Sand ceremony

Awhile back someone asked about the sand ceremony we had at our wedding.

A typical sand ceremony uses 2 glass containers filled with different colored sand - one for the bride, one for the groom. They each pour some into a third glass container separately, to represent their individual lives. Then they pour it in together, to represent the blending of their lives in marriage. The final container is then a nice keepsake from the wedding.

In ours, we decided to have our moms participate with their own colored sand, since they (and our dads) provided the foundation that made us who we are.

The vows that we used for the sand ceremony:

Bryan and Tia, today you join your separate lives together. The two separate bottles of sand symbolize your separate lives, separate families and separate sets of friends. They represent all that you are and all that you will ever be as an individual.

They also represent your lives before today. As these two containers of sand are poured into the third container, the individual containers of sand will no longer exist, but will be joined together as one. Just as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again into individual containers, so will your marriage be.

There are two women for which words could never relay the gratitude in our bride and groom's hearts, their mothers. Audrey and Diane you have contributed so much to Bryan and Tia's lives and they wish to symbolically thank you by inviting you to join them in their sand ceremony. Please come forward.

Diane and Audrey, we invite you pour some sand from your individual vases into the container to represent you giving them life, as well as all of your wonderful contributions to their lives. Without the two of you, and their fathers, providing them with a foundation of love and support, they never would have been the people they are today.

Tia, pour some of your sand which will represent you as an individual. Bryan, pour some of your sand which will represent you as an individual.

Bride and Groom, now pour your remaining sand into the container together to represent the joining of your two individual lives into this union of marriage

This isn't the best photo (there are some better ones under the professional photos), but you get the idea here:


There are companies that have the kit made for you (etching on the glassware, sand, etc), but they are fairly pricey. We decided to make our own using supplies from Michael's, and one evening we did the etching together. I think our final cost was $34, vs the $70 they wanted online.

#27

Today I officially crossed into my late 20's. Unfortunately, due to a husband who is still fairly sick, the need to work for a paycheck, and a new apartment to finish unpacking, we won't be doing much celebrating. My family is coming over with an ice cream cake, which will be d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s. Hopefully we can finally give happy hour a try this weekend as a belated celebration.

Work is calling...more updates later!

Official wedding photos

www.pictage.com/432163

You can see them all at the link above. Overall I'm pretty happy with them. You'll have to register to see them, but it's free. If you go look, let me know which are your favorites. We only get 10 for free, then we have to pay for any others we want.

The exciting news from the last post has been somewhat dashed. It's a long story and was about a job offer, but I'm totally over it since I have a job I really like with the most fantastic people. I hadn't even been seeking out a job, so I'm not disappointed in anything except the horrific way I was treated for no reason I can figure out.

We do have a new place to live, which is great. Buying new stuff together is so much fun, but requires a level of compromise that I hadn't thought about! We're just about done with the big stuff though, and once Bryan feels better we can finally move there for good.

Bryan's been really sick with unexplained GI issues, that a bunch of dummies have said is just GERD, even after being so sick he spent time admitted to the hospital. He's lost 14lbs since coming back to Portland, and zero food stays down. Thankfully we finally got into a GI specialist, and he's great. The abdominal ltrasound was today, and the endoscopy is Friday. Hopefully he'll get some answers then, because you all know how much we like to eat :)

More photos!

We have lots of exciting news on the horizon, but I'll save all of that for a future post (and no, it's NOT a baby!). For now, here are more pictures. I've had tons of requests, and I know how much I enjoy wedding photos too. You can see in some of them how windy it was!

The handsome groom and my best friend and her baby.


Dad and I, walking down the "aisle"


Sand ceremony


Getting married, overlooking the ocean


Who knows what is going on!


Married!


Sisters in the sunset


Smoochin


Chatting with a stranger. That bald guy was so enthralled with us that after our conversation, he started walking with us, totally forgetting about his wife walking the other way!


Cake cutting


Dinner...check out Bryan's drink in a bucket. He managed to finish two of them.

I won!

I seriously never win anything, but today I won a contest at NieNie's blog

My prize?? Some Orville Redenbacher popcorn! Yum! I won because I said I deserved it after going a year with no popcorn due to braces, which just came off in May. Yay for winning!

For all of you that have been dying for wedding pictures, here are just a couple to wet your palate. I'm STILL waiting for the professional ones.

OIP

OIP= Only in Portland

We arrived safe and sound back in Portland Sunday evening, and now we're experiencing culture shock. I'm a Portland native, yet somehow being gone for almost 2 years (minus some time in the middle) was enough to forget how strange Portland is. People drive around here with bumper stickers that say
(as a small aside, in looking for that image I discovered there is an entire website for Keep Portland Weird).

Portland is weird. Yesterday we went to work/study at a local coffeeshop. There is only one table with plug-ins, so I shared it was a woman most likely in her early 50's. She chatted with me, at which point her gold tooth became so distracting I couldn't look at anything else. Her long grey hair was pinned back, and she was drinking some kind of hippy mint tea. She went on and on about how great this tea was, and shared it with me, telling me about her work with a local hippy organic store and the Oregon Country Fair (a hippy weekend long fair in Eugene, the hippy capital of the nation). She was really nice, just so "Portland." This is after being served my coffee by a dreadlocked server, while a big sign proclaimed "We now serve hemp milk." Hemp milk? I've never heard of it! OIP.

Fast forward to the drive to the realtor's office to make an offer on a condo. While waiting to make a left turn at a light, I come into the middle of a battle between a biker and a car. This is not uncommon in Portland, where it is hip to bike, but bikers are aggressive, nasty, hoity-toity people (for the most part). I don't know what had transpired, but they were arguing very loudly with lots of swear words. The driver got out and I thought they would fight, but they just screamed more. He got back in his car, the yelling continued, and the biker reached out and punched the guy's car with all of his might. The pissed off driver squealed his tires and took off. OIP.

We're happy to be back, and looking forward to trying out all of the restaurants that have opened in our absence. We've already got plans for our first "Back in Portland Happy Hour" this Friday. But getting used to this town again is going to take some time for sure!

Made it

We're here, safe and sound at home, but very, very tired. Four LONG days of driving 15 hour days. Can't wait for the weekend already.