In Honour Of Our 15th Anniversary...

Yesterday was my and Dave's 15th anniversary. I found these questions from Marsha at Marsha In the Middle. You can see her blog here. This was something she posted for a "10 on the 10th" for June. I thought answering these questions would be a fun way to reminisce about our wedding.

1) What is the most amazing thing you remember about your wedding?

Since Dave is Jewish, and I am not, we had an interfaith ceremony and incorporated both faiths/traditions at our reception. The most amazing thing I remember is Dave and I being up on chairs while our combined community danced the horah around us. I just remember seeing Jews and non-Jews swirling around us, everyone participating and laughing, and feeling so supported.

 

2) Tell us about your wedding dress.

We got married in June 2008. In April 2007, our close friends got engaged, and as a joke, my friend's friend sent her a link to a wedding dress from Target. I saw the dress and announced, "That's my wedding dress." It was $129, it was designed by Isaac Mizrahi (which I didn't care about), and it had pockets! I loved how simple it was and, did I mention, IT HAD POCKETS?!?!?!?

I ordered it in December 2007 and it was shipped to Dave's grandparents' house in New York. Dave's parents brought it to Ontario and it didn't fit. So I sent it back and ordered another one which was delivered to Tim and Janice's by their friend who lived in the States. I still remember trying it on in Tim and Janice's kitchen.

I kept Dave's wedding ring in a pocket during the ceremony, and when it came time to exchange rings, and I pulled his out of my pocket, everyone gasped and laughed! It was amazing! 

3) Did you include all three things (they start with b) at your wedding? Care to share more?

We did include all four things at our wedding. My "something new" was my dress and my shoes.

My "something old" was the myrtle in my hair.  My mom's mom's family had a tradition of sticking laurel in the bride's hair at her wedding for luck. My great-aunt had a plant from the original laurel plant used for my great-grandma and my mom asked if she could have some for me for my wedding. I originally wanted flowers in my hair but loved the story of the laurel, and how it could be my "something old", and so went with that instead. My mom did it for me right before the pictures.

My "something borrowed" were the hair jewels which my close friend wore for her wedding which was six weeks before ours.

My "something blue" were my earrings which I bought for the wedding and my necklace which Dave and I had bought in Prague the summer before.

I really loved being able to mark all the traditions in a way which was really meaningful for me. 

4) Where was your wedding held... church, park, neighbourhood bar?

We had our official wedding ceremony at my church under a chuppah. We had an aufruf (a traditional Jewish ceremony prior to the wedding) at Dave's synagogue the night before our wedding. This is where we signed our kettubah (Jewish wedding contract). We had our reception after the wedding at a local golf course.

5) What is the worst thing you've ever seen at a wedding?

Two not great things I've seen at weddings is I was at a wedding where the best man dropped the ring and it rolled away. It just caused a slight delay but there was a moment where everyone was hoping he'd find the ring again :)

The other not great thing I've seen is a bride who decided to get married outside and her wedding dress was a little fragile so, by the time the ceremony started, her train was soaked in mud. She was really mad about it and basically stomped up the aisle, upset because her dress was ruined.

6) Do you think less of a bride who doesn't wear white?

Not at all.

7) If you got married tomorrow or sometime soon, what would be in your bouquet?

My bouquet was three calla lilies. I can't remember why I chose that but looking back on it, I feel like it was a bit boring. If I got married again, I'd choose more fun flowers -- ranunculus, tulips, lilacs, freesia, dahlias, things like that. I'd go for bright colours but not something too big.

8) Have you ever attended a celebrity's wedding?

Nope.

9) What wedding tradition means the most to you?

I can't think of a specific tradition but I love weddings where the couple puts their own unique twist on it. We had a choir sing us up the aisle and they learned a verse of the song in Hebrew which was so special. Our chuppah came from Dave's tradition but the poles came from my parent's yard so that was really special. But none of these traditions would be special if someone did them who didn't connect to them. Does that make sense?

10) Describe your perfect wedding.

Our wedding was pretty perfect. It was a fun celebration, combining traditions from both my side and Dave's side, and with lots of our community able to join us. Again, the "perfect wedding" is one in which the couple is able to put their own unique spin on it, and celebrate in a way which is meaningful to them.

This is one of my favourite photos from our wedding day. All three of our living grandparents were able to come and celebrate with us (my one grandma was 101 years old!), and one of my grandmas had just said something a little naughty and Dave and I were losing it :)

 I will leave you with a few more fun photos from our wedding day.

My dad, my 101 year old grandma, and Dave dancing the conga line at the reception!

Willem was getting bored of having pictures taken and I love how I'm laughing here. While we didn't have a wedding party, per se, Willem, Tessa, and Lily had special roles this day.

We'd gone to Disney World with Dave's family the December before we got married so we had wedding Mickey ears which we wore to our rehearsal!

One last wedding photo :)