Happy Anniversary, part 2

So it's not tomorrow, but it's the next day, and that will have to do.

So Jeff and I had a shotgun wedding, but it was Uncle Sam holding the shotgun. We were both active duty military when we met and started dating. We knew pretty much right away that this was "it"-one of the many benefits of waiting until you are old and moldy to start dating. This was summer 2000, and we thought we'd get married the following spring. I was stationed at Langley Air Force Base as a student but had been assured that the hospital had requested to keep me on as permanent. Of course nothing in the military is certain, but we figured we were safe. Then we found out that no, actually we needed to get married and apply for joint spouse assignment (which still isn't a guarantee, but supposedly gets your request a bit more priority). We were unsure of whether or not to rush things just based on this, but after a meeting with my "Chief" I learned that with the joint spouse application in, if I did get transferred to another base, I could immediately seek to get reassigned, without the joint spouse status, I would have to wait a full year to even apply for reassignment. We decided to go ahead with it.
Long story short, it's a good thing we did, my paperwork was messed up and I was assigned to be transferred to Ohio a few months after the wedding. We thought we were just sunk, then I realized that these orders were in my maiden name... all our joint spouse paperwork had never been processed! Because I had dated copies of everything, I was able to appeal to my commander and have a few phone calls made in my favor and did end up getting to stay and live with my husband!
So, we decided to get married. We had a number of people tell us not to worry about a wedding, just to get legally married for the paperwork and to have a "Real" wedding later. I only considered this option briefly, for one, I knew too many people who never got around to having a wedding, and two, I knew that I wouldn't "feel" married if I didn't have a church ceremony with my family and friends.
So... the whole point of getting married now was to do it ASAP, so we picked the closest date that gave us at least a little time to let people know. We ended up with a date three weeks out. At this point I can see Tara physically shuddering... miss notebook with 47 tabs for every possible part of the wedding. Now, in case the three weeks to plan isn't enough "Fun", I should remind you that I was in school. I went through USAF Medical Laboratory school; the civilian equivalent is a two year A.S. degree. We complete the entire program (a nationally certified program... some things even the military can't write their own rules for) in 13 months. I straight out told Jeff, yes, I'll marry you, I'll marry you soon, but I cannot marry you until after my Chemistry final! Oh... and you have to plan the wedding!
You know how it's supposed to take months and 32 trips to the bridal shop to find the perfect gown? It took my mom and I one day. We tried on 7 at one store and didn't like them, went to the next store, tried this one on, I asked the lady for a pair of shoes with 1.5 heels, put them on... and viola. the PERFECT (for me) dress. It required NO alterations, no hemming, nada. I did ask my mom if she could shrink the butt-bow... if she had time. My mom made Libby and Julie's dresses, we had lots of silk flowers (bouts and corsages) from my sister's wedding a few months before. Inside joke; there for a while, we called my mom's car "have wedding, will travel"- in the space of 2 years, my sister, myself, and my two cousins all got married with the same basic flowers and decorations that my Mom carted around. We didn't have time to book a chapel on base where we attended church, so we ran down our choices... under a tree, on the beach, in Grandma's back yard... then on Sunday after church, Jeff took me to Fort Monroe. It was beautiful, a large white gazebo on a sweeping lawn, right on the Bay and adjacent to the Grand Chamberlain Hotel. Only one problem, they book up well over a year in advance. So, without telling me, Jeff called. There was one open slot (they rent the gazebo in two hour slots) left on Saturday, August 19, from 12-2pm. Then he called the hotel to ask about a ballroom for the reception. The lady literally laughed at him when he said he wanted a room for August 19 2000, not 2001. Then with a shaky voice, she came back to the phone and said that she had a cancellation and she DID have a room available! He also arranged for the catering and photography. Basically, I found a dress, and then the day before went and bought flowers and made my bouquet and the bouquets for Julie and Libby. Oh, I also chose the songs (and his Dad burned them all onto one CD for us) and contacted our chaplains about doing the ceremony.

Now, a wedding isn't a proper wedding without at least one blooper, right? We had a couple, nothing that ruined anything, just enough to make it fun.
1. There were speedboat races on the bay....right next to the ceremony. To tell the truth, I didn't notice it, but in the video there are definite loud buzzing noises.
2. I had this wonderful line-up of music, all recorded so that someone just had to push play. Except... I didn't think ahead to figure out how I would know way over in the hotel (where I got dressed and where we girls walked over from) what song was playing and when we should leave. We hung out on the porch for a few minutes and I sent the flower girl over. We hung out a bit more and I sent Libby and Julie over. Finally, I looked at Donnie and said, "Hey, I feel like getting married today, let's go!" So we walked over. It wasn't to Ava Maria as was planned, but it did the trick.

Well, this has all been about the wedding day and I intended to talk about the marriage. We'll try for that tomorrow... or the next day.