Our Wedding

This past Saturday I had the tremendous honor of handfasting and legally marrying Chas, my partner of over 15 years. While we have been married in our hearts for most of that time, it was a very moving experience for me. I got all teary-eyed during the ceremony, which I didn't expect.

I am so very grateful to those who came to witness our ceremony, and to those who played an active role in defining it. To Thorn (yezida), Morpheus (heartssdesire), Mitchell, and Jose for calling in an element... thank you. You helped t make the ceremony exactly what we wanted and needed, as you each spoke from your hearts and that means more to us than we can express.

To Anaar (anaar) who officiated the rite, bringing all the elements to center and tying our handfasting cord: Thank you so much. You were the first person to come to mind when we talked about having someone perform the ceremony and we are both so honored that you did this for us. I am proud to call you a sister and a friend.

And to everyone who came to witness and to have a slice of our Black Heart Cake... thank you. You all made this day extra special for us. I am honored to know each and every one of you and to call you friends.

My mom and sister prepared an impressive spread of food which included smoked salmon bruschetta, prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, beet and goat cheese turines, spinach dip, seviche, little caprese salad balls, watermelon-strawberry-mint salad, Swedish meatballs, lamb sausages, assorted fruits, nuts, Humboldt Fog (our favorite cheese) and a bunch of stuff I can't even think of right now. It was beautiful, and I hope someone got some pictures of the buffet table.

The cake was a three-layer heart cake, red-velvet with a layer of raspberry, covered with a dark chocolate/raspberry chambord ganache... decorated with flowers, and topped with blue roses... and made entirely by my very talented sister. And because I'm such a little kid I had to have ice cream with my cake... white chocolate raspberry truffle. :)

There were like a million bottles of champagne of which I had way too many glasses. :-/ I think I smoked a couple of cigarettes in there somewhere but it's hazy. ;) The next day I rested. And drank lots of water. ;)

It was such a beautiful day! I'm still flying high!

And now... some pictures (more will come after we get the disposable cameras developed):

Pictures (EDIT: You have to log-in to Flickr to see them because apparently I am a "loose cannon", according to them.) ;)

and VeeDub posted some, too:

VeeDub's Pictures

EDIT: Onyx posted even more pics.

Our Vows:

With silver ring,
In a circle of our friends...
To you I pledge my heart,
To you I pledge my soul,
To you I pledge my life,
For now, and for always,
I do.