If it weren't for this snow...

... I'd be in costume, dancing my little heart out to dubstep on a permanently docked battleship on the river that runs along the city.  Above, what it looked like this morning when we still planned to go to the party.  Below, several hours later, when we gave up hope and the power started flickering as tree branches fell all around us.

Unfortunately, we got about 4" of wet, freezy snow dumped on us today.  Our roads turned to death-traps, our biggest pawpaw tree AND our party tree that was strung with candle lanterns for our wedding split in two under the weight of the snow clinging to their still-green leaves.  Two of our chickens are MIA. 

However, the woodstove is doing an excellent job of keeping the whole house toasty.  I'm no longer vomiting every time I eat like I was just 24 hours ago.  We're safe, warm, and together... and we even still have electricity.  Things could be much worse.

Cozy..

The Big Day

After months of preparation, our wedding day finally arrived.

It was incredible.  I would not have changed a single thing about it. 
Our family and friends helped us out SO MUCH, I was amazed at how easily things came together with so many skilled, creative and caring hands working together.
My only wish is that it could have lasted a week instead of a day!!

Photo by Deb L.

Reasons why our wedding was awesome:
- We love each other A LOT.
-We worked with a limited budget but did not feel like we sacrificed anything we really wanted.
- The only things that we bought which were "disposable" were the plastic cups for cider in our guestbook/refreshment area, the homemade placecards and table numbers, the tealight candles that lit up each place setting and our homemade hanging candle lanterns in the woods, and the fuel we burned in tiki torches, oil lamps, and during our fire dancing.  We are going to eat our pumpkin centerpieces, dry my bouquet, plant the sage and curly wllow centerpieces, and will use everything else we decorated with.
- All of the work we did hauling hundreds of pounds of stone to create our ceremony space will be with us, on our land, forever.
-We gave our business to artisans and small companies, locally and known personally to us when possible.
-Our friends and family pitched in and we got to spend a whole weekend with them setting up, celebrating, and breaking down.
-Everyone fit into our small ceremonial space, and everyone was close enough to hear our vows.
-Our first dance was a fire hooping dance.  We messed up the choreography multiple times (we hadn't had any time to practice!!), but it didn't matter one bit because we had so much fun.
- Our ceremony and celebration were truly a manifestation of who we are and what we mean to each other.  Everything felt just right, from start to finish.  No drama, no catastrophes, no compromises.  Just a really beautiful, magical, wonderful day.
-I can call him Hubbybunch now!!

Married!

And everything was absolutely perfect!

The Hearth and Stove... a heavy-lifting sort of project.