the double d wedding

lindsay proposed on christmas eve 2006. we decided to have the shin dig in july 2007 because it was a down time for both of us work-wise. i consider myself lucky that he's been married before, because it really helped me keep in check what was important--and more importantly, what was not. our code word for anything we didn't want or care about was 'jordan almond', because it distilled the classic downer wedding that wasn't any fun and had crappy traditional sweets like stale, sugar-shellacked almonds.

we agreed on a few stipulations: a short and sweet ceremony that wasn't dripping with pomp, circumstance and empty words; my brothers would be my bridesmaids and his dear friend, buckwheat would be his best man; wedding cupcakes; jelly jars for beverages; jelly bellies, and a photobooth, which is where we splurged the most. as an afterthought, we also got a bouncy house for the kids, which was far less expensive than the photobooth and a godsend for the kids and their parents alike. i also made a stand on the music for the processional: lemon jelly's "space walk". the best wedding song e v e r !

after scoping out a few locations that seemed ridiculously expensive, my mom and stepdad offered their home on the tulalip indian reservation in washington where they had wed three years previous. but their ceremony included 40 people total and the reception was somewhere else, so our party was going to be on a whole new level with around 200 people attending the entire event.

we were incredibly lucky pulling this whole thing together. we had offers from friends and family ranging from officiating the ceremony, making the cupcakes and cutting cake, live and dj music, arbor makers, a cardboard star and bead garland sweatshop, gardeners, tent and table lenders, flower cutters and arrangers, bulldozers and hog fuel spreaders, good weather shamans, map maker, program gluers, neighbors who lent their ficus tree, homes and driveways...

what truly made our day the best offbeat wedding was all of the hands on and often messy preparation that included our community of loved ones. lindsay and i got to know our respective friends and family better, and every detail of the wedding had our touch on it.

the thing i recall best about ariel's book was when she mentioned how high the turnout rate is for offbeat weddings, because no one wants to miss out on what they expect to be a unique event. as predicted, a very few number of people couldn't make it, and the energy was so high and positive, we really couldn't have asked for a better day.

you know when people tell you it was a "nice" wedding and you "looked beautiful"? you know the difference between that, and people telling you while taking firm hold of your arm and keeping intense eye contact with you for added punctuation, "no! this was seriously the best wedding e v e r !!"? that was our day.