Last week I celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary. We didn’t do anything fancy…just went out for the best sushi in our little town with my visiting in-laws.
Wow, 15 years…where did the time go?
In 1999, my now husband asked me to marry him in the hallway of my Mom’s house. At that time, we had been together for two years, and had been “living in sin”, much to my family’s chagrin. A ring was music to my mother’s ears!
After I accepted his proposal, the countdown to the wedding began. Anxiety and excitement set in, and plans began for my party of the century to take place in Fall 2000.
Weddings…the whole concept is so not what I am.
I was not one of those girls who dreamt of their wedding when they were a little girl. No, in fact, I shunned the idea, as I didn’t see myself as ever getting married… but, haw-haw! Here I was, a fool for love, planning a wedding. Looking at my photo albums, the wedding seems so far away, yet like yesterday. At the same time, my memory of the day is as vivid as yesterday.
I committed a whole year to the task of planning my wedding, and like a good student, I was organized, studious and thorough. I still have the binder I used full of all the work I did for the day, and it’s quite something. It brings back a ton of memories, and reminds me of how styles and technology have shifted.
I chose Fall for the time of year…Ever been to a wedding in July? Sweatin’ to the oldies…and you expect me to wear nylons? No thanks! Autumn is such a pretty season, with the leaves changing colour, and the perfect palette to draw from for a wedding. I chose red as a main colour – cheery and different – and orange and yellow also played a role.
I got married in Sudbury, Ontario – 3.5 hours away from where we were living at the time. The nuptuals took place in the church my grandmother had a hand in creating, and where I spent every Sunday from ages 3 to 18. The reception took place in the same hall the hubs’ parents had their wedding reception. The reason for location was because both our families and many of our guests live in Sudbury.
We had 112 guests come to our wedding. Planning a wedding teaches you compromise, and this number was big enough to be called a large event, but small enough not to be overwhelming.
I don’t like dresses, nylons and high-heels. I don’t wear much make-up and don’t like to make a fuss about myself. In any case, I found it surprisingly easy choosing a style of wedding dress. Finding the actual dress wasn’t so simple. In the end, I had my dress handmade because I couldn’t find anything that didn’t make my sensitive skin break out in a rash.
I wore a bodice under my dress since there wasn’t anything inside the dress to “hold the bewbs in.” I never wore anything like that before…Now, I KNOW I’ve become a woman when I step foot into a lingerie shop and pay $85 for a friggin’ corset…and the bastard was so uncomfortable. At one point I was in tears when I had to wear it to a fitting and one of the bonings (heh) poked me in the ribs so bad, I could barely sit in the car.
Never mind, shoe-shopping on any given day is torturous. I’d live in my sandals all year round if I could! It took me 6 months to find white shoes that didn’t pinch my feet. My original idea was to wear white running shoes decorated with lace like Annie Banks wore in Father of the Bride, but my mother disapproved of this in a big way, and she won that battle (and in hindsight was probably right, I say pouting…).
One of the funnest part of planning my wedding had to have been designing my own wedding invitations. Man, that was great! It precipitated us getting a new computer (an HP Pavillion with Win 98 and a Pentium processor!) and a new flatbed scanner! Having been a Visual Arts grad with some web and Graphic Design experience, I was in my element creating my invitations with PrintShop Pro (the latest Photoshop knock off only Costco could offer!). I saved a lot of money as I used card stock and envelopes available at Staples which kept costs way down. I’m still proud of the workmanship!
It was the year 2000, and unlike today where people have wedding pics taken digitally, outdoors, I had mine taken in a stuffy studio taken on real film (I’ll spare you the Daguerreotypes…). I don’t even have the negatives to my own wedding pics!
Since music keeps us alive, it of course played an integral part in the wedding day. To start, we had fun creating CDs for our wedding party. Having had about 20 people involved in the day, Kevin and I got creative by making our own mixes for our pals. I then got to work creating the best CD cover ever – mimicking the styling of movie posters.
I even controlled the music that would play at the reception. I was so anal about what music was to be played – and what music wasn’t – I had a list I handed off to the DJ. The moratorium list was largely ignored (what are you gonna do when a request from a guest for new country music comes in?), and so I got to hear at least 4 Shania Twain songs that night. Still, we managed to cut a serious rug, and do the white man’s overbite on repeat.
Our first song was Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does It Better” (we were on a James Bond kick). The last song was Etta James’ “At Last”, which today is totally ubiquitous with weddings, but back then was largely ignored…I guess I started a trend!
Reminiscing about the day, perusing my wedding planner, looking over the old photo albums, brings back memories. I was nervous and felt awkward the whole time I was at my wedding, which is me on any normal day. But at the same time, I was so elated to be marrying Kevin, I didn’t even feel my awful corset poking me in the ribs.
Overall, it was a wonderful wedding, and the universe willing, I will never have to do that again! Here’s to another 15 years!
Who’s the dude with the hair?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Who’s the girl with the hair? lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great story! Love the pics, totally hair-tastic! I bet those wedding party CDs would do gangbusters out in the collector’s market too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Awesome post! So cool to see photos from back then, especially Kev looking so different. You look great in that dress btw. 112 guests is epic though. If I ever get married, there will definitely not be that many. That must’ve been a huge effort on your part.
I had my first girlfriend back in 2000 just after I hit 14. it was a good year for all it seems!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Shaun!
LikeLike
Congratulations on your anniversary! 15 years!
You’re totally right about the wedding seeming so far away yet just like yesterday. My lovely wife and I were only a couple of years after you (2003), though we dated and lived in sin (woohoo!) for 5 years before that. In fact, we just passed our 17th First Date-aversary this week. But yeah, it seems so fresh in my mind and yest when I think of everything we’ve done, everywhere we’ve gone, the family we’ve created… sometimes it feels more like 24 years, not 12! 🙂
Thanks also for the KMA nod (music really does keep us alive!). I did all the music for our wedding (including At Last, so I thank you for the tip hahaha. There was lots of soul/old r&b in our mix), and made special mixes for the wedding party! Great minds!
Congrats again! All the best to you both, and here’s to another 15, and another 15, and another 15…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Aaron! 🙂
LikeLike
Haha I just read my reply back and realized mostly what I did was take what you wrote and tell you about our own story. Which is probably fairly rude. Sorry! We really do congratulate you on 15 years. To save Geoff looking it up, Hallmark says the 15th is the Crystal anniversary. Cool!
Enjoy, you crazy kids!
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, not rude at all! I love reading about the different experiences others have.
LikeLike
Whew! OK good! Haha yeah, we paid for ours too, so we had 55 people. Food we catered but I did the DJing and there wasn’t any booze (the whole reception and everythng was all over by 4pm anyway). We were living in Saskatoon at the time, but we flew back to Ontario to get married (near family). All the men wore Hawaiian shirts (go figure). Honeymoon was 3 days in Montreal, then a week and a half in Halifax – right when Hurricane Juan hit, leaving us without power and the city shut down for most of our visit. Ah well, at least we have a story! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ours would likely be around 55 people if we paid for it ourselves. Of course, parents always have a say. I’m never having a party like that again. No way.
LikeLike
Parents usually have a say, but for ours it was pretty minimal. My mom made the cupcakes (instead of a wedding cake). That’s about it. We did it all, and kept it simple and fun. We probably spent way more on the travel for the wedding/honeymoon than we did on the wedding itself, and we rented an entire 14-room inn for a night sopeople from far away had a place to crash! I mean, Saskatoon – Toronto – Hamilton – Montreal – Halifax – Saskatoon is a lot of miles covered! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Loved this! I don’t have the negatives to my wedding either, which bugs me, but not sure why. Would I really print them all out??? Wishing you many more than 15 years. Congrats!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It would save from scanning them in. No, I wouldn’t print them out.
LikeLike
Happy anniversary Sarca! As a hard rock punk dude macho man can I say I really like the dress, without blowing my image?!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aww, thanks 1637! Lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congrats Sarca! Really nice write up. In this day and age 15 years married is a milestone! We will be hitting the 20 year plateau this upcoming Feb 2016 ourselves…
Have a good day!
Just curious..what kind of coffee was served at the reception? HAHAHHA….just being a smart alec….
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL, the truth is, out reception took place in an old Italian hall, and they had THE BEST coffee!! Tasty, and paired nicely with the strawberry shortcake we served for dessert. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fantastic Sarca and Kevin!
Congratulations, 15 years is apparently the ‘crystal anniversary’ – enjoyed this post, hope you enjoyed your crystal anniversary!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We did – sans crystal!
LikeLiked by 1 person
DEJA VU. This is SO much like our own wedding…I guess great minds think alike?
Jen too needed comfy shoes…she found sparkling white running shoes.
I too controlled the DJ…I too was confounded by Shania (and my family from Calgary).
Great pics and great post!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Mike.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re very welcome and congrats on this big 1-5! So funny how much we had in common though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it is very interesting. Music is important to both of us. Obviously!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Imagine that, since that’s how we all started communicating in the first place eh!
Also just funny we were both cursed by Shania. Who’s Bed Have Your Boots Been Under? specifically.
The DJ came up to me and said, “There’s a man who keeps requesting this song. I know you said no country.” And I said, “Who?” And she pointed to my favourite uncle! HAHAHAHAH!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yup, that’s the song! I don’t know who kept asking for her, but I’ll say it was my inlaws’ side. Haha
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jesus Moiphy!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jen has a comment:
“That is not a song to be played at a wedding! Cheating just doesn’t work!”
LikeLiked by 1 person
We also banned Pearl Jam’s Where oh where can my baby be. Damn that one was popular in 2000..
LikeLike
Oh god I bet people wanted to dance to that back in 2000! Also not good for a wedding. JEEZ! We tried to stick to songs that were, you know, NOT about negative shit! Hahaha! It’s hard to find the right DJ too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, this guy was the dude my ass of an ex-bro in law hired. That was his one job, and I ended up talking to him and paying for him. We could have done a better job with a five CD changer on random!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ugh…I hate hearing that! And you hear a LOT of wedding nightmare stories about DJs.
I was a bit annoyed at my sister’s wedding…the DJs were playing slightly sped up versions of the songs! I obviously noticed on Kiss.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Shit! That’s just wrong! What’s worse is you being the only one who notices!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My sis was too drunk 😉
I remember at my own wedding, she was on the dance floor, threw both arms in the air and yelled “I’M LOADED! WOOOOO!” She denies this.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I didn’t get drunk at all..Then again, mom was in the room, and so was my grand mother.
LikeLike
I may or may not have been under the influence. I was just high on adrenaline more than anything!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh I had drinky poos but I was too busy meeting with guests. I am surprised I managed to eat anything.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I didn’t eat, barely anything anyway. Too much excitement. Heck I never even ate a piece of my own wedding cake.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We had two cakes for some reason. Strawberry Shortcake was the main one. Delicious! The other was a white cake covered in buttercreme. It was gross.
LikeLiked by 1 person
But it sounds like it should have been awesome. Too bad!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Meh, buttercreme..
LikeLike
I would have chosen running shoes, if it hadn’t been for my mom. Today, I’d go with them, or even white sandals. I don’t tolerate heels much at all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just remembered something…I brought a spare pair of shoes for dancing. I changed out of my tux shoes into a pair of black sneakers with flames on the side.
It’s the same for guys (though not as bad). I don’t think there is such thing as a comfy formal shoe.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You ever hear my “bare traps” story? A make of show with an unfortunate name. Bought them for a Xmas party taking place near the Anytime. Got lost, walked a mile or two, until we found the place. My dogs were killing me, the night just started.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“My dogs are barking!” – John Candy
LikeLiked by 1 person
Holy shit! The party was near the friggin Skydome! FU autocorrect!
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Anytime”, autocarrot!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I disabled autocorrect, but I also have a Swype and voice recognition app that I use to type, that won’t let you disable the autocorrect! Feckin hell.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Most embarassing — on Facebook I somehow sent a girl a heart emoticon, don’t ask me how my phone did that. We’re both married… it was quite embarrassing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
i AY CARUMBA!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congrats to you both! I enjoyed your little walk down memory lane. Those CDs looked awesome!
I wish I had 112 people at my wedding. My wife and I grew up on an island where, basically, our whole families are still living and lots of family and friends flew home for it. We had around 225 at dinner if I remember correctly and close to 300 at the dance (lots of wedding crashers and people we just couldn’t invite to the dinner). I don’t know how we survived, lol.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! I don’t think we would have invited as many if we were paying for it all ourselves…
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary!!! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLike
Congratulations and happy anniversary to both of you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy anniversary! I can hardly believe that’s you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know, I don’t have a cup in front of my face! And I’m in a dress! lol
LikeLike
Haha. You look so happy, even without the mug.
LikeLike
Happy Congratulation Shenanigans to you and your hubs! This is all sorts of awesome – thanks for sharing!
LikeLike
Late in reading this, but Happy Anniversary! Sounds like it was a pretty great day. Here’s to another 15…then another.
LikeLiked by 1 person
thank you! it was a great day!
LikeLiked by 1 person