December 1, 2014
For it being the day that we legally became married, it was pretty uneventful and rather underwhelming. Not that we wanted it to be a big deal, it’s just funny to think about what we did on the day we got married. Everyone took their time getting up in the morning since we had just gotten back from Virginia Beach very late the previous night (or was it super early morning?). We could get married anytime during working hours so we decided to get married around 1 PM. At around noon, everyone went upstairs to shower and get dressed. Efrem put on his suit, I put on a short white dress I had purchased months before, hoping that I hadn’t gained too much weight (fortunately it still fit nicely). We took a bunch of “selfies” in our room before we went downstairs and took a bunch more. When my parents were ready we all loaded up in the car and drove to the county clerk’s office.
Inside the clerk’s office we finished signing our marriage license and my parents signed as witnesses. Then it was time to get married. Luckily, there was nice weather outside, otherwise I guess we would’ve been getting married in that drab looking office of theirs. So we went outside around the building—my mother made sure to scope out the best looking part of the outside of their building to serve as the backdrop, not that it mattered; it was a government building alongside a country highway.
But they had a little brick lined area with some green shrubbery around the back of the building, right up against that highway I just mentioned.
The county clerk read the few lines off her printed out script. And within about 5 minutes, we each said, ‘I do,’ and we were married. My mom had my camera and acted like the paparazzi for the afternoon, getting every angle she could of us and as close up as she could. It all happened so quickly that we both just stood there after it was over. She quickly reminded us that we hadn’t even kissed each other—so we did.
It was just funny because neither of us felt any different and it happened so quickly without any build up that I don’t think either of us had processed what was going to happen, when it was happening, or that it had happened after she had pronounced us married. But after about a minute or so, we moved passed the awkward and into the joyous. My mom and dad took more pictures of us, we took more selfies, and we got some family shots in before we got our signed and stamped marriage license.
Being in such a public place also made this entire experience comedic—during the “ceremony” a couple of cars driving on the highway honked at us, and then a few people coming to get whatever paperwork from the clerk’s office gave us loud congratulations.
We were in and out of there in about 20 minutes total. And when it was done, we got in the car, realized we were all hungry, and went to Firehouse Subs.
Yes, our first meal as a married couple was some Firehouse Subs.
When we got home, we took more pictures while we were still dressed up, and we ate our subs. The we changed, packed, went to the car wash, and filled up the gas tank.
The events of the day weren’t completely glossed over, we did celebrate that evening. We put back on our nice clothes and went out to a nice restaurant with my (our) parents. We did a little champagne toast, the four of us, and Efrem and I fed each other our desserts in lieu of a wedding cake. But after that, we packed the car, went to sleep and got up early in the morning to go back to New Orleans.
If this seemed perfunctory, it’s because we both know that our “real wedding” will be next year in October—when we’ll get all dressed up, have our family and friends come down, when we’ll write our vows and inevitably get nervous about saying them in front of everyone, and when we’ll dance, eat, and drink the night away. For now, we’re just trying to get it together so we can live comfortably in the same country as one another.
like black butterflies 