Non-negotiable: sweet november

next week will be the third anniversary of our wedding reception, what i like to call our "second wedding" and what i consider was our real wedding. we had a shotgun ("with child") wedding with family and two friends (adamant about being in attendance) in march of 2004. we didn't have enough time to throw together a fancypants party, so we thought we'd wait several months. boy was it crazy. i had no idea how insane it would be trying to plan a wedding reception diy style with a 2 month old. i do not recommend it, unless you're a nihilist.

so on november 6, 2004 we held a renewal of vows and blessing of the family before all of those we loved. the ceremony/party was held at a barn outside of town. friends helped us throw the event together. a local vegetarian restaurant catered it with comfort soups, salad and bread. my mom put together the floral arrangements. and tons of people showed, despite the country location.

there were a few sour notes to the day. i was late, having been caught in a baby feeding call as i was on my way out the door. and, unfortunately, it was just a few days right after bush won his second term. for some, it was a very bitter time and no one was really up for celebrating anything. despite that, the whole day was lovely and the weather was perfect. it was an honor to celebrate with our friends and family. it was dreamy. i had wanted a full scale bourgeois martha stewart wedding for many years and struggled that this wasn't going to be the perfect one--but the event turned out to be quite the opposite. everything i wanted. color. food. loved ones. sunshine. music. sweet cake. we had it all.

i love to look at the photos from that day each november. they always remind me of how wonderful life is and how lucky i am to have experienced this day.

the randy's