Wedding Whimsy - Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

WARNING: This is so mushy. Even I have a toothache because of how sickeningly sweet this post is. You have been warned.

Well, well, well. One month and one day ago, I married my best friend. Doesn't that make us sound like an after school special? Do they even still have after school specials? Either way, it is true. On December 21, 2013, when all of our friends thought that they were coming for a cocktail party, Lefty and I were planning on shocking their pants off about an hour into the get together. And shock them we did!! It was exceptionally hard for one of us (Lefty) to keep the secret-- true story, he might have experienced a sigh of relief after everyone found out that we were getting married, just because he no longer had to keep the secret! The plan was to come back from the honeymoon and post our little glee-filled story, but truthfully, we still have supplies from the party in our library (front room of the house) and my car *might* be full of stuff from the party also. In short, life has happened and the world kept on turning, y'all, so I am posting this as soon as I could-- you love it anyway- even if I did want to post it two weeks ago! :) The story, with pics, are below. The honeymoon recap will be a separate entry, probably a week from now.

Saturday, December 21, 2013 - Woke up knowing that we were about to deceive our closest friends and family. Wow, that sentence makes us sound like assholes! LOL. It was completely intentional- the deceit, that is. We were about a month and a half in when we decided to get married at our party. Everyone we loved was invited and seriously, how much more non-traditional can you get except getting married at a cocktail party? Right?! I woke up humming this song:



I'm weird, but whatever. We packed up the cars and headed over to the venue, about 5 hours early. Lefty's mom came over and helped us set up- EVERYTHING. Seriously, she rocked it out. She had absolutely NO clue what was going to go down either. Y'all, we set up the Thurber Center and changed out of our moving crap clothes about 5 minutes before people started arriving. I had on no makeup, but was wearing an AMAZING dress, so I headed down to mingle with my peeps and drink. The drinking came much later.

Lefty and I made the rounds, finally introducing family members and being able to put faces to names heard in stories told a long time ago. We were expecting around 45 people-- we surpassed that. It seems like double our estimated number was there. It was rainy and cold while we were setting up, so I turned up the heat-- needless to say, it was SUPER hot once all those people were added to the mix. Ah, but here comes the ruse. There was a great staircase in the front hallway and originally Lefty and I were going to get everyone into the front entryway and get married on the stairs. That.Didn't.Happen. But the heat afforded us another situation. I made an announcement that we were going to take a group photo on the wrap around porch, so we needed everyone to head outside…

Our nearest and dearest gathered on the porch for our "picture"… I got everyone's attention and started my little speech (me, speaking in front of people? No!) It started out something like "as you all know, we are getting married on Monday…" I continued on and told them that we had decided to get married that night (hear the audible gasps… mostly from my mother). Something short (pointing to myself) and sweet (pointing to Lefty), I said. Into the picture comes my college friend, Jere, who marries us in a 3 minute ceremony. Love and happiness, y'all!!

I have to say- I loved the way that we got married. All the important people were invited, it was a relaxed environment, Lefty did not have to wear a suit and tie, and we actually got to surprise our friends and family with our unique ceremony. The rain let up in just enough time for us to make it out on the porch and a good time was had by all. For us, it was perfect and I would not change a thing. Scroll down for a few pictures from this party!

High School Besties with Lefty

Lefty and I and the Antillons- We love them!! 

Colors of the Party. Small Bouquet that I did not carry.

Rings

Kiss the Bride

Kiss the Groom! 

Ceremony on the porch

Lefty and LeeAnn :)

How Many Really Know What Love Is?

October is a busy month for the Hot, Black and Bitter family. All three of the dogs have birthdays (and yes, they get a party-- with cake), my birthday is at the end of month (and y'all BETTER have a celebration for me) and then there is today... Today is Poppa Hot, Black and Bitter's birthday AND it is also my parent's wedding anniversary. Momma Hot, Black and Bitter made sure that my dad was NEVER going to forget the day they took the plunge, huh? :) Good for her... good for him, one less thing that he will be in the doghouse for :)

SO, if you are loyal readers of the blog, you know that we are a close group of lovingly dysfunctional people! Really. We do love each other-- sometimes mom has to remind us! We are all knuckleheads-- which dad always reminds us of. We fight. We cry. We hug it out. And if things are REALLY bad, mom will put the offenders on the couch and make us hold hands. Yeah- like we are still little kids. And we better do it, because that lady is not meant to be messed with!! Bottom line: we're all nuts. But, we have all grown together to make up this crazy, ridiculous, family gang. The ringleader (dad) is who I blame for my attitude; the church lady (mom) is who everyone should thank for those few moments of niceness I occasionally have. People often say that my sister and I are total opposites-- because we are, but we came by that honestly-- our parents are TOTAL opposites. But, there is a way to be total opposites and make it work and they do that. Every year, I watch friends (and their parents) go through divorce. People that were "destined" by the peanut gallery to make it through thick and thin. Kinda crazy. I never look to those people because I have the example of how marriage is supposed to work at my parents house. I look at my parents and wonder how they have spent the last three decades together, without killing each other, or an offspring (or two). It is really dynamic though to see how they work together. Mom is really laid back most of the time-- but she is gonna tell you when you are wrong (it will be nice); dad will tell you too (it will be markedly less nice). If you want the answer-- lacking sugar coating-- dad is the one to ask; if you want some hugs and kisses because you have just had a bad day-- mom always has arms open for you at the kitchen door. Just the right balance of pick your ass up and finish & everything will be alright. My parents won't let their partner bullshit them-- no one is getting away with that. But, I guess that is just it. They are partners-- in everything: business, family, love. The not-so-perfect (because no one is) combination of how to make a marriage work. They have set the bar high.

So one this day I want to say: thanks. Thanks to dad for always being there to kick my ass into gear and tell me that everything is going to be ok, but you don't want to hear any snotting and crying over the phone! Happy birthday!!

Thanks to my parents for being a great example and showing me that being completely alike is not necessary for a marriage to work. For showing me that marriage is not always peaches and cream-- sometimes your partner is going to piss you off, or get sick, or lose your favorite socks, or be insensitive, or be too sensitive... but that the ultimate goal is to work together for a common goal-- building a life together. A life with two CRAZY older daughters that will -probably- always be on your dime because they aren't getting married anytime soon; 7 little kiddos who will drive you up the wall every day and melt your heart when they want to hang out with only you while they watch cartoons; a grandson (the human one) who will grow up and be great-- because of you and the 3 grandkids (the furry ones) who send you cards every Christmas and brighten your day with their cute furry faces. That's a wonderful life! Thanks for having that 1 Corinthians 13:4-13 kind of love (oh yes, the heathen still remembers Bible verses, y'all!!) Thank you so much for showing all of us what LOVE is supposed to look like. Here's is to many more years of Hot, Black and Bitter craziness!! ;) Love you!!