4 years ago I said "I do" to my best friend.
Backstory
Jeff and I have been together for 12 years. We are not 100% sure when our actual anniversary is, typical for most couples I think. It of course depends on who you are asking. Jeff tried to make things official a couple of times before I finally agreed to let him change his Facebook status...It was 2010 people, this was important stuff. For the record he also changed my Facebook status, it has really never been my thing. We met through a very good friend of ours, at a local bar, which is very small town of us. Jeff and I dated for 8 years, under the impression we would never get married or have kids. I moved in with him when I graduated University in 2012. We lived in his small 1 bedroom apartment in London, before moving to a slightly larger 1 bedroom apartment in London, then slightly larger (than that) apartment in Hensall. Then we bought our first house. About 1 year after we bought our house I got the idea maybe we should think about having a kid. This threw poor Jeffrey for a loop. Jeff is old school and figured we should get married first. I was indifferent, but compromise is important in a relationship. So here we go...
The Proposal
I, like most people, had an idea how I would like to be proposed to, should such a thing happen. I LOVE Christmas, so I imagined I would get engaged on Christmas morning. Well after the having a baby discussion happened Christmas came and went and no engagement. We take an annual trip to Frankenmuth for our birthday in April. So April came and we set off on our trip. We have a post about our Frankenmuth itinerary, it is helpful to understand how these next events played out. In Frankenmuth there is a wonderful Christmas store. I am a creature of habit, so when we arrived I went straight to the washroom, it is a 3 hour drive after all.
When I come out Jeff is nowhere to be seen. No worries I take off to shop. He finds me at the Christmas Town display, and tells me he wants to check out the Christmas Trees. *Note, we had just purchased a new tree from here the previous year so I thought he was crazy. Regardless we wander through the trees. He keeps trying to get me to notice the largest tree in the store. I tell him our house is way to small for it. But upon closer inspection I see an ornament, and on it the words "Alysha will you marry me?" My first words? "No F***ing Way!" Turning around to see him on one knee and a store clerk laughing her head off. Jeff kindly reminded me this was a family store. Stood up and that was that. I eventually said yes to make it official.
The Wedding
We knew we wanted to get married on our anniversary, June 4th. So we had from April until June to plan a wedding. No problem! There was not really going to be a wedding.
I asked my sister to stand up with me. Jeff asked one of his best friends. We told our parents and siblings the date. I booked 1.5 days off work (the half day was because my boss said I had to take the morning after my wedding off). I booked the officiant. My sister made me get a dress. I wore a white prom dress that was perfect. I forgot shoes. We sent a text asking for people's favourite pizza toppings and bought a couple cases of beer.
That was it. We were married on Monday June 4th at 3pm. The officiant informed us we would need a table to sign the paperwork. So the guys went to the park and borrowed a picnic table. We had the flowers from our garden and folding chairs. People drank beer while we said our vows, we ate pizza in the back yard. We sprung for delivery so the pizza guy took our group wedding photo. All other photos are from guests phones. I think I walked down the aisle to a Christina Aguilera song, but I am not sure.
To some this may sound trashy, or lame, or whatever they want to think. But it was beautiful and perfect for us. I really think it represented our relationship and who we are as people very well. We didn't get married for other people, we did it for us. We had been together for 8 years, we had nothing to prove. Now at 12 years we have a 2.5 year old. We are on our second fur baby and living in our second house (thanks to our very good friend).
This blog is about our adventures, both far and wide. The adventure of our relationship is my favourite, I think Jeff would agree. It is not always easy, we do not always like each other, but it is always worth it and we always love each other. I can't wait to see where our adventure takes us next!
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