Joooolia, the Bride as well as the Groom, with Jim,
Maid-of-Honor.
(Photo by Ringel)
So I had my Groom-Optional Wedding, rented the church, rented the band,
sold a spare limb to get flower wreaths, all but engraved invitations because,
well, I hadn't figured out the details in time for that sort of thing. It
was a pretty good crowd for a Thursday, especially since my original email
announcement apparently failed to get mailed and I only discovered that
2 days before the event.
I'll upload more pictures when they flatter me, ok? (And I receive permission
from the various photgraphers).
Thank You So Much:
Everyone who showed up.
Radioactive for the sound equipment.
Jim's Big Ego for the sound.
The Unitarian Universalists for allowing Jim to speak blasphemies ("God
is a Man") in their Sanctuary.
Vicka for the wedding cake. (It wasn't too big after all).
Kimberly for the wedding favors.
Everyone who showed up and also brought food.
Meg for catching the bouquet. (Heh heh heh).
Sarah for not giving up after being lost for three (3) hours in Watertown,
thanks to MapQuest.
Llyra at Burning
Man, whose gift of a tye-dyed frock ending up being the Wedding dress.
(I think it counted as the borrowed, new, and blue.)
Karyn for the lovely *looking* bouqet.
Jenny for the Useful
Honeymoon Advice.
What happened:
It was 9 o'clock September 9th, 1999 for the first time in New Zealand at 4 PM ET, September 8th. I was doing last minute shopping for soft drinks. *sigh*
We had a decent (12+ person) turn-out to see Yellow Submarine. Only two folks wanted to go to Man Ray afterwards, and since I had been wearing Blue for the Meanies, I would've had to go home and change. Most of us went to Brew Moon instead.
Folks showed up slightly later than planned for the potluck and concert.
Everyone else had to work that day.
They gleefully wore, and ate, the Ringpop engagement rings. They took their
turns to be best man and tell embarrassing stories about the groom (me),
clicked spoons to get me to kiss the bride (also me), and took pictures
of me feeding myself cake and, of course, rubbing it on my face. (And meanwhile
started a betting pool). Luckily they didn't make me
dance with myself. Although I still did once the concert began. I threw
the bouquet to determine who would host... my divorce? (the death of my spouse?)
So, er, Meg's place, January 1st, 2001. Heh.
It was 9 o'clock September 9th, 1999 for the last time in Nome, AK at 6 AM ET, September 10th. Sarah, Robert and I toasted with Gin & Tonics in the black-light room.
My family:
My sister, Betsy, actually got married in September of 1999. No, she wasn't even engaged when I first began seriously planning 9/9/99. She called the next day and was shocked to discover I rented a church.
So... although it was not the reason behind 9/9/99, I appreciated being in the fancy dress at the country club, watching the last of my 4 siblings get married, when numerous "well-meaning" friends and relatives asked me, "When are you going to get married?" I could grin and say "I already had my wedding, thanks."
Honestly though, after Betsy's wedding, I am more convinced that perhaps 9/9/99 is the only wedding I'll ever have. If I were to do a wedding that fit in with my nuclear family's collective tastes, it would be the one Betsy just had. And, well, it's now been done.More to the point, not being her, I could never have that sort of wedding. Guests quickly identified me as the rebel of the family, even before seeing the photos of 9/9/99 and Burning Man. I can rarely get myself presentable enough for a country club anymore, as I spend less and less time with people who would care. Needless to say, I couldn't get my companions to be presentable either. And while I am enough of my mother's daughter to like the Martha Stewart wedding stuff, I am just as paranoid the majority of my friends would shun me for being shallow enough to care. I noted with some alarm that the only long-haired men at Betsy's wedding were in the band or waitstaff. And my mother has already been appropriately horrified at the tie-dyed dress pictured at the top of this page. Most of my friends these days have long hair and like tie-dyed clothes. Alas.
Before that wedding, I was secretly hoping I might someday have a real wedding; you know, one with a groom, and that involves my immediate family. Now, knowing I'd have to meet their preppy standards, the expectations the rest of the family has of me being a "rebel" and also something that wouldn't disgust or alienate the majority of my friends, well, I am more and more convinced that 9/9/99 was it.
The Wedding Pool:
How long do you give this Marriage?
| Name: | Guess |
| Jenny G | 6 months |
| Rehmy | 6 year 6 months 6 days |
| benji | 99.99 minutes |
| Meg | Until DEATH |
| Gavin | 9 years 9 months 9 days and 5.3 minutes |
| Scott | until hell gets lukewarm |
| Medge | until Julia catches herself cheating |
| Stacey | until death does she depart Julia Twenty |
| Rob R. | until 01/01/01 |
| Kristin | Until it rains |
| Joelll | A Medford wedding? A Somerville divorce! She'll kill herself in ten years in order to collect on the life insurance! |
| Ringel | dead before the leftover appetizers get cold |
| Colleen | until the sex gets lousy |
| Bait | They're stuck w/ each other now!! |
Sigh. With friends like these...
Well, Rob R., Meg will (hopefully) be hosting what she apparently bets will be my DEATH, on 01/01/01.