The wedding meme

Here’s a fun one from Saintseester, all about the coolest person in the world and the day she became my wife.


1. Where/How did you meet?

Lea and I were both guests at my girlfriend-at-the-time Jennifer’s birthday party, at her parents’ house in Huntsville.

2. How long have you known each other?
13 years.

3. How long after you met did you start dating?
Three months. I ran into Lea at Big Spring Jam that year (about two months after the birthday party) and renewed my acquaintance with her. Though Jennifer and I had pretty much broken up by then (she was moving to Nashville), we still had ZZ Top tickets we were going to use.

But I knew I wanted to call Lea after Jennifer moved. Problem was, I didn’t know her last name. So one night after Jennifer and I had been out and gone back to my apartment (maybe even the ZZ Top concert night; can’t remember), I waited for her to go to sleep. Then I sneaked downstairs and got her address book out of her purse to get Lea’s last name. Fortunately her maiden name starts with D, so I didn’t have to look very deep.

Sleazy? Well, um, yeah. Obviously it was the correct decision, though. Man’s gotta do, blah blah blah.

4. How long did you date before you were engaged?
About 14 months.

5. How long was your engagement?
About 17 months.

6. How long have you been married?
10 years.

7. When is your anniversary?
May 10.

8. How many people came to your wedding reception?
I’d guess 100.

9. What kind of cake did you serve?
We wanted to do something original, so we had wedding chili dogs instead.

Actually, I couldn’t tell you. I think the wedding cake was white and multi-tiered, and the groom’s cake was chocolate?

10. Where was your wedding?
In the gazebo at Burritt Museum in Huntsville, Alabama.

11. What did you serve for your meal?
I think your standard tea party food: petits four, rolled sandwiches, and so forth. There were chocolate-dipped strawberries that everyone always raves about whenever they talk about our reception, but I never had one. The rehearsal dinner was barbecue at my dad’s house.

12. How many people were in your wedding party?
Four: my dad, my sister, Lea’s best friend Andrea, and my best friend Charles.

13. Are you still friends with them all?
Yes.

14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony?
She probably wouldn’t have, but she might have teared just a bit because of me. I tried to keep it together, but went completely to pieces saying my vows.

15. Most special moment of your wedding day?
The whole thing was pretty and meant a lot to me, but honestly, I didn’t really start enjoying the day in earnest until after it was over and it was just the two of us in the car.

16. Any funny moments?
Right before I “went in,” Charles asked me “So Bo, who would you say has had a bigger impact on your life: Bill Gates, or Chris Gates?” (Chris Gates was/is the guitarist in a southern/white-trashy hard rock band called Junkyard, who both of us were/are big fans of.) That might not be funny to anyone but the two of us, but it was just perfect at the time.

I introduced our photographer to my mother as Mark Price. (His name was/is Greg Young.)

The music at the end of our ceremony was the throne room music from Star Wars.

17. Any big disasters?
Not really. My mother was displeased with the amount of time Lea spent with her and her mother at the reception, and wrote her a snarky letter. But Mom told me on the telephone she was going to do it, and I told her that I generally beat Lea home from work and would get it out of the mail before she could see it, and I did so. Mom was furious for a couple of weeks, and pissy for another six months.

18. Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We spent our first night at the Wynfrey in Birmingham. The next morning, we went to Atlanta, where I tried out for Jeopardy! Then, we split a week between Panama City and Walt Disney World.

19. How long were you gone?
Eight days.

20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change?
I wouldn’t change what has followed, so I can’t say I would change anything about the start of it.

21. What side of the bed do you sleep on?
The right, from the occupant’s perspective (Lea is to my left).

22. What size is your bed?
California king.

23. Greatest strength as a couple?
I think we’ve always done very well at growing together while each retaining a healthy sense of self. That balance is better than I ever dreamed possible, actually.

24. Greatest challenge as a couple?
We had a tough first six months. Neither of us had ever lived with anyone besides our families. It wasn’t a fun time. I’m so pleased we stuck it out.

Today, I wouldn’t say we had any significant problems. The hardest days we ever give each other are when one of us overreacts in a bad mood or something and we snipe for an hour, and even that doesn’t happen any more often than three or four times a year, I’d guess.

25. Who literally pays the bills?
I do.

26. What is your song?
We don’t really have one. The closest we come is “Tell Me Everything” by Cheap Trick, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the lyrics, which are fairly hostile. It has more to do with a snapshot in time: already enjoying the song, but actually getting to hear Cheap Trick perform it live at Big Spring Jam. (It’s an obscure cut from an obscure album, and there was nothing other than uncommonly good luck that enabled us to hear it together, in our hometown, from the front row.)

27. What did you dance your first dance to?
I have no idea. We’re not big dancers.

28. Describe her wedding dress.
It was a long, pretty, white dress.

29. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding?
I couldn’t tell you the first thing about the flowers at our wedding.

30. Are your wedding bands engraved?
No.

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2 thoughts on “The wedding meme”

  1. This was lovely! I have really enjoyed reading about other people’s wedding experiences – I’ve done the meme, too, though I don’t have a scanner so there are no pictures in mine (well, none that I didn’t pull off the web… beyond the one of my rings, because some wise guys didn’t understand what I meant when I said our rings were two bands soldered together….)

    Reply

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