Our wedding and the beach house was everything that Emily and I could have hoped for. But there were some unexpected things that took me by surprise.
1. Big stress
I expected Emily to feel stressed out, and she was–before the wedding. On the days surrounding the wedding, I was the one feeling the heat. I felt pulled in every direction as I scrambled to take care of last-minute details and make sure everyone was happy.
Among those details:
- Writing my vows minutes before the ceremony
- Creating wedding playlists the night before (thanks to Anish, Captain, Debbie, and Shawnito for the help!)
- Buying groceries for the house–I had to make over 5 separate trips
- Entertaining guests as they arrived Thursday night (I really missed Emily’s abilities then!)
I had hoped that a small wedding would mean small stress. Boy, was I wrong…
2. Can’t slow down
Because I procrastinated, all I could think about during our 15-minute ceremony was the vows I had just written. I was sure I would mess them up, so I kept rehearsing in my head–even after I had said them.
I didn’t mess them up, of course. In fact, I was surprised to feel so emotional. I wish I could have slowed down the ceremony. It was over too quickly.
After that, we took a lot of photos. By time we were done, I felt rushed and didn’t have much time to talk to our guests. That bummed me out.
3. Beautiful weather
The week before the wedding, Portland was experiencing uniquely terrible weather. Emily and Kelly had gone to the coast the weekend before the ceremony, where the weather was similar.
We were worried that would carry over to the coast. But, to our delight, we had the sunny skies the entire 4 days we stayed. Awesome!
4. Smooth sailing
Emily planned the hell out of this wedding. Things went, by and large, smoothly. I shouldn’t have been surprised, really. This is one of her talents.
Everyone also seemed to have a good time at the beach house. They were for the most part understanding of my lack of time, which I couldn’t seem to accept. I thought they would expect more attention. Maybe the misunderstanding lies with the 3 Red Bulls that powered me through the night of the wedding…
In any case, big props to my wife Emily for all her hard work. It was a wonderful day!