A few months later (March) we went to my husband’s grandmother’s funeral and he realized being around his family that he wanted our families to meet and come together. When I told my mom we wanted a wedding, she was really happy and warned me that we don’t HAVE to do it if it gets stressful. But we pushed forward and decided to have a “marriage celebration” which is now going to be tonight. It definitely was stressful and annoying to plan compared to last time!
Practically speaking, we decided to have basically just a reception, since our wedding was so special that we dont want to redo or change anything. But we haven’t been wearing wedding bands (I wear a ring but it’s ruby and not a band), so we will have a Ring Exchange Ceremony after the cocktail hour and then dinner, toasts, first dance, and dancing. We are having 50 guests, and it’s at the elegant, small hotel we stayed the night we actually married each other. Last night, we had a one hour cocktail hour just for our families to meet, then we rented a large room and had Indian food set up as a buffet and invited people to come and go as they please. We called it a welcome dinner instead of a rehearsal dinner so it wouldn’t be too formal or stressful.
I’m mainly writing because it’s now underway, and the part I was most scared about - our families meeting - happened last night and was a million times better than I ever imagined so now I feel like there’s nothing to worry about!! Both families have at least one person with mental health issues and lots of potential for drama: his has had a lot of tragedy this year, my parents are divorced and don’t see each other, at the last minute (48 hours before) my mom told me she disinvited her current husband, my husband’s dad told us he’s not coming based through our RSVP form instead of even a phone call..... but the people who are here love us and want to meet their in laws and it just was so smooth and happy that I couldn’t even believe it. Especially the moment of my mom meeting my dad’s new fiancée, which went great! So from that point forward, I knew the rest would be a breeze since it’s just our wonderful friends arriving.
i guess I wanted to write to just mark this moment, and to share one key realization with others thinking about a reception after eloping. I realized two days ago that no matter WHAT happens, no one can ruin my special day, because we had our day a year ago. In fact, even if the families would’ve hated each other, oh well we are already married. One of my younger brothers is now thinking maybe he will do the same. So tonight is the main event (I’ll be wearing a wedding dress which feels kinda crazy but exciting) but I feel like it’s all going to be fun and special and I feel really lucky to be doing things in this order. Plenty of other stuff I could write but I’ll stop here! (Woke up early because of the excitement).
