Sungela's PJ & TR Merged! Finally an Update! Faux Disneymoon Time

Hooray for the two of you! I just read through your journal instead of working today, which is not much different from other days since we go got engaged.

I still got upset when reading about that jack*** at your rehearsal dinner, grr. Too bad I never found you're PJ until after your wedding!
 
Sunny,


You guys looked so pretty on your wedding day!! :bride: Angela is lucky she can eat like that and still be so thin!!! I wish I had that issue!!!:lmao: Can't wait for more....:surfweb:
 
I could have told you that!!! Megan and I found several bars at Caryn's wedding!!:drinking1

I'm getting ahead of myself, but one of my bridesmaids was so trashed that they had to carry her off the bus at the end of the wedding. We really made use of that open bar...

Long time lurker just joining in! Eveyrthing looks wonderful so far. You are a great writer, and I can't wait to read more! :surfweb:

Thanks!

Woohoo!! :woohoo: How exciting! An awesome installment, Sunny, but we need MORE!!! And lots more pix! ;) I am SOOOO greedy, aren't I? By the way, I think your hair and makeup were absolutely gorgeous! You looked like a movie star princess!

Very greedy, but just wait until you start your TR! I promise, more pics on their way.

Beautiful! Both of you! i think your makeup looks beautiful- but I understand 'cause I dont wear alot of eye makeup either and lilly talked me into fake eyelashes and lots of eye makeup- DH even asked "Do you like your makeup" It does look good in pix though!

More, more, more...please!

Since I think you look absolutely stunning in your photos, I guess I'm going to trust you that dramatic eye makeup looks better in pics.

Another great installment! :thumbsup2 You are a fantastic writer! You had me cracking up when you were describing Angela's morning eating patterns. :lmao: And I agree with keenercam, We need more pics!!! :rotfl:

Thank you! More pics in the next post, I promise.

Sunny, I think I am the lovechild of you and Angela. I have your sense of humor and Angela's sense of appetite. :D

Oh, it's been such a joy reading this. Thank you for being so detailed. I haven't wanted to miss a moment!

:rotfl2: If we have a child like Angela, I can't imagine what our grocery bills will be. We'll have to buy in bulk for one. :scared1:

How dare they eat the brides food!!! :lmao: Bridezilla on the way!

Great installment!! We need more pics!!

No kidding--what were they thinking? I told them she'd be hungry, but they didn't believe it until they saw her literally attack the muffin.

:goodvibes

Reading your TR is like a trip to Disney!

Can't wait for a new episode to show up, just like my next trip to Disney.

Finish it way too fast.

Full of anticipation waiting for the next!

Well, what Disney ride would be complete without a really long wait? :lmao:

Hopefully, Sunny, you will like the pictures through the years and not mind that you wore extra makeup! You were beautiful :lovestruc I put a lot more make-up on than I was used too for my VR because with my pale complexion, I was afraid my eyes wouldn't show up, lol! I love your report - just LOVE it!!!! :goodvibes

One of the (many) reasons I love your dress is that it set off your pale skin so beautifully. I don't know why anyone thinks that people of our melanin-lacking shade should ever wear white... But I know, I'll probably be fine with the makeup when I see the pics. I probably should have done a practice run, though, just to make sure I was more comfortable with it.

Woo Hoo!!! Another great installment! This is getting exciting now! I can't wait to read more. Don't those girls know you do not mess with the brides food!!!! :rotfl:

Until the next installment....I will patiently wait. :surfweb:

Patience? That's a quality of someone on these boards? :rotfl:

You girls look beautiful! I think your makeup looks great....it will show up so nicely in the pictures, you just wait. Can't wait for the next installment and MORE pictures! :rolleyes1

Aww you ladies look so beautiful! :goodvibes I can't wait for your next installment! :goodvibes

Thanks for playing along! Next installment is ready to be uploaded.

You both looked absolutely gorgeous! I think its so cute that you remembered to bring her food! DH was starved on our wedding day - I wish I had stowed some food away for him!

Looking forward to more!!!

Poor guy! I'm pretty sure that if Angela wasn't fed, she a) would have refused to take any pictures; b) her stomach would have grumbled loudly under the chuppah; and c) her normally sweet disposition would have given way to Bridezilla 2: Bigger, Stronger, and Hungrier.

congrats!!
this makes me want to ...encourage... my DGF to pop the question!
can't wait to read more!

Being engaged was the best! Aside from being married, which is even better. But why wait? I enjoyed proposing to Ange, even if she'd already popped the question to me.

I can't wait for more!!!!!!!!!

It's coming, it's coming.

Hooray for the two of you! I just read through your journal instead of working today, which is not much different from other days since we go got engaged.

I still got upset when reading about that jack*** at your rehearsal dinner, grr. Too bad I never found you're PJ until after your wedding!

But now the suspense is gone! Congrats to you--I'm jealous that your ceremony is legit, while we had to do the boring civil union paper-signing separately.

You two looked gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait for more!

Thank you!

must subscribe,...... need to sleep

Sleep? You'll sleep enough when you're dead! That was my wedding mantra, anyway.

Sunny,


You guys looked so pretty on your wedding day!! :bride: Angela is lucky she can eat like that and still be so thin!!! I wish I had that issue!!!:lmao: Can't wait for more....:surfweb:

Yeah, most people who meet Angela hate her for her metabolism. So unfair. Her mom's metabolism died when she hit 40, though, so I'm anxiously awaiting the day that she's have to... gasp... diet.

I must subscribe to this.. tis my dream to someday be a 'Disney Bride'.
:bride:

I can't recommend Disney enough! Btw, I love the Marie quotation in your siggie; Aristocats is Angela's favorite Disney film.
 
I had intended to use the limo ride to the Wedding Pavilion as the time to tell my parents about our gift to them: their replacement ketubah. But somehow, in the midst of all the craziness, with tons of people everywhere I turned, I didn’t have a chance to say anything.

We got to the WP, and were directed into the bridal vestibule to get a few more pictures and sign the ketubah. My memory of this half hour is a little fuzzy. So many people were running around, saying hi, congratulating us. I do remember standing in the right half of the bridal vestibule (the ketubot were in the left half), and my mom wandering to the other side only to discover her ketubah. That’s when she started crying. My dad was just incredulous that we’d think of them on our special day. Unfortunately, the calligrapher (Angela’s mom) had made a few mistakes—including the year of my parents’ wedding—but my parents either didn’t notice or didn’t say anything to me. I teared up a little too (#4, for those who are keeping score).

I have no earthly idea what we’re laughing about:
Laughing.jpg


We got to see all of Angela’s mother’s beautiful handiwork (Please be advised: contents may have shifted while in motion. I took these pictures today, after the objects depicted below have suffered the indignity of being stuffed into suitcases and transported several thousand miles. They don’t look as good as they did day of, but the colors are just as perky as ever).

Bucket o’ yarmulkes:
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Program basket:
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Front of program:
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Back of program:

WeddingProps005-1.jpg


(I tried to keep the program pretty staid, but we did have one in-joke. The first time Angela and I met, we walked down to Wharton Reprographics to pick up our bulk packs for the class we were in. We wouldn’t be foolish enough to pay exorbitant Penn prices to copy our programs, but we did import the logo. We thought it was funny).

A good number of pictures later (seriously, Misty, hurry up! I am craving wedding photos), and it was ketubah signing time.

Way back when we had gone small-gift shopping the day before, I showed Angela a really cool ballpoint pen that matched all the colors of our wedding. We had already bought a pen to sign the ketubah with, though (remember Day 0’s mad dash to Staples), so we figured it wasn’t worth $20 for a pen, albeit a really, really cool one. However, one of our people of honor, Michal, overheard the deliberations, and he bought us the pen as a little gift:

Super-cool pen, although my photography skills don’t do it justice:

WeddingProps001.jpg


I love gifts like that! Using said pen, we signed the ketubah:

Us signing ketubah, with Misty looming overhead:
KetubahSigning.jpg


And in case you’ve forgotten how cool the ketubah is:

Pascal-WoodhallWedding2008044.jpg


Now we were sort of officially married (halfway there, anyway). It was at this point (9:50-something) that we realized we were missing my (maternal) grandmother, both of my mothers’ siblings and their massive brood. Which included… the flower girl! Grammy showed up with my mother’s sister, Elise, and her kids at 9:55, but my mother’s brother, Michael, aka the father of the flower girl, still was a no-show. My mother was livid. Angela was pretty pissed. I was determined not to be angry about anything on my wedding day, so I thought it was kind of funny.

The cameraman decided that this was a good time to record messages to each other. Apparently, Angela’s involves her saying in a hurried voice, “I’m not nearly as nervous as Sunny.” Mine, you ask? I sobbed, “I just love Angela so much.” And by sobbed, I mean sobbed. Cried. A lot. I can’t wait for the video!

Back to the flower girl drama. Quick on our feet, we decided to hunt for a substitute flower girl. First, we asked Angela’s adorable nephew, but his mom put the kibosh on that (she didn’t want him to participate in a lesbian wedding in the first place, which is why we didn’t have a ring bearer, and I guess being the flower child was even worse). Next, we thought of my cousin, Jessica, who is 10 and happened to be wearing the perfect color. Just as we had corralled her into being a substitute flower girl, the real flower girl showed up, wearing… not the perfect color.

I don’t remember if I posted about it in my PJ before, but my aunt Elise had bought the flower girl a pale green dress on the assumption that when my mom said the wedding colors were blue and green, she meant pastels. Not so much. I had talked to the flower girl’s mother, my other aunt, Donna, and asked her to buy a cheap white dress, and I figured we’d just tie pretty ribbons around her waist. I told her she didn’t have to buy anything expensive or fancy, just something that matched the wedding colors or that we could at least make the wedding colors. She had assured me she would. Instead, our flower girl showed up ten minutes late to the wedding, wearing the original pastel green dress. At 10:10 on my wedding day, there was nothing we could do about it, so I thought it was kind of funny.

It’s kind of sad, because Emma was really excited about being our flower girl, and it wasn’t her fault, but Angela and I were not too thrilled. We’d bought her a $25 gift certificate to the Disney Store as a thank you, and we didn’t end up giving to her.

Jess and Emma walked down together, and it ended up pretty cute, I think. I just wish our flower girl had worn one of those cute, flower girl dresses, and I’d gotten tons of pictures with me in my giant dress playing with her in her cute flower girly dress. I love those pictures.

Guess which one is which:

Flowergirls.jpg


Alright, major crisis averted—it was time to get hitched! The rabbi walked down, and then the music started.

First, my brother escorted my grandmother:
GrammyandNoah.jpg


Then, my sister and Sam:
AprilandSam.jpg


Jess and Michal, with their heads chopped off:
JessandMichal.jpg


Our best people, Eileen and Cliff, also headless and squinty (I promise, they are much more attractive in real life):
EileenandCliff.jpg


The flower girls, and then… Angela!

Angedowntheaisle.jpg

(I don’t know why the rabbi’s wife isn’t standing. Weird….)

Angesback.jpg


And then Angela waited for me.
Angewaiting.jpg


I had expected to be more anxious as I waited for Jennifer to open the doors. Everything was happening so fast, though, that it didn’t feel like I was really about to get married. I thought we were doing another practice drill. I also thought that I would feel more embarrassed, out of place, wearing a giant dress walking down a center aisle. But I didn’t care that my dress was so big; it just looked so beautiful as I sashayed (of course, nearly tripping over myself). I sort of noticed the music I had picked, but in an offhand, there’s-music-playing sort of way. I kept looking at Angela and smiling.

Sunnydowntheaisle.jpg

Sunnysback.jpg


The weather was perfect; sunlight streamed in from every angle, with the castle dead center in the front window (thank you Disney Imagineers!).

As much as we partied like rock stars at the reception, the ceremony was my favorite part of the day. Everything we said, everything the rabbi said, reflected us perfectly.

Chuppah.jpg


The rabbi welcomed everybody, and then we did the first blessing over the wine.

We were commenting on how yummy the kosher Moscato was:

Kiddush.jpg


Then we exchanged vows. The tradition Jewish vows didn’t exactly work for us (Behold, you are consecrated to me with this ring according to the laws of Moses and Israel), given that the laws of Moses didn’t include any provisions about same-sex nuptials. So instead, we went with a passage from Hosea: “I betroth you to me forever. I betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in loving-kindness and in compassion. I betroth you to me in faithfulness.”

The rabbi had informed us that 99.9% of people forget their vows during the heat of the moment, and need to be prompted. Since I didn’t want to be interrupted every two seconds (I think it ruins the flow), we had discussed that any prompting would be unintelligible to the audience. However, I was also committed to being one of the .1% of people who can recite their vows from memory. So, in Hebrew and in English, I looked straight at Angela and said my lines. Angela definitely needed to be prompted, but it went pretty smoothly. We exchanged our beautiful Tiffany rings (Cliff held mine, and Eileen held Angela’s).

Then the rabbi read our ketubah, which was the only point during the ceremony at which I nearly cried. Tearing up, part six. I don’t know why, but it just sounded so beautiful, and I wasn’t trying to hold it together like I was during the other parts.

Then came the rabbi’s remarks. It was perfect. He read a poem by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner:

Each lifetime is the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
For some there are more pieces.
For others the puzzle is more difficult to assemble.

Some seem to be born with a nearly completed puzzle.
And so it goes.
Souls going this way and that.
Trying to assemble the myriad parts.

But know this. No one has within themselves
All the pieces to their puzzle.
Like before the days when they used to seal
jigsaw puzzles in cellophane. Insuring that
All the pieces were there.

Everyone carries with them at least one and probably
Many pieces to someone else's puzzle.
Sometimes they know it.
Sometimes they don't.

And when you present your piece
Which is worthless to you,
To another, whether you know it or not,
Whether they know it or not,
You are a messenger from the Most High.


And he talked about how Angela and I were like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that fit together perfectly. “Sunny cooks, Angela eats (big laugh line); Angela likes to make messes, Sunny likes to clean,” and so on. He obviously didn’t know this, but Angela and I have a certain jigsaw puzzle fetish, so his speech was so appropriate on multiple levels. It also expressed exactly how we feel about each other and why we make such a perfect couple. And it was pretty funny. I was so glad we had gone through the hassle and expense of flying him in; it was just so much more special and meaningful to have someone who knew us so well perform the ceremony.

Then came the Seven Blessings. According to the program I wrote, “The theme of the seven blessings traditionally recited at a Jewish wedding is a mixture of the particular and the universal, the practical and the ideal, the physical and spiritual dimensions of the marriage. They speak of God’s creation and this couple’s place within God’s world.”
(For sake of space, I’m not going to include the full text of the program. If you’re really curious about what goes on at a Jewish wedding and why, or you’re such a Sungela devotee that you must see every aspect of our wedding, down to the tiniest detail, just PM me).

Have you ever pondered the origins of the Spock hands on Star Trek? They come from a Jewish blessing traditionally performed by priests during the days of the Temple in Jerusalem. Although it doesn’t mean much anymore, my father and grandfather are descended from the priestly class, called Cohenim. Since the Cohenim blessing, replete with Spock hands, is traditionally recited at weddings, I had asked my dad and grandfather to say it, rather than the rabbi (a lowly Israelite, as he called himself, not a member of the priestly class). They did their part, which was a nice way of personalizing the service even more.

The rabbi said a few words, blessing us with good health, etc. My mom interjected, “And lots of babies,” which everyone found pretty funny (and boy, did it set up one of the themes of the day). We smashed our lightbulbs, and voila! We were married!

(Because “Why do you break the glass?” is one of those FAQs about Jewish weddings, I figured I’d include that part of our program as well:

There’s an old Jewish joke: ask two Jews, get three opinions. Accordingly, there are many explanations for what is perhaps the most famous Jewish wedding tradition, breaking the glass at the end of the ceremony.

For us, breaking the glass is a reminder that our marriage vows are irrevocable, just as permanent and final as the breaking of this glass. This act also reminds us that a marriage, like glass, is fragile and needs constant attention, commitment, and protection. We also see the breaking of the glass as recognition of the fact that imperfection happens: glass will break, milk will spill, and yet, we face life’s challenges stronger because of our love for each other.)

Our first married kiss:
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Up next: Wedding Day, Part Thrice: What do you mean, we have to take more pictures?!?
 
:yay: an update! Gorgeous! You are so cute always smiling!!

Bummer about the FG dress!

Cant wait for the reception!!!!:surfweb:
 
Oh Wow, everything looks beautiful (well except the pastel green flower girl, :lmao: sorry just had to say that). You looked so pretty and your hair looked great. I think those tight curls fell into pretty waves like you wanted.
 
AWWWWWWWWWWWW You two are so freaking cute together!!! You both looked beautiful! Thank you for explaining the Jewish wedding ceremony. I have always pondered the things that you explained! I am a Sungela devotee! :goodvibes
 
Oh, WOW!! Sunny, this installment was so perfect (not that the others weren't). It means so much to know so much of what was said during your ceremony. I really, really appreciate that you are sharing it with us, so that we can share in the joy of your love and commitment to each other. Thank you for tracking down and posting a bunch of pix (I know it is time-consuming). You both looked soooo beautiful! I especially love the look of pure joy and anticipation as you walked down the aisle. :lovestruc
 
I'm in love with your wedding! I can't wait, I need more things to write about! Maybe as the day approaches.

Just take all those baskets Angela's mom made and ship them over here, they'll fit in nicely with our bright craziness. We're really going for bright vibrant spring, which also is similar to your tropical!
 
I loved reading about your cermeony! It sounds wonderful! Everything looked fabulous (except the flowergril; what were they thinking?)

Can't wait to read more!
 
What a beautiful ceremony you had!! Congratulations!! (sorry for the pastel green flower girl :confused: )

I can't wait to hear all about the celebrations now!! :banana: :banana:
 
Sunny what a beautiful ceremony!! Thank you so much for sharing it with us! Can't wait to see the ping pong table.
 
Sunny, what an absolutely beautiful ceremony! I loved the poem, thanks for sharing!! I can't wait to hear the stories of partying like a rock star.....I feel like I was there through it all by your descriptions, you're an excellent writer. More, more!! :yay:
 
How do you do it? You write so well that, with the pictures, I feel like I was with you:lovestruc :goodvibes Just can't wait to hear more!

Your ceremony was so beautiful and I printed out that lovely poem to keep!!:love:
 
I haven't posted much on here, but I've been devouring every detail and all I can say is WOW! Every thing is so beautiful. Also, kudos to you for not going ape on the parents of your flower girl. I would have gone bridezilla on them all!!

BTW: MORE MORE MORE!!!!:rotfl:
 

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