I don’t really have much to say in regard to a year-in-review post.

So many good things have happened this past year. One year ago today, the Mr. asked me to marry him. Our little family of three brings me such comfort. That comfort was most needed in the hard times this year as well. Loss of loved ones, the loss of jobs, uncertainty… as in everything, the good is tempered by bad. What’s important is solidarity and support, and I am blessed to have that in such abundance that’s brought such sublime happiness that I could not have imagined.

I guess my only resolution is to continue on the path that took me so long to find. I’ll be following my heart, holding my head high, and removing myself from things which don’t allow me to do so. It won’t be easy, it never is, but I have what I need to be free.

Happy New Year to all of you.

After the ceremony, our most excellent photographer got one shot that I really wanted - a group shot. I have to hand it to our guests, they were troopers out there in the cold.

We entered the reception right into our first dance, which was to “You’re My Best Friend” by Queen. Honestly, I couldn’t think of a better song for us to dance to, and the Mr. and I love Queen, so it was perfect. After some hello’s, we headed upstairs for dinner. All the centerpieces were put together by the Mr. and his sister’s boyfriend, and Tori did such a great job setting up everything else we made. There were so many great things about the Houston Mill House, but holy moley was their food the clincher. The Mr. and I had some serious food orgasms after our first tasting there, and I have to say everything was spectacular (their crab cakes are TO DIE FOR). The staff served us the biggest heaping plates of everything on the buffet. Needless to say, the food was amazing, everything from the steak to the crab cakes to the carved wild boar. Um, can you tell we love food?

Sometime after dinner is where we entered the land of 1,000 toasts. Aptly named, because after my brother in law and sister gave their toasts, everyone else decided to give one, too! It was pretty hilarious to see who we did or did not meet on the internet (I think internet wins!). After the 10th person or so, Brian declared it cupcake time, and we noshed and finished off the night with dancing, drinking, and more photo booth photos.

After our exit at the end of the night (where the Mr. proceeded to try and catch rose petals in his mouth, we retreated to the hotel. We also immediately changed our Facebook status because we’re nerds like that. And that was it - we had a wonderful quiet evening back in our room - the champagne was flowing, us newlyweds hit the sack… and then at 4:30 am, fire alarm in the hotel went off.

Yep, that’s right. He woke up first, saying the alarm was going off, and the first thing I said was “shit, I hope it’s not one of our guests (i.e. Dave).” It wasn’t, as evidenced by all of us standing in our pajamas and coats in the hotel lobby. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me! We had Sunday to relax and pack for the honeymoon, and we ended up watching movies and ordering Thai.

I couldn’t think of a more perfect wedding for us. Thank you to all who helped, inspired, participated, and wished us well. As written in our program, special thanks go out to the internet - without you, we never would have met.

On Saturday morning, I rolled over to give the Mr. a happy wedding day smooch. He went and spent some time with the guys, and after my sister and I tied up bouquets we retreated back to my room for hair and makeup stuff. My stylist was super fun, and we had a great time drinking champagne, watching trashy tv (Real Housewives of Atlanta, no less) and getting ourselves pretty-fied. We also watched the crazy ass weather from the balcony - the rain had subsided, but it was ass cold and seriously windy. We already planned to move the ceremony inside (and rehearsed it the night before), so everything was cool… until I realized I forgot to tell Tori. Oops.

Tori was our designated wedding-coordinator-of-awesome that we hired off her blog. But, true to her super talents, she showed up and totally worked it all out. The ceremony actually took place in the dining room in front of the large hearth, and it all turned out perfectly for our little intimate wedding. We did the photos and everything in the beginning, so I was pretty damn gung-ho by the time the ceremony started. My mom and I entered to John McNicholas playing Mason Jennings’ “Ballad for My One True Love,” the song I knew I had to have played at my wedding when I first heard it. The Mr. was cute as ever in his Pumas, and I loved how it felt like home when I walked through those doors.

The ceremony itself was unique and perfect for us. Having Chance perform the wedding meant so much to us, since he’s known us longer than we had been dating! (and he is now the official officiant of the bloggers since he married the P’body’s) He worked the log sawing into the ceremony flawlessly, as well. It was pretty hilarious to hear the few giggles of people who knew about it, and then see the faces of everyone else as soon as they saw that we really were going to saw a log together. I’m sure there were a lot of wtf’s, especially to those who didn’t listen to the intro or read the programs! Our trusty saw worked well, and the crowd cheered us on to victory.

It was exactly what I wanted: a small, raucous wedding, full of laughter and happiness. So then with the blessing of “may the Force be with you … always” and more laughter, we were husband and wife.

So I sort of got the verbal spanking from my fellow APWBWGTTDers about not posting a wedding recap yet. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say about it (we done got y’all pictures, folks!), but it’s more like a tremendously incredible event that is nearly impossible to put into words. But here’s my attempt at the weekend’s events.

My family arrived Thursday, and we settled them into the hotel. It was pretty easy considering they’re not the best at traveling, plus my sister has two little ones. The Mr. and I got to spend some time hanging out with my sister and brother in law (CHUCK!), which was fun. By the way, Famous Pub has an awesome club sandwich.

Friday ended up being incredibly cold and rainy. I pretty much knew the weather was going to be shite for the weekend due to my obsessive rss-feed checking anyway. My sis and I walked down the street for breakfast at Sun In My Belly, the commenced the pre-wedding errand festivities. Unfortunately for her, this included dropping the dog off at the doggie hotel, so she got to experience the joy of riding in the car with Molly crying for a good 15 minutes straight. We then got our nails done, then hopped over to Whole Foods to pick up flowers.

In Whole Foods, we must have looked like complete idiots because we kind of just stared at the flowers for a long time. Jami was trying to be helpful and all, but I really had no idea what I wanted. I mean, they’re all nice, but they’re just going to die. All of them - so what’s the point? Finally she told me to stop fucking around, and I finally decided on “creams” and “greens”, so we ended up getting a ton of pretty vendela roses, hydrangeas, seeded eucalyptus, and other random things. We stashed them in the fridge overnight, and make bouquets the next morning. Best thing? 5 bouquets for $72!

We had a really delicious rehearsal dinner at China Delight. It was super easy to book on a Friday night since almost no Chinese go out to dinner on Friday nights (a little bit of trivia for you people), so they put up these cubicle looking walls and made us our own little creepy corner in a giant empty dining room. I did the traditional qipao, but the Mr. got away with a tie. The food was incredible, though, and I was thoroughly happy with everything (mom was too, score!). I also had no idea how many people are freaked out by traditional asian food. There’s more to life than going to restaurants with the word “panda” in them! After dinner, we had cocktails back at the hotel and we got to see a few more folks that flew in later that day.

The Mr. and I then headed back to our room for some slumber. A lot of people were also surprised by this, which, really? We LIVE together. I don’t like sleeping without him, and I think he feels the same

On to part two - the wedding day…

Seen at Clifton & Dekalb Ave.