As youve seen from all the pictures, I was recently able to knock a (huge!) item off my bucketlist: having my dream wedding. Long story short: many amazing people traveled various distances and contributed their talents/time/money to help/be with us on this amazing day, my husband booked a kickass metal band to play the reception, and my mom and I put lots of hours and work into planning and creating things to make this budget wedding seem like anything but! Long story long: Nelson and I were discussing my (stupid) cancer, and he said something Ill never forget (which I think perfectly shows the nature of his character): even though he knows distancing himself from, and even leaving me, would be the best way to protect himself from the inevitable pain of losing me when the cancer ends my life, hed much rather get as close to me as possible while he still can. He says that since Im the love of his life, and the perfect woman for him, he cant picture himself being with anyone else while Im still alive. And on October 21, he proposed to me...onstage at one of his bands shows in front of a crowd of metalheads. (I said yes, of course) Our wedding was this last Sunday, so the last two months have been a whirlwind of frantic planning, calling, e-mailing, and crafting (Mom and I DIYed LOTS of stuff to try and save money...my dress & veil, the bouquets, program design, placecards, centerpieces/favors, ceremonial arch..) amidst all the bucket-list traveling Id already booked. Thankfully, I didnt have any Bridezilla meltdowns during the planning process, despite the few hiccups we encountered: people waiting til the last minute to RSVP, one person not RSVPing at all despite saying he would know for sure the day after the deadline, thereby forcing me to wait on his response which never came. AND Im proud to report I didnt have any Bridezilla meltdowns the day of the wedding either, despite the many more hiccups we encountered: - music miscues and glitches, including the climax of the ceremony--the song I had carefully edited to go along with our first kiss as a married couple--not being played at the right time, and then stopped early. (Sounds minor, but it was a big deal for me) - seating issues--table numbers got all mixed up somehow, resulting in family tables being farthest away from the front of the room and metalhead/party tables being farthest away from the band stage. - timing problems--the venue misinformed us about setup time, resulting in Nelson and his groomsmen having to rush to get everything set up half an hour before the ceremony. - cake shortage--some miscommunication resulted in us running out of cake. Yes thats right, a wedding between two bakers did not have enough cake to feed all the guests. And still no meltdown or tears from me...the main reason being that there were many more positive moments to outweigh all the bad (yeah, another list...sorry haha): - the amazing job our officiant Mikey did conducting the ceremony. He took notes on our suggestions and preferences, and wrote a script that was absolutely perfect. We couldnt have asked for someone better to marry us. - my dad flying in from Taiwan just to walk me down the aisle, and bringing my little sis Lillian with him to be my bridesmaid. - my sister from another mister Nadya flying in from Finland to stand by my side as Matron of Honor. Bonus: she brought her awesome beardy hobo husband Timo and her lovely family with her. Finally getting to meet her amazing sister Nancy was one of the highlights of this crazy year. - my aunts, uncle, and cousins traveling from all over (New Jersey, New York, NorCal, and all over SoCal) to celebrate this big day with me. - one of my favorite couples, Amy and Josh Duffy, driving from Phoenix to party with us. - and of course, just getting to see so many of our loved ones in one place at the same time...even though we didnt get to talk to everyone as long as we wouldve liked to, it was simply awesome being surrounded by so much love and kickass people. - the wonderful programs and engagement photo printed by Christa of Boss Printing Inc. - the bartender provided by the catering company insisted on giving Nelson and me free drinks all night, and went out of his way to try and get us drunk. - all the hard work and coordinating my mom did with the venue paid off; the decor at our wedding was the perfect blend of elegant and metal-as-f*ck. - I figured out how to pee by myself, without having to make either of my bridesmaids hold my big poofy dress, and without dropping any part of it in the toilet. I am very proud of this. - every toast given was memorable and fantastic, especially my brothers. People were commenting on it the rest of the night...hopefully I can post video of it here soon. - people were also commenting on how good the cake was; Nelsons mom made a delicious three-tiered wonder, with each tier having one layer each of chocolate and raspberry cakes. Unfortunately I didnt get to have any :( - our wedding band was probably one of the most brutal and best wedding bands ever: Nelson got local thrash metal legends Internal Corrosion to play, and they provided the perfect end to my dream wedding. I also have to include a few words about the most kickass wedding present ever (no offense to everyone else who gave us awesome presents!): my friend Noucha told Daryl Evans of the LA Kings about my situation, and he said he wanted to do something special for me. So on a road trip to Nashville to play against my Predators, he got one of (my hero) Pekka Rinnes game-used goalie sticks, had the team sign it, and brought it back to LA for Noucha to present to me as an early wedding gift. I was absolutely floored...we both started crying tears of joy right there in the restaurant. Even now I have to occasionally touch the stick just to make sure Im not dreaming...its THAT unreal. As much fun as the wedding was, Im really glad its over...the stress of planning it caused me to take a couple of what I call surprise naps--when I blackout and just faint..which is probably not good. Ill be asking my doctor for advice on this whenever I can get a hold of him (he seems to be out of the office for winter break), but for now all I have to worry about is writing and sending out thank you cards...so I shouldnt be taking any more surprise naps anytime soon :)
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 09:38:40 +0000
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