as long as we both shall live.

all right! the last excessive wedding photo-tastic post. surely a relief for us all. well, okay, to be completely honest i can't look back through these photos without cheesing like. . . well. . . like i am in every single one of them. i had a really clear picture of how i wanted our wedding to look and feel - i mean, a wedding is pretty much one big party combining all things i love to do: paper crafts, food, playing dress up - and it really did turn out pretty perfectly. of course, i probably would have felt that way no matter what, but i'm very grateful to sam, and to both of our families, for letting me do this the way i wanted. it was a pretty sweet party.




oh, the balloons. i had wanted to hang a million streamers inside the tent, but the (very kind, i should mention) tent guy said no way - the dye from the streamers comes off in the tent on humid days. fair enough - how about balloons? as many as you like, he told me. and how. i bought 700-some odd balloons and my dad, little brother and brother-in-law filled every single one of them on the morning of the wedding. i'd had this picture in my head of balloons filling the roof of the tent, with the ribbons hanging down, kind of streamer like - of course, the balloons all quickly migrated to the 3 highest points in the tent and stayed there, but at least i still had my ribbons! . . . until the wind kicked up a bit.



yeah. . . goodbye, balloons. we managed to rescue about 75% of them but lots got away - which made for beautiful photos but possibly also some dead birds, which i felt pretty terrible about. the whole idea was that the ribbons would make 'em easy to grab down and hand out at the end of the night, so they wouldn't escape. thankfully i have an unusual number of extremely tall friends and family, so we tied them all down for the remainder of the night.

first dance jam! sam and i are both huge kinks fans - one of our first road trips together, we heard an album neither of us knew playing in a record store and bought it from the guy on the spot. it turns out to be a fan-club only album and is absolutely my favorite of theirs - the song we danced to is the first track, appropriately titled "until death us do part." (you can listen to it here.)



oh, we got fancy, it was just to quick to be captured on film. or something.


we served locally brewed beer by the keg (and, uh, a few bud lights for the discerning drinker and also had our favorite bottles of red and white wines; this banner hung over the walkway that the wedding party, um, walked down, and was made by the sweet caitlin.
cheers!

after dinner (mussels, corn on the cob, and lots of barbecue - chicken, ribs, and salmon,) we rounded everyone up for the battering of the piñata - just one of the many ways in which my wedding resembled the birthday party of an eight year old. i made it waaaaay too big without really thinking, but my sister and mom decorated it and it turned out pretty awesome, like a big ol' sun. i'd thought about trying to make it heart shaped - love! - but the idea of beating a heart until it burst seemed kind of wrong.





it took three people and two good whacks (one of sam's groomsmen, johannes, claimed 'piñata controller' as one of his skills, and i tell you what, he did not lie,) but it broke right in half and everyone snagged candy, those boxing-balloon thingies, and army men. and one friend turned the discarded piñata into a headress. a true visionary.



friends!

we cut the cake. . .




. . . which i threw into sam's mouth AND HE CAUGHT because we are a TEAM! and he fed me a piece very gently which i appreciated. high fives. then. . . dancing!



my dad and i danced to "do you realize" by the flaming lips, and sam and his mom to csny's "our house." my dad and i were THIS CLOSE to just busting a move to "burning down the house" by the talking heads (an old family favorite) but we realized that the message ("burning down the house" right before "our house"? "burning down. . . our house"?) was questionable.




jammin' out with my ma & ma


i'm fairly certain that i am shouting "shout." you know the song.

and that was it! our dj was supposed to leave at 10:30, but we kept slipping him $50s and he ended up staying until about midnight. the photographer left at 10 or so, but beyond this there was some pretty insane dance moves from my friend john, sparklers, bubbles, and lots more drinking. . .

on a more wholesome note, i leave you with some gratuitous pete pictures (cutest baby ever!) and one of my favorite portraits of me and my handsome husband.




clichéd or not, it was the happiest day of my life, and i am the luckiest lady i know.