honeymooning

i spent some time with my sister this weekend, hanging out, shopping, having lunch. she's getting married next year so we talked a little about wedding plans. one of the things that makes me love sarah even more than i already did is that she's not a wedding person. she's one of the few females i know who joins me in not wanting to have all the fluff and frills and fanciness of a wedding. we've always kind of thought that one day sarah would come back from a vacation married. no muss, no fuss. just boom - hitched.

but as it turns out, there will probably be a wedding. and that's cool. we'll muddle our way (we, meaning, she and her fiance and perhaps my mom and i if sarah wants some old female help) through the plans & surely end up with something really beautiful & memorable. but the part that almost everyone can enjoy, bride or groom, regardless of what kind of wedding they have, is the honeymoon.

i'm not talking about the bow-chicka-wow-wow of the bedroom hours (which better be enjoyable or =( sadface for you!) but the part after all the wedding shenanigans are finished. no more stress or pressure of getting things ready & making sure it all comes together perfectly. no people calling or asking questions or discussing their stresses with you. it's just the couple getting to calm the heck down, forget all the other stuff, just relax and rest and have fun. alone.

when chris & i got married 13 years ago, i wanted to do something outside of our scope of experience for our honeymoon, so i booked us into a bed and breakfast. we only had 3 days to spend honeymooning, and we didn't have a lot of money, but we wanted it to be memorable and that seemed like a good way to change things up.

when we arrived at the B&B a few hours after our wedding, we didn't really know what to expect. we walked into the gorgeous victorian house & i felt like we must be in the wrong place. it seemed as though we'd just walked into someone living room. there were a few people sitting around watching tv & another couple ladies sitting around the dining room table chatting and laughing. when we opened the door, they all turned to look at us. we stammered something about needing to check in for a couple days & a couple emerged from the group and introduced themselves as the owners.


we got through "check-in" and went going back out to the car to carry in all our luggage, along with the still-wrapped wedding gifts we'd received. since we were moving immediately following the honeymoon, we'd had to bring all the gifts with us. a couple of the men offered to help us carry our things in and up to our room. i thought that was odd, but friendly, so i walked back into the house with my arms most empty except for my gorgeous rose bouquet and a couple small gift boxes.

the ladies stared at what i was carrying and one asked me why i had such lovely flowers. i told her that we'd just gotten married a few hours earlier that day and it was like someone set the room ablaze with firecrackers of excitement. they all crowded around us, oo-ing & ah-ing over my flowers and asking a myriad of questions. we were completely overwhelmed by the invasion of personal space on what we'd thought was going to be a time when we could finally relax and be just the two of us.

but these people were persistent and jubilant on our behalf and it was hard to resist the pull of excitement coming from them. there were about 6 other couples there, all in their 40's in town for some annual seminar and thrilled to have some young newbies to play with. they broke out a bottle of champagne, poured glasses for everyone and piled all our gifts onto the dining room table & told us to open them, then and there.

chris and i kept looking at each other, not sure what to do, but we decided to just go with the flow. one lady took pictures as we opened everything. another got out a pad & paper and wrote down what each gift was and who gave it to us. they cheered over the great gifts and scoffed at the stupid ones. there was much laughing and squawking and hollering as we tore open every gift.

when we were done, a toast was made to the newlyweds before they helped us carry everything up to our room. many little jokes were made about keeping the noise down and not banging the headboard into the wall all night. back slapping and winks abounded while we half smiled and blushed, knowing all these people our parents age were thinking about us getting busy on our wedding night.

then the lady of the house informed us that breakfast would be served at 7am and they would see us then. we laughed. she didn't. she bristled. she said that she was well known for the fantastic breakfasts she serves and all of her guest were expected to attend and to be prompt about it. we aren't really morning people and the idea of having to get up the morning after our wedding and making ourselves presentable before 7 was not a pleasant thought.

however, the next morning, we arrived promptly at the breakfast table at 7am and we were not disappointed. the food was amazing and clearly a work of art, which at least made the early trip downstairs worth it.

our honeymoon didn't turn out to be what we'd expected, but it makes for a fun story and a great memory now when we look back.

i'd love to hear your favorite honeymoon story. write it in the comments or post it on your own blog.

and sarah, i can't wait to hear your honeymoon story after this whole stupid wedding business is finished. i love you!