Wedding Thank Yous

From the Summit Motel, morning of the wedding. By Eric Luth

I've been thinking a lot about writing this post, and finding it a bit daunting to explain with words the feelings from the entire day. Ross and I have been together... a long time :) I was counting down the days to the wedding and looking forward to it with enthusiasm. I was looking forward to being surrounded by friends and family and celebrating our relationship, no nerves. Ross and me are... well, Ross and me. We've been together for almost half our lives. He's my best friend. Marrying him? No problem, I can do that - who doesn't love a celebration of love! :)

So I wasn't very prepared for the overwhelming emotions and the river of tears that I cried throughout the evening. The love! The happiness! The support! The family! The friends! It was all much too much to take in. Not going lie, eyes tearing up again as I write this. This is what you all did to me :)

And so we want to start by saying

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts

Which doesn't even come close to expressing our full gratitude to everyone who was there. The evening flew by so quickly that we never had the chance to say thank you in person to everyone who came. People came from near and far - and near still means a few hours driving since we weren't actually close to anything! We had international friends and family who flew from Sweden, Switzerland and Finland, plus friends that flew from Hawaii, plus at least 15 others who flew in from other parts of the country. We're honored that you came.

Ross and I could not have imagined a more amazing evening. People had to carry their own chairs inside in the rain, and sit in the slowly warming tent, and there may have been a few down jackets worn, but the love, enthusiasm, laughter and tears never ended. There were toasts, prepared and impromptu, guessing games, orienteering games, videos, and Ross and I will be drinking tea every day for the next few years, while reading some of the pearls of wisdom and well-wishes:

Only a few of the many! Click to enlarge and read.

Sure, there were some technical difficulties at the beginning of the ceremony, but it allowed Ellen and my dad to practice their standup routine, and Ross's aunt Anne to tell embarrassing stories about him. The bridal party was narrating the scene outside to me, which included such statements as "The groom is running away from the alter" and "It sounds like a game of The Price is Right". It also meant that the rain didn't come until all the wedding party was up front, with no shelter, and I was just about to arrive. Once everyone made their way to the tent, trying to stay dry and moving all the chairs, I got my grand entrance (too bad they forgot to leave me an aisle... :) ). Here's one of my favorite pictures that I have of the evening. (Thanks, Zan!)

Photo Credit: Chris Joyce, New Dimensions

There's so much more I want to write. I want go document the entire evening, here, so that I can remember everything that happened, forever. I was so busy enjoying it, I took no pictures myself! Some of you have put up photos on Facebook, which is wonderful, but I would love get to photos from more of you! Feel free to put up what you have on Facebook, if that's your thing. Otherwise, it would be great if you could share them with me using dropbox, or your favorite way to share photos. I want to see them all! 

Of course, our fantastic photographer Chris Joyce took tons of amazing photos, which you can see at his website.

Also, check out Eric's beautiful fall foliage photos from the weekend at his site.

And all this doesn't even included others who mean so much to us, but could not be a part of this day. We have such a community of friends and family who have supported us throughout the years that we could not bring them all to the top of the mountain with us. Which is sad, but there are more fun adventures for all of us ahead!

Because that was so much fun, we're still planning on having a second celebration here in Sweden too! There are so many wonderful people who were not able to join us from this side of the ocean, and we feel we need another reason to cry our eyes out - I mean, to celebrate! Stay tuned for more details on a spring wedding.