece. [I mean, c'mon we ARE legends in our own minds.] I found that this translated to why I didn't want to write my own vows. I'm afraid to let people hear my writing. I know that this is a difficult task for so many writers and in my own life, I will have to get over it. I have still decided not to write my own vows, not just because I have reservations about letting people hear my works, but also because quite frankly the traditional vows are REALLY good. They encompass what I want to say anyway.

HOWEVER

In my attempt to break out of my shell and share a bit, I'm going to post an email that I sent to my bride-to-be. This isn't quite "Vows," but it does give a bit of insight into how I feel and helps me let go of my insecurities of being critiqued. This blog has helped me do this quite a bit as I've been able to post all sorts of things I've written. So, without further ado, here's my love letter:

P.S. I did write the first part of this "cheesy" on purpose.

Dear Bride-to-be,

It's come to my attention that you intend to marry me. I think that's fantastic! In fact, I'm so very excited about the idea, that I've already gone out and ordered a tuxedo and invited 75 of our closest family and friends to come celebrate the event with us. I'd love nothing more than to see you walk up that aisle to me, take my hand, and jointly declare before God and Family that our love will ensue through this lifetime. I've taken the liberty to prepare my heart and mind, sanctifying it for you and you alone. You are my one, you are my only, you are my love. I vow to protect you, cherish you, teach you, love you and be true to you as we walk hand in hand together after God. Your love is precious to me and I will hold it like a porcelain doll, with gentleness and care. I will do my best to serve you and make you proud to be my wife. I'm so happy you've chosen me and I will strive to make sure you are always happy to have made that choice in me. I love you more than the stars in the sky.

Your husband to be,
Voidwalker

What about you? Did any of you writers, write your own vows? Did you find it harder or easier than some of your traditional writing? Care to share?

Yin's Love

Keeping this post light today, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the encouraging words regarding my upcoming wedding and writing. You all have been so very helpful to me in so many ways and I want to say a thanks. Also, I just wanted to share a poem that I'm submitting to my local college publication's poetry contest. I'm not big on contests, but it doesn't hurt to try right? Here's the poem, titled "Yin's Love."

Ever since my Yang came back,
His face has changed,
His image black.

Where once like me, his every movement lithe,
Fluid in touch,
His soul was alive.

What happened since he went away,
Yang turned aside,
He lost his way.

Though I wanted to follow, I couldn't go along,
I'm simply Yin,
I just wasn't as strong.

Then returning from whence, I asked that he tell,
Yang seemed so different,
Like he'd just escaped Hell.

I was glad he was back, on this I've not lied,
Yet his demeanor seems darker,
It's as if he had died.

And so we've picked up, where once we left off,
I hold up my Yang,
While he stares from aloft.

Yet in its place, where once was a grin,
His passion abated,
As he stares at his Yin.

I'll never let go, despite his look from above,
Every Yang needs his Yin,
And even darkness needs love.

21 Days & Counting

21 days until my beautiful bride to be and I tie the knot. This picture was taken a couple of months ago at my cousins wedding (that's my fiancee I'm kissing, not my cousin LOL) Not too long from now, she'll be in the wedding dress and I'll be garbed in the penguin suit, hopefully replicating this scene after a heartfelt "I do."

Though we won't have our honeymoon right away, as the wedding itself approaches, I may be missing a post here or there, or unable to leave a comment back for each and every one of my readers. Don't worry, I am going to try my darnedest to keep up, but please have mercy if I miss a beat. I don't want to lose any of you devout void-stalkers.

Anyway, in the mean time I'm still hoping for more participants in my post below, regarding the quote and how it applies to writing. Keep em coming guys, I really find encouragement and get a lot of great ideas from you all.

Have a great weekend and I'll be back on Monday with more Voidwalking goodness.