Cory + Stacey = bliss! - posted at 03:12

I've been getting complaints that I'm not posting pictures where you can actually see, y'know, my face. GEEZ! So pushy! Isn't it enough for you people that I post pictures of my new husband beaming at me and I write self-deprecating things all over the place? I guess not!

So before launching into some of my more themed posts featuring guests or pictures from the rest of the action-packed weekend, I'll post the last good pictures of Cory and I that are in my hot little hands since our official pictures from the photographer haven't arrived yet.

So, here's the scene: Cory and I have just cut the cake, and just as he thought that he was going to actually have a nice, stoic wife who would never ever do anything like smash a piece of cake into his face, he got a schnozz full of icing. He must have decided pretty quickly that a nice, stoic wife wasn't the woman for him and he forgave me on the spot, and kissed me back right after I had kissed all that errant icing off his nose.

All is forgiven for the frosting schnozz. Have I just been rewarded for my bad behavior? SWEET! (click for larger).

Right after the cake-cutting pomp there came, of course, the drinking of the champagne with the arms interlocked that is only really possible if you are, in fact, Gumby. Neither Cory nor I are interminably flexible, nor are we green with trapezoidal heads, but we are pretty talented so we managed to pull it off. Then we smiled for the camera!

Cory and I ham it up for the camera in lieu of a victory lap (click for larger).

After the cake and champagne there was more dancing, of course! It was a very small reception (less than forty people) but my Aunt Linda and Uncle Brooks and each of Cory's four aunts were all worth about ten people apiece in spiritedness and knowing how to have a kickass time. Cory and I managed to squeeze in a couple of the romantic gaze-lovingly-into-each-others'-eyes dances, and every time I see the way we were looking at each other on our wedding day I just melt. I mean, look, there's a Stacey puddle on the floor right now.

If you aren't saying awwwww there's probably something wrong with you! (click for larger)

Well, with relatives like ours the whole night couldn't consist entirely of such beautiful sappy moments (as nice as they are and and much as I treasure them). I mean, is this a celebration or what? It's time to get funky! Granted, Cory and I are both really really white and neither of us had consumed the five-drink minimum for either a) our dancing to get good or b) us to just not care any more, but hey, you only get married once and you have to celebrate, dammit!

Cory and I cut a (rhythmically challenged) rug (click for larger)

And yes, Play that Funky Music White Boy was played at the reception. Classy, eh?

A Tail of Woe - posted at 04:35

(I'm not done posting wedding pictures! This was just too classic to put off posting until I have exhausted the nuptial tales!)

While Cory and I were engaged I was doing a lot of traveling. So much traveling, in fact, that I deemed it would be hugely expensive to board her somewhere and she would have been miserable there anyway. My parents were good enough to take care of here for those three months until I got back from our honeymoon and were additionally good enough to get her dew claws removed. Unfortunately, this meant that she was out of dog-park-commission for a couple of weeks until she got her staples out.

Well as soon as she got them out I made a play date for her and a new Lab that a couple of friends had recently gotten. I just knew that Penny (the new Lab) would love University Lake and that she and Sienna would get along awesomely.

It was all going according to plan -- Sienna even taught Penny how to swim -- and all hounds and people involved were really happy until several hours after Sienna and I got home. I noticed Sienna was giving me sad eyes that were even sadder than her normal sad sad eyes. She was also so lethargic that I thought that something might be wrong with her. I had no idea what it was until bedtime got closer and I let her outside for the last time that night and I realized "wait a minute -- her tail isn't wagging!" Those of you who have met Sienna know that that fifth appendage never stops moving, and if she can't wag her tail all that well (like when she's sitting down) she'll just shake her whole body back and forth instead, so unable to contain her enthusiasm is she!

Well I figured that her lack-of-wagginess was probably due to the new kink her in tail that I had noticed at the same time. I called her over and kinda played with it really gently to straighten it out and she just gave me that look of "I trust you, you crazy lady, but could you just not do that???" Ok, Sienna. I'll call the vet and let her mess with your tail.

Fast forward to that morning. We get to the vet's and she's starting to pick up her attentiveness, but she's still a very muted version of Sienna-in-a-vet's-office. The vet is offering ideas like a fracture (how the hell would you splint a tail, anyway?) or a luxation and talking about worst case scenarios like loss of sensation that would result in amputation (YIPE! Sienna needs her wagger!). So imagine my relief when the vet pinches her tail and gets a response and takes an x-ray and decides there's no fracture.

"She sprained her tail," the vet explained.

Blink. Blink. How does a doggie manage to do that? But given Sienna's a) constant use of her tail, b) her extraordinary otter-like tail strength, and c) her clumsiness (she takes after her Mama!), if any dog was going to sprain its tail, it would, well, it would be Sienna.

Oh noes! Sienna sprained her tail! (click for larger)

Thus ends her Tail of Woe.

And yes, with a title like that, Cory is pretty sure I'll be getting along with his Dad just fine!

Update: I took Sienna to the vet for a health certificate in August and happened to mention the problems we had had earlier in the year. The vet said that she probably had gotten swimmer's tail, which happens a lot at the beginning of the swimming season because the dogs aren't used to playing in the water and the water itself is very cold. I hope it doesn't happen again this next spring - I don't know if I can handle that much Sienna sadness!

Look out or you'll get smacked in the face with calla lilies! - posted at 02:54

Right after the not-so-ambiguous nod to the deflowering of the bride came the bouquet toss (I think - remember that this whole thing was a blur?).

Now, at this point it is important to remember that there is a reason I stayed away from sports a) on dry land and b) that involved throwing things.

Amphibious tendencies aside, I figure I'm game. The single ladies line up, and Jessica (perhaps inspired by her longtime boyfriend Jeremy's successful garter catch) made it clear that she would be taking no prisoners.

The single ladies line up and Jessica gets ready to throw an elbow (click for larger).

So I turn my back, count to three, and chuck it over my head. And the lucky girl is......

The ceiling beam!!!!

The shock, the horror, and the awe at my complete and utter lack of grace. See the bunch of flowers? That's not mid-flight, people. That's gravity taking over after the ceiling proved to have butterfingers (click for larger).

Yes, that's right. I threw my bouquet right into a piece of wood. Check those mad skillz out.

Someone (the photographer? An aunt of Cory's? The wedding coordinator? The DJ? -- notice that these are all people who don't know me well and are therefore unacquainted with my lack of land finesse and are surprised that a bride with no bouquet-tossing experience would totally screw the pooch on this one) called a redo. Eager to acquiesce, I wash-rinse-repeat, this time executing a technically correct bouquet toss (hey, I said I was clumsy, not incapable of learning from my mistakes) but one that nevertheless almost takes out my maid of honor.

Sandra, being obviously less klutzy than me, skillfully catches the bunch of flowers...

Sandra glows after catching the bouquet (click for larger).

And she looked pretty damn happy about it!

It's garter time - escandaloso! - posted at 02:17

As I've said before (and will probably say for the rest of my life), our wedding reception was so much fun and went by so quickly that so much of it seemed like a total blur - especially those traditional wedding bits like, oh, you know, having a man stick his hands up your skirt in front of all your closest friends and family, removing an article that could arguably be called some kind of underwear, and throwing it to all the eligible bachelors in the crowd so they can fight over it like a pack of wolves.

Maybe it's a good thing that that part was a blur!

But really, despite the yells of my brother of "HEY! That's my SISTER!" and the mortification that I'm sure my Dad was going through, Cory was really very gentlemanly about the whole affair, opting to use the hands instead of the teeth, and keeping the skirt down by my ankles.

Cory goes for the gold (click for larger).

Having retrieved his prize, he faced the small handful of bachelors in the room (it was a pretty small wedding) and after letting them scuffle about to establish their superiority, slingshotted it over his back. Jeremy was the lucky man, and everyone seemed pretty happy about that except for my brother Brian instead preferred to make this a one-in-a-million shot:

Jeremy seizes his prize while Ashley, David, and Martin look on in awe. Brian just brays (click for larger).

And here's the lucky dude himself.

My new husband congratulates my long-time friend (click for larger).

Coming up next: the bouquet toss!

Photographic evidence of the hitchedness - posted at 03:05

Now that the thank-you notes are in the mail, I can officially do photo- and web-related stuff without my conscience screaming at me.

The entire wedding went by entirely too quickly -- it was so much fun and there was so much happening that sometimes I just felt like I was along for the ride, instead of one of the principal participants. Not that I'm complaining -- our guests were amazing and helped make it a fun, blissfully memorable experience.

We're still waiting on the photos from our photographer, so in the meantime here are a few photos taken by whatever guest had possession of my Dad's camera at the time. They're linked to larger versions, so just click on them to see them!

One part I remember going by way too fast was the cutting of the cake. One moment I'm dancing out on the floor, next moment I'm being pulled aside and being give instructions on how to cut the cake, them we're cutting it and feeding it to each other and next thing I know I've got a flute in my hand (of the champagne variety, not the jazz-with-flames-coming-out-the-end variety) and we're drinking from them. It just felt like such a blur - we were having so much fun - that I'm glad that people got photos so we can re-live it!

I decided to pretend to be nice until the LAST SECOND when I smeared his nose with icing! (click for larger).

My cousin has an amazing voice. I was a bridesmaid in her wedding, so I really wanted her to be involved in my wedding, so since the wedding party was so small (just Sandra as maid of honor and Ashley as best man) I thought that having her sing would be a perfect thing to ask her to do. My Mom pulled a fast one and told me that she wasn't going to be able to do it, so you can imagine my surprise when I see her up at the front of the room with a mic in her hand! She decided to sing the same song she sang for her husband at her wedding, and I think it hearing it again meant just as much to Brady as it did to me.

I was touched that my cousin agreed to sing the song for us that she sang at her own wedding, which of course inspired dancing all around (click for larger).

Since the ceremony was in the evening, we had to take advantage of good light while we had it, which meant taking pictures beforehand. My brother was asking things like "aren't you guys not supposed to see each other yet or something?" but it all worked out well -- Richard arranged a private meeting for us to see each other for the first time in our finery. This picture happened after that time, with my Dad actually photographing Richard snapping away.

Cory and I pose for Richard, our photographer, on the V. Sattui lawn (click for larger).

There will be many more pictures from the weekend to come -- there are thousands of photos for me to look through right now!