I'm back, with husband in tow, adjusting to married life. Thanks to the guestbloggers who kept Diverse Ramblings going while we were on our honeymoon!
Our wedding was fantastic - the ceremony went very well, and the reception was a blast!
Mike and I were very nervous when we got up to sing The Servant Song to each other just before our vows - it wasn't because we were singing in front of people (we do, after all, do this on a regular basis), it was just I'm-in-the-middle-of-getting-married nerves! Our mouths were dry and our hands were shaking and we went flat in places, but we made it! Mike even nailed the tricky harmony in the second verse.
Don't ask me how, but I didn't cry during the ceremony, even though I could see my sisters bawling, heheh. Usually even just seeing a random person crying on TV will move me to sympathetic tears, but in this case I managed not to. Possibly because I had already ruined my makeup once already, when I had a little panic attack at home and hyperventilated, thank goodness I had had the foresight to invest in waterproof mascara... *grin*
Mike's brother was our ringbearer, his sister was a bridesmaid and his youngest cousin made a very cute flowergirl. Middle Sis was Michael's Best Woman, and Little Sis was my Maid of Honour, so all six of us siblings were in the bridal party! Two friends provided the music, two other friends did the readings (1 Corinthians 13), and two other friends were our witnesses. The pastor preached on Corinthians, because we'd chosen the reading from there, and he took Paul's teachings on the church and applied them to marriage.
The ceremony was a bit unusual because it was bilingual, since Michael's family is Maltese-speaking and my family is English-speaking and we wanted everyone to be able to follow. The pastor repeated himself in both languages when he spoke, except for the sermon, which he did in Maltese and a friend provided consecutive English translation. We chose one of the songs in English, the other in Maltese, and Mike did his vows in Maltese and I did mine in English. Overall, it worked!
I liked our vows very much - we wrote our own a couple of weeks before. Mine was just prose, but Mike wrote his as a beautiful rhyming poem - he has a real facility for the Maltese language, and how many women can say that they've had such a thing written for them? So special. We memorised our vows, which were about a hundred words each, but we both chickened out with nerves and snuck looks at the printout that the pastor held for us! Excusable, I think.
Everything went well, and the lost car keys were recovered in time to retrieve our wedding rings from the locked car before they were needed... ;-) (incidentally, this situation was carefully kept a secret from me in case I freaked out, as was the fact that there was no sound coming through the system until three minutes before the ceremony started).
We really enjoyed the ceremony, and I think that lots of people did too, because many came up to us afterwards just to say how nice it was. I'm glad, and I know Mike and I will treasure it always.
We performed in the reception too - Michael whizzed me around the dancefloor to Cole Porter's I've got you under my skin for our first dance, complete with some fancy moves courtesy of some extra instruction from our dance teacher. (Thanks!) The man can really move, and he didn't do anything like step on my toes or drop me when he dipped me at the end! Even the band messing up didn't faze him. We chose a slower song for the parents' dance, so we moved around some more to Etta James's At Last.
I've never really danced with Mike, only done routines in jazz lessons where at most we would dance next to each other. So it was a bit strange learning to follow his lead as he decides (a) the path around the floor and (b) what moves to do, and (c) when to do them. He had to learn to send me clear signals, and I had to learn to follow them, but we did get the hang of it - actually I think we did really well given that we only had one lesson! (of course, we had a marathon practice session by ourselves afterwards).
A bit later on, we sang our hearts out - Mike sang me one of my favourite songs, Michael Bublé's Everything, and I sang him Cole Porter's De-Lovely (as a solo, and with some of the Robbie Williams lyrics). Michael knew I was having trouble hitting the high note at the end, so he walked over and sang the last line with me to help me reach it. Awwww... Big thanks to Quality Backing Tracks who provided us with very good backings. After those, we got funky with the Monkees' I'm a believer as a duet, accompanied by the live band.
What can I say, this is the sort of evening entertainment you get when two musical theatre students get married!
The wedding was at the Coastline Hotel, and we had the ceremony outside on the terrace overlooking the sea. The weather was perfect - well, perhaps a little humid, but there was a lovely breeze coming off the water and a glowing (but not too bright) yellow sunset behind the pastor. We had a great team of friends and family who took care of the decorations and on-the-spot organisation, and who really went out of their way to give Mike and I a fantastic time (and they succeeded!). The evening just sped by, and looking back it really doesn't seem like we were there for six hours at all.
After that Mike and I spent a couple of days in five-star luxury, and then a quiet week in a farmhouse in Gozo, which was just what we needed to unwind after all the running around before the wedding.
We got back from our honeymoon to find that family members had been very busy in our flat, and they left it nice and clean, with homely touches and printouts of wedding photos, supper in the fridge and dessert on the cupboard. Wow!
Mike and I have been using the rest of the week to settle in - yesterday we bought some kitchen appliances and today we got my legal documents sorted out (because of my name change) and re-stocked the pantry. I have to say prosit to the Marriage Registry and the ID Cards office because I had a very pain-free experience.
Incidentally, I settled on a signature with Michael's help - nothing fancy but it gets the job done!
A couple of days before the wedding we got the TV/phone/internet installed, and now all we really lack is a washing machine, which we should get by the end of this week. And thanks to Kenneth's tip, I have already stocked up on Colour Catcher so that I won't be sending Mike to work in pink uniforms...
Congratulations! Glad to hear everything went well..you made me feel as if I were there with your great description of the wedding:) Good Luck for your married life :) bdw you looked great in the pics :)
Posted by: Krystle | October 12, 2007 at 06:11
Come see me =(
Posted by: Taramara | October 12, 2007 at 07:36
Or at least let me come see you lol
Posted by: Taramara | October 12, 2007 at 07:36
Reading this made me sniffle *wipes tear* (What? I'm a secret softie... don't tell anyone k?). I'm so glad you two had a blast at your wedding:-) The pix on facebook were simply fabulous. Hope we can catch up around Xmas, it's going to be a whirlwind visit yet again (this time disappearing before new year). Enjoy married life Mrs!:-))
Posted by: Athena | October 12, 2007 at 10:33
congrats on your successful wedding! :)
Posted by: ninuhadida | October 12, 2007 at 17:37
OOOOhhhI am feeling ever sooooo guilty for not blogging while you were getting your wicked way with Micheal over in Gozo!!!! *sniff* but otherwise I am pleased that all went well. And of course the marriage registry would treat you well.... I used to work there remember????? wink wink! and the people over there are as lovely as ever.
Saw the pics on facebook, and loved them. It looked such a happy wedding, not the normal run of the mill ones where everyone (including the bride and groom) looke bored. Pleased all went well pupa. Take care and enjoy being a MRS!!!xxx
Posted by: hsejjes | October 12, 2007 at 19:48
Congratulations!!! Wish you all the best for your married life!
Posted by: Jessica C. Moritz | October 31, 2007 at 22:16