Ding! Dong! The bells are gonna chiiiiiiime...

*whistles cheerfully*

I'm gettin' married in the mo-orninggg,
Ding! Dong! The bells are gonna chiiiiime!
Girsl, come and kiss me!
Show how you'll miss me!
But get me to the church on time!

*bounce*

The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and fantastic and marvellous and lovely.

I got to the Second Cup at 9 sharp after running around like the proverbial headless chicken since 7:30. djs_specs, I got your email, your message was printed and delivered, although it probably won't get read until the happy couple are back from their honeymoon. It's in an envelope along with my present. :)

Met up with vureoelt and miseri, had a fun conversation for half an hour along with hot chocolate and a gooey lemon danish. A bit stale, but nothing terrible.

gats and sorceror caught up with us at 9:30, and we were off to Pierrefonds for the wedding. Contrary to what we expected, there were no problems at all finding the place, although we came close to missing a crucial intersection once. Luckily vureoelt spotted the street name, and we were home free.

We arrived in time to see the bride and groom being photographed and a small group of people milling about. shenlo's niece Lindsay was the usher and handed out the wedding programs and candies to be thrown at the end of the ceremony. Many jokes were made about palming the candy to be eaten later.

We had another running joke going throughout the day, which wasn't really all that funny but kept us entertained nonetheless. I had noticed early in the morning that, not only was I dressed all in blue, but that the present I had bought for joane and shenlo was blue *and* wrapped in blue paper. So we figured that was all well and good because the bride needed something blue for the wedding. Then we decided that gats must be the something borrowed, sorceror was the something old, and we corralled a poor boy named Chris who didn't know anyone at the wedding to be the something new. We had fun, and even considered draping ourselves atop the Chuppah, until we realised that it was in fact a very gauzy and flimsy affair as opposed to a large sturdy piece of cloth. We decided against it at that point. ;)

The ceremony itself was a thing of beauty. Made me wish I understood more Hebrew than the word "Elohim." *sigh* Hilary looked radiant, Rich looked handsomer than I've ever seen him, and everyone was genuinely happy to be there, including all the parental units. A few wasps tried to intrude on the occasion, and just before the ceremony one of the parasols made a break for it, which resulted in the putting away of all parasols lest the wind knock them over during the ceremony. Nonetheless, nothing marred that spectacular half hour, which is all that anyone could have asked for.

There wasn't meant to be a receiving line, but every time Hilary and Rich stopped moving one would form behind them, so they eventually gave in and had a sort of informal receiving line. The rest of us milled about, found our places in the dining hall, and settled in for what proved to be an exquisite meal. No, really. The food at this reception was really, really good. There were waffles and omelets and pancakes and cream and berries and syrup, and all sorts of fish and meats and smoked salmon and bagels with cream cheese, and the desserts were to die for, even though I couldn't bring myself to eat more than a few slices of pineapple by that time. Hilary's friend Mel had made the wedding cake, and it was to die for.

The speeches were kept short, which is a good thing at any wedding (Hilary's mother managed to make it all about her, but it wasn't too bad), and the speeches given by the best man and the bride and groom made me cry (big surprise). It was all so damned sweet and moving, and *sob*. Yeah. :)

Didn't dance too much (had too much to eat), but got caught up with a lot of friends I hadn't seen in a while, including blackbuffet who was there with his girlfriend. An aquaintance who I think is going to become a good friend was there, and since his friends all call him Grover that's what I'll do in this LJ until he gets his own LJ. :) He's a friend of Miranda's, and I think we'll all be spending more time together in the future. *bouncy*

The only down part of the whole day was that Hilary's Honour Attendant (Maid of Honour, whatever) got really upset sometime during the reception (luckily no one but me really noticed), and so I steered her out of the ladies' and to her car where she could get freshened up and so forth. I couldn't really blame her: she's been married and divorced twice, has a lovely son with learning disabilities, and her current relationship is on the rocks because it's long-distance, both of them have children and neither of them wants to move to where the other is. So seeing everyone so happy was kind of hard for her. The straw that broke the camel's back was some harsh words uttered by a friend of hers which were IMNSHO out of proportion with the supposed "infraction" she had committed at some point. Feh.

We got her sorted out, though, and things got better after that. I don't think I magically solved her problems, of course, but at least talking about it to someone sympathetic seemed to help, and she was able to mostly keep it together for the rest of the day.

The reception hall booted us out at 4pm because another wedding had been stupidly double-booked at that place, but it did allow us to repair to the home of shenlo's parents, where there was (oooog) more food and boozage to be had. They also had a garden which I flipped over. It had a pond with goldfish, and stone paths to walk around, and it also had a Lich Gate. I kid you not. So, of course, we had to take a picture of the_lich standing in the Lich Gate, along with a couple of his minions. He's holding one, and if you look at his feet you'll see another minion making an offering. Those of you who don't know him need to be informed that his special power is control over all the squirrels of Montreal (although we suspect his power may be growing in influence).

( Cut for a decent-sized picture of Louis the Lich )

We spent a very pleasant four hours shooting the breeze, and it mostly ended up with me, Amanda (the Honour Attendant) and Grover sitting in a (small) puppy pile on the sofa in the living-room. Much fun was had by all. :)

I drove sorceror, vureoelt and miseri home, gats having left earlier with our friends Chris and Sandra and the_lich, and I even got home in time to watch Six Feet Under, which was a nice bonus.

Am now v. tired, but it was a fantastic day all in all.

Ding! Dong! The bells are gonna chiiiiiiime...

*whistles cheerfully*

I'm gettin' married in the mo-orninggg,
Ding! Dong! The bells are gonna chiiiiime!
Girsl, come and kiss me!
Show how you'll miss me!
But get me to the church on time!

*bounce*

The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and fantastic and marvellous and lovely.

I got to the Second Cup at 9 sharp after running around like the proverbial headless chicken since 7:30. djs_specs, I got your email, your message was printed and delivered, although it probably won't get read until the happy couple are back from their honeymoon. It's in an envelope along with my present. :)

Met up with vureoelt and miseri, had a fun conversation for half an hour along with hot chocolate and a gooey lemon danish. A bit stale, but nothing terrible.

gats and sorceror caught up with us at 9:30, and we were off to Pierrefonds for the wedding. Contrary to what we expected, there were no problems at all finding the place, although we came close to missing a crucial intersection once. Luckily vureoelt spotted the street name, and we were home free.

We arrived in time to see the bride and groom being photographed and a small group of people milling about. shenlo's niece Lindsay was the usher and handed out the wedding programs and candies to be thrown at the end of the ceremony. Many jokes were made about palming the candy to be eaten later.

We had another running joke going throughout the day, which wasn't really all that funny but kept us entertained nonetheless. I had noticed early in the morning that, not only was I dressed all in blue, but that the present I had bought for joane and shenlo was blue *and* wrapped in blue paper. So we figured that was all well and good because the bride needed something blue for the wedding. Then we decided that gats must be the something borrowed, sorceror was the something old, and we corralled a poor boy named Chris who didn't know anyone at the wedding to be the something new. We had fun, and even considered draping ourselves atop the Chuppah, until we realised that it was in fact a very gauzy and flimsy affair as opposed to a large sturdy piece of cloth. We decided against it at that point. ;)

The ceremony itself was a thing of beauty. Made me wish I understood more Hebrew than the word "Elohim." *sigh* Hilary looked radiant, Rich looked handsomer than I've ever seen him, and everyone was genuinely happy to be there, including all the parental units. A few wasps tried to intrude on the occasion, and just before the ceremony one of the parasols made a break for it, which resulted in the putting away of all parasols lest the wind knock them over during the ceremony. Nonetheless, nothing marred that spectacular half hour, which is all that anyone could have asked for.

There wasn't meant to be a receiving line, but every time Hilary and Rich stopped moving one would form behind them, so they eventually gave in and had a sort of informal receiving line. The rest of us milled about, found our places in the dining hall, and settled in for what proved to be an exquisite meal. No, really. The food at this reception was really, really good. There were waffles and omelets and pancakes and cream and berries and syrup, and all sorts of fish and meats and smoked salmon and bagels with cream cheese, and the desserts were to die for, even though I couldn't bring myself to eat more than a few slices of pineapple by that time. Hilary's friend Mel had made the wedding cake, and it was to die for.

The speeches were kept short, which is a good thing at any wedding (Hilary's mother managed to make it all about her, but it wasn't too bad), and the speeches given by the best man and the bride and groom made me cry (big surprise). It was all so damned sweet and moving, and *sob*. Yeah. :)

Didn't dance too much (had too much to eat), but got caught up with a lot of friends I hadn't seen in a while, including blackbuffet who was there with his girlfriend. An aquaintance who I think is going to become a good friend was there, and since his friends all call him Grover that's what I'll do in this LJ until he gets his own LJ. :) He's a friend of Miranda's, and I think we'll all be spending more time together in the future. *bouncy*

The only down part of the whole day was that Hilary's Honour Attendant (Maid of Honour, whatever) got really upset sometime during the reception (luckily no one but me really noticed), and so I steered her out of the ladies' and to her car where she could get freshened up and so forth. I couldn't really blame her: she's been married and divorced twice, has a lovely son with learning disabilities, and her current relationship is on the rocks because it's long-distance, both of them have children and neither of them wants to move to where the other is. So seeing everyone so happy was kind of hard for her. The straw that broke the camel's back was some harsh words uttered by a friend of hers which were IMNSHO out of proportion with the supposed "infraction" she had committed at some point. Feh.

We got her sorted out, though, and things got better after that. I don't think I magically solved her problems, of course, but at least talking about it to someone sympathetic seemed to help, and she was able to mostly keep it together for the rest of the day.

The reception hall booted us out at 4pm because another wedding had been stupidly double-booked at that place, but it did allow us to repair to the home of shenlo's parents, where there was (oooog) more food and boozage to be had. They also had a garden which I flipped over. It had a pond with goldfish, and stone paths to walk around, and it also had a Lich Gate. I kid you not. So, of course, we had to take a picture of the_lich standing in the Lich Gate, along with a couple of his minions. He's holding one, and if you look at his feet you'll see another minion making an offering. Those of you who don't know him need to be informed that his special power is control over all the squirrels of Montreal (although we suspect his power may be growing in influence).

( Cut for a decent-sized picture of Louis the Lich )

We spent a very pleasant four hours shooting the breeze, and it mostly ended up with me, Amanda (the Honour Attendant) and Grover sitting in a (small) puppy pile on the sofa in the living-room. Much fun was had by all. :)

I drove sorceror, vureoelt and miseri home, gats having left earlier with our friends Chris and Sandra and the_lich, and I even got home in time to watch Six Feet Under, which was a nice bonus.

Am now v. tired, but it was a fantastic day all in all.

Aftermath...

Warning: this post is about religion, and Catholicism specifically. Read at your own risk.

I guess many of us were fighting personal demons at the wedding yesterday, in spite of its being such a lovely ceremony. Perhaps because it was such a lovely ceremony, actually.

I know that while the rabbi was marrying joane and shenlo, my heart got torn in several different directions.

Don't get me wrong: I was and am extremely happy for them. They're perfect together and they're two of my best friends and I would kill if anything got in the way of their happiness.

But at the same time, I felt, I don't know, a... pang, if that makes any sense. Unbidden to my mind sprang the question: Why can't I have that?

I know that gays can get married in Canada. But that's not what I'm talking about. For what seemed an eternity (it was about three minutes in Real Time), all that played through my head was the fact that I will very likely never have the wedding I thought I would when I was growing up. I'm not going to kneel before the altar and before God before I'm joined forever with the woman with whom I want to spend the rest of my life.

My father won't walk me down the aisle or give me away. My mother won't be there to bless the union. No priest will solemnize my marriage. There will be no mass. I will not be allowed the Mystery of Communion.

In short, my Church will never accept me as God made me.

I don't practise my religion because for a long time, even before I knew I was gay, I didn't agree with some of the doctrine and dogma adopted by Rome. Now I have more reason to stay away. But it doesn't take away the fact that I am Catholic, and that I love my God. I don't believe for a second that He made a mistake, that my being gay is unnatural or abhorrent somehow. Yet my Church won't believe that. They believe that I have corrupted the work of Him whom I love above all else, that I am a perversion of the laws of God and Nature.

In their eyes, in my mother's eyes, I am an abomination.

So I felt a tug at the bottom of my heart yesterday in the midst of all the joy, mourning the loss of something I never really had.

Aftermath...

Warning: this post is about religion, and Catholicism specifically. Read at your own risk.

I guess many of us were fighting personal demons at the wedding yesterday, in spite of its being such a lovely ceremony. Perhaps because it was such a lovely ceremony, actually.

I know that while the rabbi was marrying joane and shenlo, my heart got torn in several different directions.

Don't get me wrong: I was and am extremely happy for them. They're perfect together and they're two of my best friends and I would kill if anything got in the way of their happiness.

But at the same time, I felt, I don't know, a... pang, if that makes any sense. Unbidden to my mind sprang the question: Why can't I have that?

I know that gays can get married in Canada. But that's not what I'm talking about. For what seemed an eternity (it was about three minutes in Real Time), all that played through my head was the fact that I will very likely never have the wedding I thought I would when I was growing up. I'm not going to kneel before the altar and before God before I'm joined forever with the woman with whom I want to spend the rest of my life.

My father won't walk me down the aisle or give me away. My mother won't be there to bless the union. No priest will solemnize my marriage. There will be no mass. I will not be allowed the Mystery of Communion.

In short, my Church will never accept me as God made me.

I don't practise my religion because for a long time, even before I knew I was gay, I didn't agree with some of the doctrine and dogma adopted by Rome. Now I have more reason to stay away. But it doesn't take away the fact that I am Catholic, and that I love my God. I don't believe for a second that He made a mistake, that my being gay is unnatural or abhorrent somehow. Yet my Church won't believe that. They believe that I have corrupted the work of Him whom I love above all else, that I am a perversion of the laws of God and Nature.

In their eyes, in my mother's eyes, I am an abomination.

So I felt a tug at the bottom of my heart yesterday in the midst of all the joy, mourning the loss of something I never really had.