Ever zigged when you should have zagged?

What a nice surprise!

I returned to work today for the first time as Bill’s wife and, in addition to heartfelt congratulations from many coworkers, I received some wonderful gifts! Patsy, my cubemate, presented me with two dozen red and orange roses (pictured below) and a yummy cake with whipped cream icing and our names on it — oh, right, because the gifts are for Bill too. Linda and Jewel gave us a very generous gift certificate to Le Gourmet Chef, which I am REALLY looking forward to checking out. So indulgent, all of it! I am so thankful for such thoughtful friends.

The photo doesn't do them justice.

We were married today.

Photo courtesy Rev. Dr. Mike Dearing.

We were planning a warm weather wedding. Something to commemorate the date we met, June 8. So what that it’s a Monday this year, right? Anywho, life intervened in the form of the U.S. economic downturn: Bill lost his job and, with it, his health benefits. So a quick rework allowed The Colonel to step in and help us out. (If our nation had universal health care this wouldn’t've been a problem. I’m just saying.) My father says this isn’t the most romantic reason to get married…but we were going to get hitched anyway, this just prompted us to do it earlier. And I’m not so concerned about the largeness of the ceremony as I am about the seriousness of the commitment. Our commitment is SERIOUS, trust me. I love that bugger to pieces, I do.

These are the vows our officiant used. Aren’t they lovely? He substituted our names, of course.

Afterward we had an organic dinner at Traders Point Creamery. They do a very nice, romantic Valentine’s Day event. Our wedding meal menu consisted of a champagne toast, tomato basil soup, Italian bread, fresh green field salad mixed with artichokes and olives in a vinaigrette, choice of entree (Italian roast beef over sun-dried tomato polenta for Bill and chicken Parmesan with linguini for me), glass of merlot for Bill, glass of Traders Point milk for me, slice of tiramisu, and a cup of coffee for Bill. Yum! On the way out the hostess discovered that we had just been married and made an announcement to the entire patronage, followed by applause — Bill described it as surreal and he was right.

Reception and honeymoon planned for June. Update: Reception and honeymoon deemed unnecessary.

Our wedding rings came!

These are example rings and not our actual rings.

They were custom made for us by Jennie, who runs an Etsy shop called FrivolousFerret. They are awesome and we LOVE them. I can hardly wait to present them in our wedding ceremony as a symbol of our enduring commitment.