Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Three years + 6 days

Today is three years + 6 days for our wedding anniversary. I had this wonderful plan to have a very elaborate post on the day so that Jake, during his morning ritual, could read my reflections of our wedding day. I had a busy day last Wednesday! so I didn't get to the blogging like I wanted. We did not celebrate until Friday, when Jake took me on an amazing date to Cafe Di Scala in Sherman Hill for amazing Italian food! Jake's friend Tony had scheduled live jazz music, and in an attempt to make more refrigerator space we took a bottle of sparkling white wine along in celebration of our 3 year occasion. I wore the very high, stiletto, sparkly shoes that I was originally deathly afraid to walk in (without having to carry babies they are actually OK) with a ruffly yet short black cocktail dress that is one of Jake's favorites.We felt completely big city as we drove down to Sherman Hill in our ghetto cruising Cadillac, and sans babies we were arm in arm walking, and spent many long glances at each other. Jake had planned this date for us just like he planned many wooing dates for us and it was just as great as it has always been, if not better!Throughout our anniversary we were calling out different times to each other: "11am I was eating lunch with the guys. 12noon I was getting my hair done. 4o'clock time to walk down the isle...." Jake is a poet at heart, and I love to look back on all of the haiku that he has written to celebrate momentous ocaisions in our life or just the everyday beauty that he finds in our relationship. For our wedding day he wrote:
Unforgettable
White bells ring joyous all day
Hearts beat together
A couple of days before our anniversary, I bumped into an old friend who is helping her daughter with wedding plans. This lady is one of the most practical people on the planet and doesn't like to get caught up in the pomp and circumstance of life. I asked how things were going and she rolled her eyes at me, "Do you ever wish that you could just take the money that was spent and go on a nice trip or buy something that is more long lasting." I told her that there is very little I would change about my wedding day, and I wouldn't flush it down the toilet for a trip or a bauble.My wedding day was the most monumental day of my life! For Jake and I, skipping out on all of the things that we planned for that day...well we loved everything! Of course the planning of the event did get stressful at times. A close friend of our family informed me that getting married is "like joining two foreign countries" and she couldn't have been more accurate! I didn't get to have my "dream wedding" of the destination nuptials in Scotland, saying vows in a ruined cathedral in Jedbourgh, but the wedding that Jake encouraged where all of our grandparents and family could attend to hear us say vows became the wedding of my dreams.The Celtic (said keltiK like Scotland not seltik like the basketball team) theme was because of the dream of Scotland. We had the bagpiper processional, the bridesmaids dresses were made out of a family tartan that was ordered from Scotland, we said Celtic vows, a Celtic handfasting ceremony, and our main flowers were pink heather. The headpiece I wore was from my mother's mother's wedding veil. My grandparents celebrated their 50th anniversary the year that we got married, so needless to say the veil had disintegrated and my not quite future sister-in-law at the time reconstructed the beaded details.Some people would argue this point, but I don't think I was a bridezilla. The only thing I truly wanted was beautiful photographs of our wedding. I found Mark Kegans from Des Moines the perfect match for us and he captured amazing photographs for us to always cherish. The other unique things for our wedding would be the balloon release, my brothers as "bridesmen" and the wedding cakeS that we had. We love the New Pioneer CoOp's cake, and when we gave them artistic license we were completely awe struck at the cake spectacle that our guests still rave about.Our wedding weekend was celebrated in full force from the Friday night rehersal dinner that Jake's parents hosted at our (then) favorite restaurant Takanami. Jake's mom planned every Asian detail she could think of including invitations on a fan. My mother hosted a bride's brunch with all of the women in the family. Jake had a lunch with all of the men. We had a nice, long ceremony in the backyard of my childhood home with the rolling fields surrounding us. We took our posed photos in front of the Old Capitol in Iowa City with our reception at the Historic Old Brick Cathedral just adjacent to the Pentacrest. We barely ate a thing and the only cake was what we fed to each other during our cake cutting. The night was filled with dancing to a 5 piece band, and the ballroom dancing lessons we took really paid off.When we went to the hotel that night, we checked in and went down to our room. We met different family members and friends that were staying at the hotel on the way, and when we got into our room, someone had been sleeping in our bed! The bedding and sheets were all messed up, with pillows tossed here and there. Being the germaphobe that I truly am, I insisted that we pack up our duds and find a different room. We went to the other side of the hotel, passing another party room...Jake's parents room. The morning after brunch at my parents house was very necessary for replentishing our fuel since we barely ate anything at the reception. My aunt thought she was so clever in telling us that it was her and her cousins that were pounding on our door the whole night. We told them we heard nothing! They didn't know that we had switched rooms, so it was probably a blessing in disguise that our bed had already been occupied.We honeymooned on Marco Island, FL, where you are "Newlywed or nearly dead" staying at the Griebahn's southern maison, and then we scooted up to Disney World to top off the week with a little more magic. With the daily grind of life, anniversaries are important! To be able to look into those same eyes so full of love and promises and to see that nothing has changed is that magic that glues us together through everything. Holding hands through the hard stuff, laughing through the fun stuff, but always the same eyes that I love. Thank You God for giving me to Jake, and thank You more for giving him to me.
I know I went a little overboard on the photos...I love photos.

3 comments:

Deborah said...

oh oh oh, such lovely photos of such a dear friend!!! missing you...

Unknown said...

Never too many photos! Thanks for sharing even more of your and Jake's wonderful love story!!

Julene said...

The photos were perfect! Loved, loved, loved them. What a wonderful day. Any Scottish folk dances at the reception?