Walking down the aisle

As you may have learned from La's Facebook status over the weekend, I'm married!

I don't have any pictures yet. Apparently all of our friends wanted to do things like get home and recover before uploading photos for our enjoyment. I don't know what they were thinking. I promise that as soon as I get some decent photos, I will share them here.

But I did want to say two things about the wedding, even before I have photos.

First, I wasn't expecting it to be the best day of my life. To be honest, I kept hearing that it would be, but I thought that was a bunch of crap, and I didn't put any such expectations on the day. I was excited, but I also assumed that I'd be stressed and running around and worrying about whether other people were having a good time and whatnot.

But in reality, it actually was the best day I can remember ever having. The ceremony was incredibly meaningful, the guests were all the people I know and love best in this world, and the reception was just fabulous. The whole thing came together better than I ever could have hoped for. There were two tiny snags that I can think of, neither of which was a big deal, and everything else was just perfect. I was so happy. I could not stop smiling all day. Torsten and I had planned to circulate to the tables during dinner, but we saw pretty much everyone during the cocktail hour, and then during the reception we almost never left the dance floor.

While I was there, there was nowhere I would have preferred to be. I was perfectly happy in Torsten's arms, surrounded by those we love most, shaking it to the awesome music and eating fantastic food and wearing a gorgeous dress and seeing purple everywhere. I had boundless energy and I was so, so, so happy.

But I don't miss it. It was the right length, the perfect culmination of all that planning, a fantastic way to kick off our life together. And now it's over, and that is beautiful too, and I'm looking forward to our fabulous honeymoon followed by settling into regular married life and just... being.

Oh, and yesterday I had to sign my name twice? And both times I was thinking "maiden name, maiden name" because it isn't legally changed yet. And yet both times I wrote my married name without realizing it. Maybe this will take less getting used to than I thought.

And the second thing is the experience of walking down the aisle. I have never done anything that remotely resembled that experience in any way. I had thought I'd be locked in on Torsten the whole way, but while the first thing I did was seek him out and beam at him, I also found myself looking around at all the people standing there smiling at me. I found it grounding and reassuring and exciting, and I was smiling so big and also sort of crying from the overwhelming emotion of it. I was barely aware of my father next to me and my bouquet in my hand or of anything except all those people around me and my husband-to-me waiting for me at the end of the aisle. People afterward said that my face as I went down the aisle was priceless, overwhelmed and almost in shock in the best, happiest way possible, and I have to say that I would really kill to see a picture of that face right now. But I will have to wait, and thus so will you.

I'll be back with more wedding stuff periodically throughout the honeymoon. I have so much to talk about--the flowers, the photo experience, the guestbook, the officiant, and the vows, OMG the VOWS they were amazing--but I'll have to do that little by little. Hopefully with photos.