Wedding Day: Part 3
After our first look, we made our way over to our ceremony location, the Rose Court Garden.
Some of our family members were lurking around and mobbed us to ooo and ahhh over us before our day of coordinator, Herta, and our wedding planner, Michiel, told them to go take a seat so everything could get started. At this point, it was just Diana and I standing there with our parents and my cousin getting ready to walk down that aisle. I was about to explode from excitement. We were finally getting married after waiting so many years, clinging to the edge of our seats as all the legal cases wound their way through the court system and wondering when or if our marriage would be legally recognized nationally. We were both in shock and so overwhelmed that this moment was finally here for us. As we stood there, trying to take in the moment, our wedding planner turned to us and offered us both a glass of water saying, "This is the last drink you will take as a single person. After this, the next drink you have, you will be married." It was one of the best glasses of water I have ever had.
Now that everyone had taken their seat, Diana and I had drank our water, it was time to get the ceremony going. Michiel and Herta organized our parents and my cousin while Diana and I stood there listening to the string quartet marveling over how beautiful they sounded. Once everyone was in line and ready to go, someone (I can't remember if it was Michiel, Herta, or one of the media handlers) gave the quartet the cue to start playing Tarzan's "You'll be in My Heart." The quartet finished up the song they were playing and then started in our parent's song. Someone gave our parents the cue and they started walking. I was basically bouncing up and down at this point because IT WAS FINALLY HAPPENING!!! And then I had to stop because I remembered I wasn't supposed to do that with my head lol. Our fathers failed one by one to make the correct turn down the aisle and cut the corner, but they made it down the aisle. Then our mothers took their turn, flawlessly executing the turn down the aisle.
And then someone cued my cousin and he started walking too while "You'll be in My Heart was playing." Oops. Somehow the signals got crossed and someone forgot that my cousin was walking down to the song after the one for our parents.
As soon as he reached his spot, "Heffalumps and Woozles," the song we wanted him to walk in to started playing. At this point Michiel and Herta looked at us because they knew that wasn't our song and I had to be like "Uhhh Mikey was supposed to walk in to this and not the same song as our parents..." Again, they had someone cue the quartet to stop that song and start in on the bride's song. Then we heard our song start!!
We heard the start of "Kiss the Girl" and just looked at each other super excited. It sounded absolutely perfect. The quartet was absolutely spectacular. Finally, it was our turn. We walked to the center of the aisle, turned, and started down the aisle slooooooowly. Probably too slowly, but we just did not want this moment to end too quickly!
Once we reached the end of the aisle, just as the song was reaching the height of the chorus, we handed off our bouquets to my cousin and stepped up the stairs of the gazebo (nearly tripping over our dresses), and met our officiant to be married!
The ceremony itself was just spectacular. Alan, our officiant, crafted a ceremony that was so unique and so personal to us. He even managed to make it a little funny, just like us. At one point, he was describing our relationship and our love story using Michael Jackson song titles since we went to see Michael Jackon's
This Is It for our first official date. He really managed to engage the audience while performing our ceremony, so it genuinely felt like everyone was in the moment with us.
Before we knew it, Alan was pronouncing us "Wifeys for lifey" (because during our planning sessions we told him we could not wait to be wifeys for lifey) and it was time to head back up that aisle, now officially as the Mrs. Forero-Cooks!!! We're married AHHH!!!!
We waited for the guests to clear out of our ceremony location to head to the cocktail hour so we could do some family pictures. I really wish we had been able to get the family pictures before the ceremony because at this point, I was so deliriously happy that all I could do for pictures was stare into the camera like a deer in headlights with this stupid grin on my face for the vast majority of pictures. Most of our family pictures look ridiculous with my very special facial expression haha. Thankfully, they were not the only family photos we got that night, so we have some great ones from when I was a little more composed later.
Once family photos wrapped up, our parents headed to the cocktail hour while we went to see our reception space. It was just stunning. We walked into the Sleeping Beauty Pavilion and were absolutely blown away with the gorgeous drapping from the ceiling, how our tables had come together with the books, the amazing bar, the tress, etc. It was at this point our planner Michiel pulled us aside and brought us to the cake. She then told us that the pastry team could not execute our cake design as we had contracted them (and like they had told us they could execute), so instead of making it look like film reels were coming unwound from the top tier down the cake, they simply wrapped film reels around the base of the cake. I'm a little disappointed now that they had promised us one thing and rather than making sure it could be executed, they just said yes they could execute the design only to find out that no, they could not. Our cake did not look nearly as nice and put together as I was expecting, but in that moment I didn't care because it was good enough and nothing that could be done at that point (as long as it still tasted amazing!).
After the cake, we went to practice dancing for our first dance for a couple of minutes. Two floor length dresses with full skirts are no joke to negotiate! I am so glad that we took your suggestions about practicing Kathi!! They were super helpful and we definitely felt a lot more confident in the dresses than we would have had we not taken your suggestions. We didn't step on each other's dresses too much! Once we felt reasonably confident we were not going to destroy each others dresses or toes, our photographers took us around the hotel for all kinds of pictures while the guests finished up the cocktail hour and were sat for the reception.
Before we knew it, it was time for us to walk back into our reception space and have our first dance! The doors to the Sleeping Beauty Pavilion opened, we strolled in hand-in-hand while our DJ announced us and made our way to the dance floor as he started our song, Jimmy Durante's "Glory of Love." We took our positions and began to dance. Everything was going so smooth, so fantastic! Diana was a little nervous, but we were getting through it, and we were dancing our first dance! Then I saw something fly down and land on Diana's face. I realized it was a bee! What did I do you ask? Did I help my brand new wife by gently brushing it off her face and moving to a different part of the dance floor? Kindly alert her to what was going on so she could take care of it herself? No. I grabbed my skirts, and ran away. As far from her as I could get on the dance floor. Oops. People were confused, wondering what was going on. I could barely compose myself and all I could do is stand and point. Diana, brushed it off her face and it landed on her chest. So she brushed it again and it landed on the floor. At this point, I realized maybe I should not have abandoned her like that and tentatively moved back with the intent to somehow destroy it. However, my assistance was not necessary. Once that bee was on the floor, Diana gathered her skirts and with an epic stomp, demolished the bee. We then resumed our dance and finished it out, on the lookout for more bees. For us it is apparently "Until death do us part, or bees."
Next up: Finishing the reception!