Another wedding???

My biggest worry was the weather. I didn’t realize until a month prior that the room my sister so graciously donated was not air-conditioned. Missouri in the dead of summer is not only hot, but very humid.

The previous night as we were decorating it was almost unbearable in the area where we were having the party. Amazingly, just after the wedding, a storm blew in and the temperature dropped by about 20 degrees. We were so lucky. I have to say we have really been fortunate with weather all the way around. The party that we had here in California fell on a perfect day but it had rained every day before or after for about 25 days straight.

We had the actual wedding at Garry and Rebekah’s restaurant. She and her husband own a three story historic building in my hometown of Fulton. We actually walked in through the front door and oddly enough they did not shut down the restaurant so there were a few people in there eating dinner when the wedding march came on and Praveen and I walked inside. Everyone was waiting on the mezzanine watching as we walked up the stairs and then met the minister. We had written our own vows, which neither of us had heard before and ironically they both turned out to be funny and cute.

After the wedding we played one of our favorite songs Bob Marley’s , Is this love as we walked out in the street. Garry has a mic that is hooked up to the speakers that run downtown Fulton and he was screaming words of congratulations for the whole town to hear. It was really cute.

I am glad the wedding we small. Sure I could have invited a bunch of people that I haven’t seen since highschool, but why? Not that I wouldn’t love to see some of them, but it was nice to be able to just focus on the people I feel are still a really important part of my life.

A few of Praveen’s friends flew in and so it was great to bring together some people we both love.

I feel like I got to experience almost every wedding experience that I have ever heard of. I had the big wedding (which was in a foreign land w/ foreign customs), The small wedding and the big party. Over all I think that the wedding in India was probably the most enjoyable because I didn’t know what to expect and I really didn’t plan any of it so I wasn’t worried about much of anything. I felt emotional and sentimental, where in Fulton I was too nervous to feel that way, mostly I felt numb.

I was surprised at how nervous I was. I was really worried I would forget my vows. I can’t imagine how it would have been if I would have had to memorize something meaningful and regurgitate it in front of the 500 people in India that I didn’t even know.

After the ceremony though, I was able to let loose and have a blast and that part I can’t compare. To have Naomi sing our first dance, my father sing a few songs, BG and my mom give beautiful toasts….and the lists goes on… The food was amazing, the music was fun, and overall I think everyone had a wonderful time. Celebrating with my friends and my family really was priceless.

My hardest party was the one here in California. I didn’t feel like I got to have a real conversation with anyone the entire day. I felt like I worked too hard and spent too much money for – what? I am not sure. I was so busy trying to prepare wonderful food that I forgot to focus on anything wedding like. There was no toast, no speech, but boy was there ever food! We really thought it was important to be able to celebrate with everyone here, but really we didn’t because there were too many people to celebrate with that we ended up not celebrating with anyone. I guess at heart I really am just a small town girl.

So now it is official and we have the paper work to prove it. We are married and I have to say I don’t think I could have ever found a better partner to spend the rest of my life with.