Wedding Frenzy!

I'm not sure how to start, so I guess I'll just throw up a picture from my wedding shower in May. It was a very special day, thanks to all the work that my dad's sisters put into it. The invitations alone were mind-blowing. The cake was probably one of the best I've ever had; the cake layers themselves, not just their cream or filling, were mango and green tea flavored! So here's me looking silly while my mom, my maid of honor, and my aunt put a hat on me. The hat is a paper plate with a hole through the middle, stuffed with ribbons from shower gifts. It actually turned out to be kind of cute! You can sort of see my "dress" as well--my mom made that one out of toilet paper and something like two pieces of tape. Everyone was surprised by how ingenious her tape-conservation ideas were, and it even looked okay (for the five minutes that it stayed on!).

And here's a picture from Steve and Sanne's wedding, two weeks before mine and Patrick's (and in Berkeley also). It's not a great exposure, but I kind of like the way Sanne glows as she walks through the redwoods. She was an absolutely radiant bride, and the ceremony was beautiful ... a great source of inspiration as we pushed through our own final preparations.

I don't have any pictures yet from July 6, but I'm hopeful that there'll be some really good ones. Our photographer got sick but sent a substitute who was nice but also very assertive, which you have to be when you're taking pictures of families like ours, that started out with 10 or 12 siblings. On top of the pro, my uncles were snapping photos all over the place. A few days before the wedding, we put on some nice clothes and Garth went on a cross-city tour with us for an extended photo shoot. The weather was great, with rolling clouds and fog mixed with patches of clear blue sky.

I'm surprised at how happy I am to be married. I didn't think it would make much difference, but I get kind of giddy every time I see the ring on Patrick's finger. The party was fantastic, too. I wish we could have started earlier (and danced more!), but other than that, it was perfect in every way. Patrick is still laughing at me, though, for waking him up the next morning at 6:00; I had eaten so little during the banquet that I couldn't sleep any more! Luckily, the hotel breakfast was almost ready, and he snuck out some potatoes and toast. Mmm.

I'll post a link to a photo-hosting website when that becomes available. Hopefully soon. I can't wait to see the DVDs, too ... Yay!!

Ten thousand thanks to all of the family members and friends who spent who knows how many hours doing all kinds of crazy things ... baking cookies for favors, folding paper flowers when the Flower Mart was low, driving to the salon during a last-minute nailMergency, and just hanging out with us which was really the most important thing.