Hello, my darling friends. What a week it has been!
For several weeks before the wedding, I was incredibly busy getting everything done. We had to buy suits, shirts, ties, belts, and shoes for Monkey and the MC, and a suit, shirt, and tie for Raja, as well. I had to get my dress altered, too. Then we had to dry clean the shirts and get the dress pressed.
I created favors for the wedding: wine glasses with little sayings on them, which held candles. These candles were lit and held by the guests during the ceremony. I also made lots of little paper flowers, which had candy inside them.
The week before the wedding, we went to get the marriage license. We went together to the Washington County Recording Office on Valentine's day, where we filled out the paperwork together. I had to choose what my name would be after I get married, and due to Oregon Law, I only had a few choices. I wanted to keep all my names, but I couldn't put my first and middle names together, or put my middle name and original last name together. Since I didn't want to drop any of my names, I had to put together my last name with Raja's, which means that my new last name is going to be 20 letters long (including the hyphen)!
We took the paperwork up to the counter and paid $60.00. On the way home, we looked at the Marriage certificate they gave us to keep, and freaked out a little bit, as it said on it "Minister licensed in Oregon." The person marrying us is from Washington, and I thought, "Oh no! What if it's not legal?" We had less than a week to go! I called as soon as I got home, and found out that we'd be fine. Thank goodness!
I had to call my caterer with final numbers and choices for our linens. I called the cake people to find out when they were going to deliver the cake. I pulled out my little Christmas lights to help decorate my mom's house. We went to mom's house to move furniture and decorate with lights, candles, and ribbons.
In the meantime, I got everything together that I might need for the wedding. I went to buy nuts, candy, soft drinks, wine, and champagne. I also bought mints, tape, q-tips, and bowls in which to put the snacks.
On Wednesday I had a million things to do. I uploaded a bunch of music to my iPod, printed out copies of the hairdo I wanted and a copy of the marriage rite (which I wrote) for our minister, and put a copy of the new marriage certificate I had created on a flash drive. I charged the batteries for all of our cameras, got the decorations out of storage, and then I went shopping. I went to buy the drinks, get our rings polished, and buy another dress to change into after the wedding. After all of this, I went to Mom's to get an idea about how we were going to set up the space. Home again, I packed my weekend bag, all of my wedding stuff, and tried to get some sleep.
Thursday I actually had to work. That morning, we went to meet a Catholic priest who gave us a special blessing, even though we are both practicing Hindus. He is a friend of my parents', and was just very sweet and kind. It was also my mom's and the Monkey's birthday. Raja was off work, so after I went to work, we continued to help Mom get the house ready for a while, and then left to the kids' other parents' house to wish the Monkey a happy birthday. There were lots of awesome hugs, and then Raja and I went home.
Friday was a little crazy. I went to the chiropractor's that morning, and also got a nice massage from the therapist there. Her name is Heidi, and I think she is awesome. After my massage, I went to buy flowers. I bought a bunch of beautiful bouquets of flowers from Trader Joe's and Fred Meyer. I put them in a bucket, and took them to my mom's, where I put them in the garage to keep cool for the next day. We decorated the house, and I met with the caterer, who brought over the tables, chairs, and linens we rented. After we met with Eric the caterer, Mom and I went to get pedicures and manicures. We had a great time, because the ladies at Exp Salon do a great job, and they are really nice into the bargain. They also really like Raja, who gets his hair cut there. After we were beautified, we returned home to Mom's and waited for Raja and the kids to arrive.
When the guys arrived, we went to eat dinner at Milo's, a very nice restaurant by Mom's house to celebrate Thursday's birthdays. Afterwards, we returned to the house for some ice cream cake and to rehearse the wedding music and decide where we would stand for the ceremony. Both boys were going to play piano for the ceremony and also be our best men. The MC would stand by me and hold his dad's ring, while Monkey would stand by Raja and hold my ring. By this time it was very late, so we went home and tried to get some sleep. Monkey got cold in the night, and came to sleep with us, which meant I ended up with his elbow in my head, and couldn't sleep all that well. Still, I was excited for the next day.
Saturday I woke up pretty early, and took a shower. After all, everyone wants to be clean and shiny for their wedding! I then went over to Mom's to put together the flowers. I made three boutenniers (the flowers men wear on their jacket lapels), my bouquet, and four flower arrangements to place around the house. I also cleaned my bunny's cage and helped get him out into the garage for the night. My brothers had begun to show up. One flew all the way from St. Louis, and one drove from Seattle. One of my brothers lives in Guam, so he couldn't make it, but another brother was flying in from Spokane a bit later, and my final (and only local) brother would come later with his family.
At 2:30, I left to get my hair done. I was pretty stressed out at that time, and hoping that Raja hadn't followed through on his (joking) threat to run away to Venezuela. I was happy that my hairstylist was so nice, and offered me water and some calming tea. After about 45 minutes, my hair looked very nice, and I returned home to get ready for my wedding.
By the time I arrived home my cake was there, and so was my friend (and our minister), Liz. Liz has been my friend for years, and she is very organized (or, as some would say, "bossy.") I knew that she would make sure everything happened at the right time. We quickly went over a plan for the evening.
My number one priority was to do the one thing I had not been able to get done: write my vows! (That's sort of important, dont you think?) Liz brought me food and drink, and helped me relax. Raja's sister Anni showed up (she had flown all the way from London that day!) and she helped me dress and encouraged me. Downstairs, I heard my groom and the boys arrive. I was happy and relaxed. I watched the sun set in gorgeous pinks, oranges and reds outside the window, as my dearest friends and family arrived to witness the vows I had written, and the ceremony that would tie me to the man I love most in the world, my Raja.
To be continued...
Until then, be good!
