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Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic

1. go to your local tattoo parlor.
2. get your wedding bands tattooed on without telling anyone you are doing so.
3. rent the community centre in your home town for a saturday night.
4. book 3 local punk bands and enlist your brother in law as a DJ.
5. invite all your friends and family. insist that they come.
6. might as well put up posters at the local high school well you're at it.
7. get everybody from your ex-grilfriends to your grandmother fabulously drunk.
8. ensure everyone has a fantastic time.
9. use the money from drink tickets to pay the bands.
10. hey, there's like $300 left over after we've already givent he bands more than we promised them.
11. designate it tequila funds and take off to mexico.
12. years later, when your family asks: "when are you guys going to get married?" show them the ring and say: "we did. you were there. remember?"

To further add to the informality of the event we added in Dear Wife's being five months along with Older Daughter.

The entertainment was my (late) Uncle Bill, a tenor, serenading us with "Danny Boy" and similar, mostly Scottish, ballads. The caterer was my mother and the menu was roast turkey. Flowers were from my mother's garden.  There was, however, a traditional wedding cake, which was made by an actual baker.

It was a very happy day for me and I think it was also a happy day for Dear Wife. In any event it seems to have worked, inasmuch as we still hang out together and seem to like each other as we approach our 26th anniversary.

Notable "white trash" moment was when my friend Mike passed out and was carried upstairs by his brother, his father, and two of my brothers, where he was deposited on a bed to sleep it off. This was shortly after he was seen to be gnawing on a turkey drumstick, with most of the turkey still attached.  My mother was angry about that. She said, "That Mike! He only came to get drunk. As soon as he arrived he asked me for coffee with whiskey in it!"  So I explained to her the exculpatory explanation: "Mom, he was tripping and was only using alcohol to try to come down." 

The wedding was in West Hartford, CT, where some weeks earlier we had obtained the license and gotten blood tests.  After which we drove to Indiana for Betty's divorce.  This was quite a memorable scenario.  In a dark, wood-panelled courtroom with ceilings enormously high there was a judge, a clerk, Betty and me.  The husband was in Switzerland, where he had been for the prior 2.5 years.  The drama came when Betty was asked if she was pregnant, and said "no," which was a lie.  So maybe her divorce was not legal and she's polyandrous and our marriage is void.  If so,  please don't tell anybody.

In general this is a path that I would recommend for the hopeless romantics out there like me and Blixco. The chief downside has been monogamy, which Dear Wife still thinks is a good thing. I gotta admit, it does simplify things. But, hey, come on, give me a break.  A guy is still a guy, what, what?  Alas, I'm now old, bald and ugly, whereas then I was young and handsome.  So I think I have kinda missed the boat on that one.

Here is how we got there, kinda: one day, when we were in grad school and hanging out with each other an awful lot, she announced: "Last night I got rid of all my boyfriends. Today you get rid of all your girlfriends.  From now on it's just me and you."

I said, "Couldn't we have talked about this first?"

She said, "No point. It's obvious that this is where we're going. So just do it, OK?"

I said, "OK."  Now, the sad part of that tale is that I had only recently, at age 26, discovered that it was not very difficult to get laid, and I had several girlfriends.  But what the heck.  I said "OK" because because I really had a mad crush on Betty, and besides, I knew that if I said "OK" that we would spend the rest of the day fucking instead of talking about "relationships".  So, you see? There now.  That's how it begins.
Buy my books, dammit!

The bride assigned the potluck dishes. The couple was registered at a local department store and requested useful gifts, not tchotchkes.(sp?)

Earth First!
_{(We can strip mine the rest later.)}

I'm pretty sure I'm the first person in my family not married by a JP in a hundred years.   





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"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." - George Orwell

• the ceremony venue was a clearing on a hill in a city park. we had to reserve it, and we had to pay a refundable cleaning deposit. it was gorgeous; everyone really liked the site.
• the reception was in a private room in a restaurant that jared's family loves. it came in unexpectedly low.
• one of jared's family members kindly cleared the bar tab in the middle of the evening.
• pictures were done by a friend of ours who is into amateur photography. (also, $BEST_MAN's wife, which made me eternally grateful that she came at all).
• we wanted, and had, no flowers.
• the most expensive thing aside from dinner was the wedding cake.
• the second most expensive thing aside from dinner was dress shoes. :)

When K and I got married, it was pretty small. I did what I could to fight the flood, but it grew to twice what I'd hoped for regardless.

Goddamn man, it's amazing. You and Doc so for so long now. Good thing.

think the most beautiful woman i've ever seen standing next to me.

think clock finally does it right.


_{Clock is right. [nt] --vorheesleatherface}

Our friends and family were so wonderful with their support and assistance, it was not just something for the two of us, it was for everyone.
And I was happy we were able to find the perfect balance between the traditional and hippie.  :)

That was 15 yrs ago this Sept...damn.

Congrats on your relationship, you two have been through a lot and each challenge just brings you closer.
To quote from my Grandfather's toast at our wedding "...may you stay together for 100 years.  Or at least 50."

A2

1. The right person standing across from you when you need to repeat after someone, and
2. everything around you being something that the guests look at and say, "That's so you!"

Cheers to you and the doc.

--
"later" meant either "when you walk around the corner" or "oatmeal."