So, I THOUGHT I was a one-trick pony BEFORE the wedding, but this week all I can think of is how fun and awesome it was, and I need to preserve it.

SO. Music.

We walked in to All I Want is You by Barry Louis Polisar.

We had our final kiss of the ceremony to Smitten Kitten by Scourge of the Sea.

And then the next 35 or so songs went like this… and the rest were just as good.

Absolutely Cuckoo    The Magnetic Fields   

Another Sunny Day    Belle and Sebastian   

And I Found This Boy    Maia Hirasawa   

Up On Cripple Creek    The Band   

Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)    The Arcade Fire   

World Love    The Magnetic Fields  

Weed Party    Band Of Horses   

Good Vibrations    The Beach Boys   

Real Love    The Beatles   

Hometown Honeymoon     Alabama   

Kiss Me Like You Mean It    The Magnetic Fields   

Caring Is Creepy    The Shins      

For What It's Worth     The Cardigans   

Spying On The Spys    Portastatic   

Overload    The Cardigans   

Ooh Do I Love You    Cap'n Jazz   

Now The I Have Everything    They Might Be Giants  

No Depression    Uncle Tupelo   

Like u Crazy    Mates Of State   

Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits    The Magnetic Fields   

暗闇坂むささび変化     はっぴいえんど   

I Think I Need A New Heart    The Magnetic Fields  

Love Is a Trap    The Bombhappies       

razzle dazzle rose    Camera Obscura   

Since I Left You    The Avalanches   

Sweet-Lovin' Man    The Magnetic Fields   

Happy Meal II    The Cardigans   

funny little frog    belle and sebastian   

Hantise D'Enfance    Die Romantik       

The Wonderful Star's Walk is Wonderful    Yuri Misumi   

Maya Gari w/Bokoor Band    Bokoor Band   

Postcards From italy   Beirut   

Que Sera Sera    Asuka Sakai & Charlie Kosei   

dory previn    Camera Obscura   

Rise & Shine    The Cardigans   

I Will Call You Lover Again    Loney, Dear  

Sweet Marie    Crooked Fingers   

The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side    The Magnetic Fields   

And freedom is the only the only law – shall we dance?

So if you're feeling low-

stuck in some bar-do

I – even I – know the solution… 

love music wine & revolution!

Love!

So I'm sitting here going through photos to post when it made me think of two related stories from the weekend:

1. Friday at the bridesmaid lunch, I was  -  I admit freely – wearing this Spanxsy thing, to hold in my tummy (remember how I said I was feeling all fat these days? thought that might help…). Anyway, I was standing talking to my friend Dev, and at the same time I was feeling my midriff. And I remember thinking, Man! These things DO make you feel like you have abs of steel! Anyway,  I looked to the side and my sister and David's mom were making the WEIRDEST expressions at me, and when I asked Meredith later she was all "YOU WERE RUBBING YOUR TUMMY LIKE A PREGNANT LADY". And she said we should be aware David's mom noticed this apparently Pregnant Woman-like behavior.

2. Yesterday, I went to dinner with David's family. David was working, and they are going to Italy, so I needed to put my time in even though I was exhausted and not feeling up to southern-style heavy cooking. Over the course of the wedding weekend, David & I both ate very very little. In fact, I don't remember eating a proper MEAL for a WEEK. So to suddenly have this heavy Southern dinner was very very hard on my stomach. I started rubbing it as I talked to one of david's cousins. I turned my head the opposite direction, and his mother was DIRECTLY STARING at my hand rubbing my belly.

So suspicions may have been sparked because I'm a belly rubber. I am stating here for the record I am DEFINITELY NOT PREGNANT and shall not be for a while.

GIRLS: don't rub your tummies – even innocently – in front of family. Especially if they are dying for grandchildren. And you are 34. And you are getting married. It's just a combination that BEGS for speculation, apparently.

The couple days leading up to the wedding were pure joyous craziness. There is no way I can do any justice to how fun and full the days and evenings were. Between running for the last of the drinks and food, friends coming in town, and finally festivities beginning, I don’t think I got more than four hours of sleep each Wednesday and Thursday nights. And it was totally worth it. I would not have wanted to miss a second more.

I have to say that this wedding would not have been what it was without all the amazing people who pulled together to make it happen. I mean, these wonderful friends of ours worked in the heat of the day on Friday (the 90F+ heat!) to help decorate the back lawn exactly how we envisioned – and we didn’t even have to give any direction! They just KNEW. Because they are AWESOME.

The bridal party girls and I had a lovely lunch on Friday, followed by communal decorating with more friends rolling into town. And although there was not much of a rehearsal (ok, not at all), we relaxed at our rehearsal dinner at Times Ten Cellars over some wine and pizza. David & I had created a “Ash & Davey Crossword Puzzle” which had most people stumped, though I think Jeremy made a very good showing. Afterwards we took the party to Lee Harvey’s where we played further. Dallas friends showed up as well for a couple rounds; the mood was very merry. David’s friend George toasted us and we all waxed happy on new marriage and Schlitz. We kicked it in the gravel with the dogs and the group grew larger and drunker until the bar closed. And heading home at two, I was pretty impressed that I was actually about to go get a decent night’s sleep – seriously, like seven hours! Compared to the previous two nights, it was like the sleep of Rip Van Winkle.

And here is where I will state my only real complaint about the weekend: David and I did very little traditional when it came to our wedding. However, we hemmed and hawed about the “not seeing each other before the wedding” business. We just couldn’t decide. It seemed sort of silly for us, but sort of sweet in theory. Finally, after asking several friends their opinion, we decided to give it a try, because so many of them said they were glad they did it. So David spent the night in a hotel while I went home.

But this is a perfect example of why some things are right for some and not for others. We really hated every second of it. Not in a good way, either. We don’t sleep well apart, and we had too much to do that depended upon each other the next day. It was a terrible decision for us, which is not to say it is a bad one for anyone else. But we should have gone with our first gut reaction on that one, the same as we did for everything else.

When I complained bitterly about being apart the morning of the wedding, one of my bridesmaids, Kingsley, said “Don’t you want this morning to be different than every other morning?” And I was all: “IT ALREADY CAN’T GET MUCH DIFFERENT, LADY.”

And that’s the truth.