So where exactly do I start on the long story that was our big day...
I guess from the beginning.
All the waiting (which eventually lead up to the creation of this blog) had finally lead up to the day of. We woke up, and did what we had been planning called The Grand Reveal, which is where I showed Atlantean my dress before we actually went to the temple so he could see it. I had also prepared a speech for him, one that I had decently memorized, but had little confidence in, which God gave me at the last moment. The plan was to meet him in the abandoned city that we had created the night before with many of our friends help, and I would be standing there in my dress as he entered and then I would give him my speech. He also would cut my choker, an old piece of string that had been tied around my neck since I was at IFA in November, which meant it had been on my neck an entire year. He also dressed in his rented white tux, and when he came in, there I was, standing in my fur and my golden gloves. I was a little overwhelmed, and kind of buried my head in his chest, kind of crying unflatteringly, but then I finally got the gumption to begin my speech, and I think I did pretty well with God's help, even if I don't think it penetrated Atlantean like I had hoped it would. Then he said a couple kind words, and offered his arm in which we walked out together. Later he had said, (multiple times especially to guests in the line) that he had had no idea what to expect when he saw my dress, but that he had been pleasantly surprised nonetheless, that it had blown his mind, that it had definitely exceeded his expectations and that he loved it.
We left to go prepare for the temple. It was weird sitting in my house with my well-dressed family just waiting to head out. The temple we chose was beautiful. The woodwork was stunning. We had to wait a while in the bride's room, but it was a beautiful room, and one of the only ones with natural lighting. The entire place was burnt down a couple years back, but when it was rebuilt, it was rebuilt to look the same, and with a pioneer style, which I actually really adored. I wasn't scared at all. I was so calm. And I know that was because I had prayed to God for peace the entire week and gone out of my way to read an entire chapter of scripture every night. We had also been mentally preparing ourselves for this for seven months. I felt no nervousness. I was completely calm.
We went straightaway with the legal documents to the legal department in the temple, and that was relatively painless. I then met back up with Atlantean in the foyer after changing and we did the short veil. The lady who helped me was really very pretty and calming and Atlantean liked what he discovered about me a lot. Then we waited in the Celestial Room, where I still felt so calm. No uprising nervousness. Our sealer pulled us out and explained what was about to happen. He was adorable older man named Ron Smith. Then he had us continue to wait in the Celestial Room. Beautiful room. Atlantean and I admired the décor, and even joked about the chandelier looking like a very impressive rocket ship. Ron then pulled us out again to come into the sealing room.
We have the prettiest sealing room I have ever seen. Not that I have been in many, but ours had large stained glass windows, and was just comfy enough that I didn't feel so separated from my loved ones, but also just enough space. I loved it very much. It was cool and crazy to just walk into a room and see so many familiar faces. Our sealer spoke a while and I'm really honestly glad he was not all that long-winded. He encouraged us to hold hands when I hesitated. He seemed like a really nice guy, though I don't really recall what he said, but my mom and my grandma said they will try to piece together what they remember to write it down for us which I think is really sweet. I didn't even cry at the alter, just stared hard into my beloved's eyes. I think Atlantean teared up a little bit. But I was so calm, and so ready and so determined to start this new process of my life. I just stared determinedly into Atlantean's eyes the entire time through. There was no awkwardness, there was no time. There was only us and the promises and commitments we made there. When he said "Yes" that was when I felt an actual pang in my soul. And when I said "Yes" I swear it resonated through the room. I liked how high-roofed the room was. I felt like there could have been angels there. Our sealing was beautiful.
Afterward, we kissed over the alter and stood back at the couch to exchange rings according to the sealers instruction. This time I let Atlantean put it all the way on my finger without helping. I managed to slide his on pretty easily as well. Then we received hugs from everybody. I felt filled with the spirit and exceedingly grateful and happy. It was a wonderful buzzy feeling. We were finally married!
Everyone left the room and we got a quick chance to glance in the mirrors in the room that symbolize eternity. The sealer pointed out that we can see our spouse much easier than we can see ourselves, and that we should keep it that way. Then we were ushered out into an elevator into which Atlantean's mom totally got left behind! And then Atlantean and I separated to go get dressed. We got dressed in our golden and white outfits and then were led upstairs by my good friend and guide the entire time - Diane Allen. They led us upstairs and we waited while Atlantean's father got dressed so he could go out before us. Then we got to have our moment, where we pushed our way through the double doors. We decided we would wave, but I totally spaced it lol. Atlantean waved, but I just looked out joyously over the crowd that cheered as we walked out. We kissed in front of all of them, and then my siblings ran up and hugged me. We went down amongst the crowd and my mom instantly began assembling pictures. We went around the building to the other side to take large family pictures and then smaller pictures. Atlantean and I stayed in most of them. It was so cool to see how many supportive people were there and stuck around to take pictures. We had atleast three cameramen and women. A lot of smiling and a lot candid pictures as Atlantean and I teased and played with each other between the shoots. I do get a little frustrated looking at the pictures because my bangs are doing the EXACT thing I hate it when they do and I KNEW they were doing it the entire time, but I didn't have a brush to fix it. I hate it when they part down the middle. I like it better when they are all fluffy across, and it only takes one brush swipe to fix. But oh well. This is how I go down in history lol.
I'm just looking over some of the pictures lol. Siren's mom caught this live video of me bouncing up and down while we're waiting for more pictures to be taken, and my mom took a live one of Atlantean and I eating at the reception and we're all looking at the camera like, "What do you want?"
Ah, good times.
It was only ten days ago lol.
Anyway! During the photoshoot - lo and behold! my cousin and my uncle came! All the way from Africa! Amazing! They had said they would be able to miraculously make it but it was also just cool to finally see them arrive! It was really cool :)
After pictures, everyone left except my mom, Imp and Atlantean and I. Imp helped us take some special couple pictures with my mom's direction. One of them is my new profile picture. I did start to get a little bratty here, since they kept putting me in positions where I was facing the sun and I already didn't have sunglasses and I started to get a LITTLE snappy. But they got some great pictures and we packed up in the van (which my dad agreed to let us ride limo-style, so with the middle seats down) and headed to the reception.
At the reception, we gratefully received our first married meal of Chik-Fil-A complete with Holiday Cookie Shake that my family had picked up for us. We shared our Holiday Cookie Shake (because guys. GUYS. If you hadn't had it yet- GO GET IT. I'm, like, not the kind of person who recommends food, but this is one of Atlantean and I's FAVORITE) We ate and then sat and waited, greeted the few that trickled in, and as soon as we noticed that people were starting to trickle in, I dragged Atlantean over to the trellis where we stood for the next hour and a half. I even felt nauseous at one point and told my parents I couldn't go much longer. My dad announced that we'd be going a little late - but assured everyone there WAS a program. We had to give up the shoe game we wanted to play considering the line was out the door of people who wanted to come say hi and it didn't feel right to try to "speed" any of them along. But we stuck it out.
Though, periodically, throughout the night, people would come up to us asking what to do about our stolen car. Now we thought that we were either being pranked, but Aos Si came up to Atlantean and asked if he could have the keys and then my brother and his friend came up and said the car had been stolen, and then Atlantean's sister-in-law came up and told us the same thing like they expected us to have some sort of solution for a problem we weren't even truly aware of the circumstances in.
It turns out (and Atlantean admits to maybe having a conversation that could have lead Aos Si to think this) but Aos Si had taken Atlantean's keys to steal the car so that no one could decorate it. He had done it with noble purposes, and he drove the car around and away from everyone waiting at the reception to decorate it and in a panic everyone was coming to tell us. It only dawned on me later what was happening when they said it was Aos Si that had stolen the car, because he would never do an unkind thing in his life. When we finally were getting ready to leave for the honeymoon, Atlantean's sister-in-law gave me the phone because she said Aos Si didn't believe her that it was me or Atlantean that wanted him to come back because he thought they were trying to trick him into bringing it back. So I took the phone from her and maaaaaaybe lost my temper a little bit since I was already stressing out and becoming a semi-bridezilla, but I just yellecd into the phone. "AOS SI. BRING THE CAR BACK NOW." And he said, "Is this Nymph?" And I said "YES" and he said, "Okay." And I mumbled "Good heavens" and hung up the phone. He promptly brought the car back around. We went over on our program a little bit up until 8:30 and we got to wait for them to haphazardly decorate the car before we ran through the streamers and race to our car where we sped off to the honeymoon lol.
But let me back up a little bit - because while leaving the reception was fun and the beginning was fun, there was a program in there we didn't get to talk about.
Now I will admit that I made a few mistakes on my wedding day. Namely, I refused a couple of pictures because I was getting really stressed out. Most things were taken care of, but schedule-wise, I just couldn't backtrack when things got hectic. Like when I threw my bouquet, not only did I have to tell my friend's parents that I couldn't take a selfie with them because I had to go throw the bouquet, but I also refused a picture with the little girl who had caught the bouquet because I was in such a rush to go change and get onto the next thing in the program. I did get a selfie with my friend's parents eventually (even if they were having trouble with their modern camera...) but I did still feel bad about not getting a picture with the little girl because that little girl in particular is very dear to me and the lady who asked me to take a picture was someone I would never want to hurt and I sincerely hope she is not mad at me because all I could say when she asked was "I'm sorry, Mary" because I was really stressed out. I just .. I apologize.
After the bouquet toss though, Atlantean did agree to do the garter, so he stuck his face under there and fetched it while I drank a glass of water, cool as a cucumber. I had to remove my shoe haphazardly while he did it and his face was so red when he came out, but he did it entirely with his teeth! And he flung it into the crowd where Spriggan and Imp's brother (let's call him Elf) and Satyr TOTALLY leapt for it. The funny thing Elf has a girlfriend on a mission, so I thought it was fitting that he leapt for it so heartily. (EDIT: Elf did not actually leap for it, only Spriggan and Satyr)
Then we had to cut our cake. This was accomplished by forgetting all the knives and then simultaneously calling "AOS SI" so that his brother would come out and hand us a full blown sword to cut the cake with. I don't know how Aos Si accomplished this considering he was in the middle of a heist to steal and protect our car, but he came out with the blade all polished and in a paper towel sheath and we cut the cake with it. Unfortunately, it appears we literally did forget all of the knives so the rest of the cake had to be cut with the sword and nothing else lol.
Ope, I just received a newsflash from my husband whom I'm consulting on some of the details. Apparently it was Spriggan himself who leapt for it. That seems more fitting. Though it would have been cool had Elf caught it but oh well. Ain't his personality anyway (though he totally should get married soon. Go Elf!)
After we cut the cake, we headed out to go get ready for our dance. I actually started to go into a little bit of shock because of just the overwhelming night, my mom really tried to calm me down, and was there for me every step of the way, helping me out of my dress and into my dancing dress. I re-entered the reception hall and prepared to dance, but my dad began saying, "And now, something that is actually a surprise to Nymph, a little something her siblings put together." Gnome pulled up chairs for Atlantean and I and I sat down with them, willing myself not to cry no matter what was about to happen.
My family had prepared a rendition specific to Atlantean and I of For Forever from Dear Evan Hansen that apparently they had been working on for weeks and my sister had been throwing me off the trail for weeks as well, saying they had been planning something, but nothing had fallen into place (which honestly does NOT sound like my family but I fell for it). Wolfman and Mermaid sang it to us and I of course started crying ungracefully because some of the lyrics were changed about how this was a great change and how they looked over and saw him kneeling down and how we walk away together. It would've been a beautiful song on it's own, but it was made even more beautiful by the fact that my siblings started to break down too. They actually didn't make it through the song. They had to start over once and even then couldn't make it through, their voices breaking. I hugged them hard afterward, and my boss was so touched by this that he posted the video on Facebook saying, "This is what love looks like." The twins even joked that they had joked about crying and breaking down, but they had never actually expected to, but we all thought it turned out for the better either way.
So then we began our dance. The dance we had been practicing for almost over seven months that we had taken and put to the song I had always wanted at my wedding. And guys. We performed it perfectly.
Sometimes I'm scared my sister only tells me what I want to hear, but she did mention that two of the people who had helped us choreograph the dance were totally fan-girling in the back as we pulled off the moves. But after the climatic and emotional stunt that was my siblings heartfelt singing, I felt fueled and ready to perform my own celebratory piece. Atlantean later agreed, he said he felt like he was on such an adrenaline rush that he could have held me all the way up on our lifts. I have only seen the video my boss took of the dance (which he couldn't post on Facebook because the music is copyrighted but he made me a flash drive anyway) but we looked phenomenal. Now, we're not dancers, but we were very in-sync. The moment where we dance with my parents was very cool and well-timed, and I know it sounds silly, but I felt God in that choreography. Even in that whole endeavor. It was our first big project together that we worked at and collaborated on together, but when we pulled it off, we pulled it off big, and we did it well, and I will forever be proud of us for that.
Plus it was fun :) I love to dance :)
I do want to mention one thing though - I had always wanted a dance floor at my wedding/reception. I didn't get an official one since we had to cut it all short due to fiascos, but I will mention this one moment that really made my life - I glanced over at the unofficial dance floor as we waited and I chatted and cried with Siren and Imp, and guys, I saw a dance floor full of people. Fathers with little daughters on their feet, young twelve year old girls twirling around each other, and I thought, what a full and beautiful dance floor. And for that split instant, I was so happy, so proud. I had a dance floor, and enough people who wanted to fill it. That was one of the best moments of the night for me.
That was our program. After that, we waited around, tried to retrieve our car with the limited knowledge we were given. I did feel a little stressed out beause I felt alone in having to have everything in it's right location, but we managed it and headed off to the honeymoon!
Honeymoon, honeymoon ... what can I tell you about the honeymoon. We went to the Alaskan Inn in Ogden where we were surprised to hear by the man at the front desk that we were the third couple to be married in the Provo City Center temple and retreat here that he had heard of today. We went up to our Denali Suite upstairs, unpacked and well... experimented...
Good news is Atlantean fits in the bathtub! (Rare for a giant) and he enjoyed taking a bath with me since he rarely gets baths in general. Halfway through the whole trip, we got to upgrade from a suite to a cabin for free since they wanted us to experience both. The breakfasts were awesome, we got to pick whatever we wanted and they'd just bring it to us. The atmosphere was darling and very quaint and we had a very good time there talking about whatever at 4 AM in the morning and getting to know each other in a way that neither of us had been able to before. Some people say that it doesn't feel real at first, and maybe it just was the waiting or the honeymoon high, but I felt it very real that night, that he was truly my husband and I was truly his wife, and that we were finally together, with nothing to part us. It is wonderful. And nothing in my feelings have changed since then towards him.
Since then, we've been home :) At our new apartment and enjoying the feeling of regular life, but with each other. No one's telling us we can't anymore, nothing is keeping us apart. It's us against the world now, and I wouldn't want anyone else on my side.
On a side note, my cat Fuzzy is settling in pretty well to being an indoor cat. While she is still annoying, meows too much and can be a little over-persistent, paranoid and randomly very scared, she is still my wonderful cat. I've had to get used to her being in so much because usually I get a break from her, so maybe this is good practice with having kids. It's not like you can just pick up and leave. You come home to them and continue to have to take care of this little thing which either wants nothing to do with you or is begging for your attention. Atlantean's taken quite a fancy to her as well. And life together has been very nice. We get ready in the morning together, snuggle up in bed at night, switch off who's on food (though I try to be on top of it) I try to take his shoes off when he gets home and overall, it's a very good life. We went to our new church recently and joined the choir. I am actually impressed by what a good community it is. Everyone calls each other by their first name because they are all actually old chums, and I might regret saying this, but there's no other society I'd rather walk in on and be apart of . I'm kind of excited. Also Atlantean and I semi-joined the choir even if he fell asleep three times in it lol.
But. New life, here we come :)
~Nymph
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