The (Bowline?) Knot Has Been Tied!

We've done it! As of the Winter Solstice 2014 we are officially married and, as I keep reminding Jon, legally obligated to get along. As I've never been one to fantasize about or even want a wedding, it turned out perfectly. The cost was low, it was outside in a pretty park, minimal eyes were on me, and the whole thing was over in less than 30 minutes. I coordinated my wool coat to be part of my ensemble, and neither of us spent any money on our outfits. Actually, I did the math and all in all the entire wedding cost about $260 ($100 for the judge, $7 for flowers, $58 for the license, and about $95 for the celebratory dinner and drinks with our witnesses afterwards). OK, this doesn't include my ring but we were able to get it for 40% off =]. We wanted to minimize cost in order to have more money to throw at the boat and at moving expenditures later next year.

We were running late getting ready, mainly because we had a lazy morning since the wedding wasn't until 2:45 PM (I thought we may as well time it to the actual solstice, 3:03 PM PST). That was the only stressful part of the day. As soon as we got to the park and for the rest of the day, I was excited and giddy. I am not outwardly expressive with my emotions, and I am one of the last ones to cry in front of others, but I confess I started to tear up during the ceremony. I was nervous repeating such solemn vows, and I was relieved I didn't mess them up at all.

I'm still debating on whether/how much to change my name. I've spent 30 years with it and I guess you could say I've grown attached to it, as I'm sure we all do. Does a name not become part of a person's identity? It's also possible I'm attaching too much importance to it, a la "A rose by any other name..." The feminist/anti-conformist in me says not to do it, while another part says to just go ahead and hyphenate. We'll see which side wins out.

The whole thing was quite a surprise to family and friends, except for the few who were informed beforehand (mainly by Jon, who has a tough time keeping secrets :D). I figured I'd rather let people know afterwards in order to minimize awkwardness/hurt feelings about not being invited.We are planning on having dual receptions later next year, however; one on the West coast and one on the East coast. Plus, a honeymoon that will consist of a weekend in a cabin deep in the snow-covered woods will occur in the next month or two.

For now, after spending Christmas with my family, we are both back at work while I finish up my day job in order to pursue my private practice full time. My last day is New Year's Eve and we are hoping to take our MacGregor out for a sail and camping that night, but with dropping temperatures we'll see what happens. It's going to be a great year!

Here's the video of our ceremony:

Enjoy!