The Whole Story...

A-HA! I finally got the page to load all the way. I am telling you man, this dial up stuff is cruel and unusual punishment. For what, I'm not sure. I feel as though I have lived a good life thus far. But at least now I can surf the web at a snails pace from the comfy confines of my....four bedroom suite in the upstairs of my inlaws house. And therein lies the story I've been itching to tell for weeks. They are now officially my inlaws, as Biff and I finally tied the knot on the 9th of September. Thus my absence from not only reality, but the blogsphere as well. Although I doubt that there are throngs of fans to my blog that aren't intimately connected to me by blood or otherwise, I shall regale you with my tall tale, if only to amuse myself.
How it all began. Well, my Biff, and I only call him Biff as an acronym for BoyFriend, which I suppose doesn't really apply anymore, has been going through the process of becoming and RCMP officer (Royal Canadian Mounted Police for my American friends) for about the last two years. It's a pretty indepth and lengthy application process. In any case, around March things were starting to look pretty good with regards to him getting into the cadet training program. It was around then that we started seriously talking about making things official. We've been together about five and half years now and since we're not the fancy types, we wanted a ceremony that was low key and a reflection of who we are. Every scenario we discussed was kind of unappealing, accept for the concept of a surprise wedding. So that's the route we chose.
Skip ahead, skip ahead, skip ahead, we invited all of our guests to what they thought was a surprise going away party for Biff on the 9th without really knowing when or if he was going to be accepted into the training program or when he would be leaving if he was. We just kind of decided to go ahead with everything and hope for the best. We fudged things to our guests a little bit!! But sure enough, the Thursday before the big event, Biff got a phone call saying that he was due to leave for Regina, Sask., (which is where the training depot is) on the 17th of Sept!! I just so knew it would work out that way.
So the ninth arrives and it's just pouring down rain. Nice the whole week previous with sunny skies and light breezes, but absolutely craptastic that day. And of course we had planned an outdoor event in Biff's parents back yard (we were courteous enough to inform our respective parents as to what was really going on well ahead of time). Thank goodness we had a big tent though. We had planned the ceremony on the deck and the dinner in the tent, so at the eleventh hour, everything had to be re-arranged. And of course, because of the rain, the ground inside the tent was just nothing but muck. Muck, muck and more muck. The tent guys who delivered and set up the tent, had to powerwash the inside of it since it they had to lay it out on the ground before they could put it up. It was that bad.
So here's where living in a small town for thrity some odd years comes in REAL handy. I'm a panicked bride and my in laws just pick up the phone and call the farmer down the street who within ten minutes brings a sixteen-hundred pound (yes, that's correct) bale of hay down with his tractor and drops it off just outside the tent door. He and two other guys who seemingly came out of nowhere with pitch forks commence dispersing the hay around inside the tent creating a nice dry, not to mention fragrant, floor covering. Problem solved. Move all activities into the tent, pray it stops raining and carry on.
Biff, who had been in on the plans all along, was sent away for the day with two friends of his, who I totally duped into getting him out of the house. He was set to return shortly after four pm, at which time we would inform our guest what was really about to transpire, then get changed, hope the officiant arrived on time to perform the ceremony at five thirty. Despite the fact that I was running around the entire afternoon like a chicken with it's head cut off and therefore was a slightly sweaty bride, (it's very humid in this part of the country this time of year if it rains)EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING went off like clockwork. The caterers were fantastic, our officiant James was dead on time and damned if the sun didn't come out right at the moment when we said our vows. It was the most fantastic evening of my life up until this point, and so very many things should have gone horribly wrong.
Even the surprise went over really well with just about everyone. But that wasn't the only surprise that evening. After the ceremony and dinner, my newly minted groom kept asking me what time it was. Finally, after about the third time I was getting a little ticked cuz it wasn't as though I had a watch on so finally I was like, "Do you have somewhere to be??!"
At around seven that evening, he ushered me back into the tent and told me to stay. Then he got up and made an announcement that as a tribute to me, he'd gotten two of our favourite musicians to come and play. This so totally blew me away that I still don't think it's real. Kelly Hoppe, or Mr. Chill if you will, formerly of Big Sugar (Canadian band that I am still such a freak about) and Greg Cox, now both of Mr. Chill and the Witnesses (another Canadian band that I am a totally freak about...if you like good music, DEFINITELY check them out) came and did an entire evening of acoustic sets. Biff and I had gone to see these guys so many times when we were living in Windsor, as the band is primarily based out of there and play around the city all the time. If I get the pictures uploaded of my face at the moment of the surprise, I'll post them, cuz it's just priceless. I do however have a pic. of the four of us to show. Depsite the mystique of not showing ones face on a blog, I have to share this one. It just so totally rocks! (I'd be the one in white).

Not two days prior to the wedding, Biff, who is really Mark, and I went out for dinner just to chill and catch our breath. On the drive home, we were discussing if we would have a first dance and what song we would dance to. I had three songs in mind, the strongest candidate being a Mr. Chill and the Witnesses song called Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone, as it seemed most appropriate to the situation and it's a fantastic song. Of course the disc was in the cd player in our Jeep, which it always is, and being a little tipsy, I cranked the song and sang it all the way home. And of course I said to Mark, "Wouldn't it have been fantastic to have had these guys play at the wedding??" Of course I didn't know what was in store for me just two nights later. For all the surprises I was trying to pull on everyone else, I finally got one pulled on me. And what a great surprise it was.
So the night of the wedding I'm just out of my mind excited watching these guys play and without even asking them to, they played Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone and I got to dance my first dance with my husband to live music. It was so much fun I can't even describe it. That is a moment I will remember for the rest of my life.
And that's where the remembering pretty much stops, as I had a lot of red wine that night. Nah, just kidding. I did call it an early night, although I honestly thought it was more like four in the morning than barely approaching midnight. But, being up at six thirty and all of that excitement, I was exhausted.
And that's the story. There's a host of other details that I'm forgetting I'm sure, but I just wanted to blog about it because I wanted to blog about it. It is slightly craft related, as I had my dress made and knit myself a lovely sweater to go with it, which I am so proud of as it's only my second big person sweater that I've ever made. Photo to follow soon. I'm just so happy to have my computer hooked up finally!!! Yea! I feel like my old self again.
So I was a married lady for a week and now I've been abandoned. My hubby is gone for six months and I won't see him again until Christmas. I'm so excited for him though and I hope he does well. Good luck to you if you're reading this!!!
That's all for now I suppose...I'll leave you with one more photo. Until later...