Eight Things about that One Day

Fairly Odd Father and I are celebrating our Eighth Anniversary today!
On July 17, 1999, we were joined in wedded bliss in a ceremony and reception that can best be described as doing it ‘our way’.

Here are eight things about our wedding day that pop into my mind:

1. The weather. It wasn’t just a hot July day. It was a friggin‘ unbelievably, don’t-leave-your-air-conditioned-house, hot July day. 101 degrees hot. And we held our service outside, on the banks of my favorite pond. The reception was held in a building next to this same pond. This building had no air conditioning, just two big fans that pushed the air around the room.

Mrs Q hits the fan

Thankfully, we had told people to dress casually. Thankfully, our friends are lushes and just drank themselves cool. Thankfully, it is 10 degrees cooler on the pond (so, yes, it felt like a comfy 91 degrees!).


Water and more water; need to be sober for the vows!

2. The music. The benefit of getting married at the age of 31 is that I had been to umpteenth other weddings and had seen enough Chicken Dances, Electric Slides and Locomotions to last me a lifetime. After meeting with a DJ who promised he was ‘different’ and yet featured “Old Time Rock and Roll” on his playlist, we decided to take matters into our own hands.

Our wedding music was copied by hand onto cassette tapes and played on a boom box set up on the stage of the hall. There was plenty of swing, rockabilly, fifties hits and disco, with things like “My Sharona” thrown in to liven up the joint.


3. Our dance. When we got married, it seemed like everyone we knew took swing dance lessons. We were no different and attended weekly lessons for a few months.



At the wedding, we actually danced a sort of routine which allowed us to do something other than cling to each other and sway. “Our Song” was “You’re the Boss” by The Brian Setzer Orchestra (with Gwen Stefani). I’m sure my inlaws were wondering what happened to “Wind Beneath my Wings”.

4. Our Guests. FOF and I wanted a small wedding; I think we called it ‘intimate’. Some of this was due to the fact that we were footing the bill for it all and wanted “small but nice” instead of “big but cheap”. In creating our guest list, we had a few rules:

*we had to both know the invitee(s) pretty well

*we had to believe that they would be in our lives going forward

*we wanted a fairly even split between ‘his friends’ and ‘my friends’

*no “and guest”; only serious boyfriends/girlfriends or spouses

Since neither of us have large extended families, this meant the painful process of going through our list of friends (ok, my list of friends, since I keep in touch with everyone) and figuring out if they fit the criteria above.

How’d we do? Pretty well. There are a few of our guests who have fallen off the face of the earth, so to speak, but the majority are still in our lives.


The hardest thing to consider is the people who weren’t there. And, with a total guest list of 65 (including the bride and groom), there are plenty of old and newer friends who couldn’t be included. I’m pretty sure none of these friends hate me now, but it still bums me out.

5. Our Best Man. FOF’s brother served as his best man (my maid of honor was, of course, Mrs Q, my sister and bestest confidante in the whole world).

FOF’s brother is a sweetheart, but was a bit wild in his younger years. He showed up for the wedding wearing dark black sunglasses which he hardly ever took off. The reason? He had been in an ‘altercation’ a week or so prior which had given him two black eyes. By the time our ceremony rolled around, his eyes looked much better, but he was mortified.

The best thing about this now is when I tell people that my best man arrived with two black eyes (say it out loud and see if you don’t think he arrived with a posse).

He also ended the ceremonial toast by saying, “Let’s Party Like It’s 1999!”. Perfect!


6. Our Exit. As I mentioned, the wedding and reception were held on the banks of a pond. This pond is the same one I grew up on; my grandmother had owned a house on the other side. I lived in this house after she passed away, and then my parents moved into it in ’98.

We had planned an after-party at the house, so instead of riding off in a limo at 10pm, we took to the water. Our poor best man was huffing to get the paddle boat away from the shore; as soon as we were out of sight, FOF jumped up front to help him power it to my folks’ house.

7. The After Party. Dozens of hot, sweaty and inebriated friends and relatives ended up back at my parents’ house once the reception ended. My father sat on shore and watched over the guests who were bobbing in the water, holding onto various floats. Everyone who entered or exited the water stopped to shake his hand or to say hello, as if he were holding court.


My father offers my groom some important advice. Not sure why my dad is making a ‘gun’ sign with his hand.

We had a skinny dipper with no shame. We had a friend try to ‘save’ the best man from his life of violence and vice (she largely succeeded). We had a friend’s baby who screamed when someone tried to give her a bottle of the wrong breast milk. We do not, however, have a single photo from the after party.

8. Mr. and Mrs. Of course, the most important thing about our wedding was the fact that us two crazy kids were married. And, in eight years since, we have bought one house, birthed three children, lost one parent, cut back one income, and primarily look forward to a future full of promise.

If anyone who was at our wedding is reading this and wants to share your best memory of it, please add a comment. I’m sure you’ll remember things I didn’t mention here!

And, Happy Anniversary to my husband, John! I look forward to celebrating our fiftieth together when we are teetery old folks.

Comments

  1. Blog Antagonist says

    Happy Anniversary! I enjoyed reading all about your wedding. It sounds like a real blast.

  2. Whirlwind says

    Happy anniversary! Our eighth anniversary is coming up soon in October and we’ve been through much of the same as you. Of course, we were MUCH younger when we got married. I still wasn’t “legal” to drink the toast at my wedding 😛

  3. sandy shoes says

    Happy Anniversary. That was a lovely post.

  4. christie says

    Happy Anniversary! You remember more about your wedding than I do…must be all the Xanax I had to take to keep my nerves calm! I should have given some to my sweet hubby who was sweating buckets (and, no, it was not hot outside! We married in NOVEMBER!)
    Congrats on this wonderful journey we call marriage!

  5. happy anniversary! i cannot believe it’s been 8 years!!! that is insane…man, i was WAY skinnier then, and damn, those are some fine Willie Nelson style braids going past my chest…

    good lord, those were the days. i think i say that a lot. we did carry on and carouse a lot. i think all the drinking and such we did caused me to forget how to use caps.

    i definitely remember it was balls hot. and i remember drinking a lot. i opted for white wine instead of red, because it was so hot and white seemed more suited to that, even though i liked white significantly more, and that was before my beer drinking days.

    i remember your dad being lifeguard. hmmm…was this the famous game of “i never”, or was that at another of the Luaus? and wow, is that jeffrey in the back with a tie on? i don’t even think he wears clothes normally…and of course, there’s my future wife to never be, shaaaaron…

    ah, i am wistful for those days. and, quite verbose, so i’ll shut up now. :O)

    again, congrats, or, as we heebs like to say, mazel tov!

  6. I still remember the fact that we all spent your wedding night “with you” at the b&b, I remember the beautiful little rosemary seedlings you gave everyone, and how happy your dad was to walk you down the aisle. Also the freaking heat. And Tree’s hair.

    I don’t remember being that blonde, tan and skinny only EIGHT years ago.

    It was one of my favorite weddings ever. I still tell people about it. Happy anniversary you two crazy kids.

  7. Hmmm. That’s quite an interesting photo of daddy. I think he’s giving John advice on what to do with the little woman if it doesn’t work out. Now that I think of it, Mom was walking with a cane from a recent “fall”… Hmmm.

    Fond memories of a fun day…

    I remember that heat. That searing, shocking heat. And how we hid in the car with the air conditioning blasting in our faces so that our makeup wouldn’t glop off before we walked down the aisle.

    I remember Jamie, Sharon, you and I moving all those f**king picnic tables around the grounds the day before. Man, were those made of concrete?

    I remember thinking that a wedding guest has to be very drunk to skiny dip in front of the bride’s father.

    I remember being glad you didn’t make me wear taffeta. Or nylons.

    I remember you making us PROMISE not to let you drink red wine, for fear of spilling it on your dress. Instead, you drank vodka and cranberry juice.

    From that day on, any time I hear “Sea of Love”, I think of you. “Do you remember when we met? That’s the day I knew you were my pet…”

    Happy Day. I love you guys.

  8. Happy congratulations! Sounds like it was a lovely day.

  9. Well, if you think I looked wrecked with my two black eyes, you should’ve seen the other guys.
    As far as the end of the toast goes, it was completely off the cuff. I mean, it was my mantra for ’99 anyways and it’s not everyday that one can quote a Prince song. What can I say, giving the crowd I thought it was quite fitting. Anyways, love you guys and glad I made the the top eight Baby!!!

  10. Let’s see, the heat pretty much pops out of course but I also remember having a great time and very grateful not to do the macarana. I also remember the problems you had with being able to serve the alcohol you bought (enough to fill the needs of many, many parties to come), washing the resin chairs, the invitations that you can actually plant (although, mine never grew a damn thing), and last but not least, the bachelorette party in Boston (no need to go into details here 🙂
    Happy Anniversary you guys. I can’t think of a nicer couple!

    PS Maybe if Tree wasn’t into the Swiss Miss Girl look, we’d be married by now 🙂

  11. pinks & blues girls says

    What a wonderful wedding story! I hope you had a great anniversary!

    I love the sign you held for your exit!

    Jane, P&B Girls

  12. pinks & blues girls says

    What a wonderful wedding story! I hope you had a great anniversary!

    I love the sign you held for your exit!

    Jane, P&B Girls

  13. pinks & blues girls says

    What a wonderful wedding story! I hope you had a great anniversary!

    I love the sign you held for your exit!

    Jane, P&B Girls

  14. pinks & blues girls says

    What a wonderful wedding story! I hope you had a great anniversary!

    I love the sign you held for your exit!

    Jane, P&B Girls

  15. pinks & blues girls says

    What a wonderful wedding story! I hope you had a great anniversary!

    I love the sign you held for your exit!

    Jane, P&B Girls

  16. pinks & blues girls says

    What a wonderful wedding story! I hope you had a great anniversary!

    I love the sign you held for your exit!

    Jane, P&B Girls

  17. pinks & blues girls says

    What a wonderful wedding story! I hope you had a great anniversary!

    I love the sign you held for your exit!

    Jane, P&B Girls

  18. pinks & blues girls says

    What a wonderful wedding story! I hope you had a great anniversary!

    I love the sign you held for your exit!

    Jane, P&B Girls

  19. pinks & blues girls says

    What a wonderful wedding story! I hope you had a great anniversary!

    I love the sign you held for your exit!

    Jane, P&B Girls

  20. pinks & blues girls says

    What a wonderful wedding story! I hope you had a great anniversary!

    I love the sign you held for your exit!

    Jane, P&B Girls

  21. Mrs. Chicky says

    Happy (Belated) Anniversary! Your wedding sounds perfect to me, right down to the paddle boat. Fantastic!

  22. Bitsy Parker says

    OK. First of all congratulations on your birthday, your anniversary and your Rockin’ Girl Blogger award.

    Now, you must return the congrats because my anniversary is next week (9th), my 4-0 is in two weeks and I got a Rockin Girl Blogger Award.

    We’re the same – except you have hair like Miranda from Sex in the City. ARe you really Miranda?

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