A Story of Two Becoming One

Missed the prequels?  Read about our friendship here and our best friendship here.

The day was December 1, 2007.  The night before, meteorologists on all channels warned of an ice storm coming through that night into the next morning that would halt life as we knew it.  We asked for it; planning our wedding for a day right smack dab in the middle of winter in Nebraska.  Wish for the opposite as we might’ve, when we woke up that morning, every single thing outside had a thick coat of the cold, hard stuff over it.  I took this picture of the grass while we headed to the car that we weren’t supposed to be driving (verrrry slowly), to the wedding, on the hazardous roads:

[ice ice baby]

Despite the ice though, that day ranks up there as one of the best days of my life (rivaled only by three births).  My sisters prepped me that morning (think hair, make-up, dress, waxing…my own personal salon and day spa) and that alone will always be cherished.

 

We spent the morning snacking and laughing and talking and all of us so intrigued by this road that none of us had  ever experienced as of yet – the marriage of a sibling.  One of us was, in a sense, leaving the only family we had ever known to join to another and that was scary and exciting all rolled up into one little ball of happiness.

It took us a good hour to drive what is usually a 20-25 minute drive to the church that day but we made it, the show went on, there were tears during the procession (sisters raise their hands) and vows (my hand goes up), and a very, very happy married couple in the end.

We had small wedding planned (about 120 people) but only about two-thirds of our guests were able to come thanks to the big ice blanket outside.  But, we were blessed to have almost every single one of our closest friends in attendance.

 

I don’t want to get too lost in details because there are so, so many and we’ll border novel status but if you have a hankering for more, you can watch this video, read about how we planned a wedding on a budget here, and know that talk of our wedding probably isn’t over because, hello, I’m a blogger and I frequent memory lane.  We ate, drank, danced, and were merry and then, just like that, the day came to a close and, despite the freezing cold outside the heat rose…if you know what I mean.  Wait, did I just cross an invisible line?  Sorry, let me take a step over and into the honeymoon.  ;)

We planned our wedding on a very tight budget and our honeymoon as well.  Thanks to a family spending effort on our credit card, we racked up enough miles to get us to Italy, where we spent the week after our wedding.  We rented a car and made our way from Rome down to Tuscany where we stayed in a quaint villa in the middle of a vineyard. 

[The only time I sat in the drivers’ seat, while the rental was parked.  Have you seen Italians drive?  My husband is one and you best know I ain’t steering no wheel in that craziness.]

The balcony off our villa, an incredible view, and the man of my dreams who had just become mine forever…
…cue the sighs and heart eyes via muah.

The honeymoon was amazing.  The food, oh my gosh, SO. GOOD.  We ate out a few times, once in a castle in which we were the only guests (off-season is the way to go!) and grabbed the rest of our food at markets to make at home.  We spent the days traveling to different parts of Tuscany and even made our way to Siena and Assisi for a couple of day trips.  We did, however, forget a clock and the villa was without one (no international cell plan either so no dice there!) which caused lots of confusion waking up in the supposed middle of the night/early morning/latelate night…wait, what time is it?  #jetlag  But the great thing was that there’s a thing called a sun (the big yellow one…Brian Regan anybody?) and when it was up, we knew it was morning so no worries!  ;) 

 
[Assisi]

[around our villa]
 

[also around our villa]


[in a nearby village]


[completely satisfied]


[the Italian countryside…take me back]


[Assisi]

Also, even though the pictures might make it look like we were basking in the decent weather, it was pretty darn cold over there.  It was an additional fee (per heating unit…whatever that is) to run the electric heater in the villa so we ran it for maybe an hour all week, not wanting to rack up a huge bill we didn’t want to pay.  When we checked out and went to pay that heating bill we thought would probably be $50, imagine the face palm that followed when it was only $3 and we had kept our villa near freezing all week.   Thank goodness for all the cuddling and all the…oops, there’s that line again.  ;)

Part four, next in line!  Stay tuned!