A Weddin' Story

Oh, happiness! Yesterday was our one-year anniversary.

I had told Christian, way back in early days of our relationship, that if I ever got married again, the fella would have to pull out all the stops, every bell and whistle, and surprise me. I didn’t really think of it again.

I should have known something was up. He started the day with something men usually never say: "let's wear our favorite clothes today!" He was so excited and convincing that I totally fell for it. Our friend Vivasvan was visiting and we decided to take a drive upstate and have lunch at the lovely Dorset Inn. I did think a proposal was a possibility, but usually people get proposals when its just the two of them and we had our friend with us. So the whole drive up I’m chatting away to Viv about Vermont and the scenery and all that.

When we finally get to Dorset, Christian gets out of the car and says "Hey, I need to talk to you," and he shows me a marriage certificate. Unbeknownst to me, he arranged all the paperwork, a pretense to be dressed up and a justice of the peace named Mr. Squire to meet us at the Inn. 

Christian looks at me and says "you want to go do this now?"

Stunned! He pulled off the biggest surprise by totally skipping the proposal that we both knew the answer to and going straight to the wedding.

We stood on the village green, in-between the Dorset General Store and the Inn. Local carpenters and workers on their lunch break could see us and when it was clear we were getting situated for a wedding ceremony, someone cued up music:
Just a small time girl livin' in a lonely world
She took the midnight train goin' anywhere . . . .

"Don't Stop Believing" by Journey blared out from a truck and became our wedding song. I’m not a big fan of that particular song but I love that it came to us unbidden and unplanned. After we kissed, people watching from both sides of the green whooped and hollered and came over to wish us congratulations.

Me, Christian and Mr. Squires.

Christian even got rings. He took a page from our friends Andy and Lauran and got a retaining ring and a locking washer from the local hardware store. Even though I now have an antique sapphire and diamond ring, I still sometimes slip on the retaining ring. Christian has gotten lots of compliments on his ring over the past year.

The three of us had lunch at the Inn, and decided that the only difficult bit of eloping is telling all your friends and family. 

So we dressed up, drove a piece north and got hitched. It was a beautiful day. And a complete surprise. 

And that is that.