Our Vows, Part 2

Quite a few people read both sets of vows before our wedding, so I knew Jason's were going to be good (since everyone kept saying they were.) He did not disappoint, we were both in tears.

These are his:

I love you because you always lose at Rock, Paper, Scissors. 
Because I love you, I will not take it easy on you and just let you win. 
[Author’s note – I better have won!] 

I love you because of your enthusiasm for travel. 
Because I love you, I promise to take and enjoy new adventures across the world with you, and fill our map with pins. 

I love you because you are thoughtful, open, and honest. If it happened, it’s on your blog. 
Because I love you, I promise to bring the same qualities to our marriage. Minus the blog. 

I love you because you meet challenges head on with determination, practicality, and a list. 
Because I love you, I promise to respect you, encourage you, and cheer for you. I will even help make the lists. 

I love you and all that we have accomplished together. Buying and renovating a house would have been terrifying alone. With you it was a joy. 
Because I love you, I promise to be your partner in our life so we can conquer these terrifying life changes together. 

I love you because you are mine. 
Because I love you, I am yours.

A Little Preview Of Our Photos

Steph has released the Sneak Peek of our photos on her blog! I haven't posted any photos yet of the wedding because I knew her's would be the best, so wanted to wait until I could direct people over to see them.

My mom has also written about both days of the wedding on her blog, and included a lot of photos. You can read about both Day One at City Hall and our wedding day on The Island and at The Pub.

Our Vows, Part 1

Jason and I agreed on a format for the wedding vows that we wrote - 6 pairs of statements. Each of the 6 vows would start by stating "I love you because.." with reasons why we love the other person, followed by a promise phrased "Because I love you..."

We wanted to be surprised up at the alter (not that we had an alter at our wedding) so we separately wrote them and didn't show each other. So that our guests could follow along with what we were saying, and so we could have a nice copy of them for prosperity, we did have them published in our program. We both submitted them to Kristen who covered them in all our proof reads and edits of the document.

These were mine:

Jason, I love you because you are fun and playful. 
Because I love you, I will not have an expectation that you must entertain me. 

I love you because you don’t let me get away with everything. 
Because I love you, I will not manipulate or lie to you. 

I love you because you are smart, hard working, and constantly reading. 
Because I love you, I will give you the space and quiet needed to be yourself. 

I love you because you have witnessed my grief and held my hand. 
Because I love you, I will work hard to stay healthy so you won’t experience my depression. 

I love you because you are kind and affectionate. 
Because I love you, I will build a family with you. 

I love you because you make me feel so calm. You are my home. 
Because I love you, I will support you, care for you, and share my life with you, as your partner - always.

My Big Extended Family

I have never considered my family particularly large, but when mapping it out I discovered it is a good size. I made a family tree, with photos, for our wedding program. I have used names in italics to indicate what I use to refer to my relatives, which is sometimes not their real names. Birth years for my cousins, nephew and niece are included, as well as, the years various couples got married. The banner at the top is just a collection of old photos of my relatives with the a rough estimate of the year they were taken. Check it out:

My Family Tree

Made by ME using Canva
Click image to view it larger.

And before you try to correct me, yes that is the way to spell my grandmother's name. Most people are Bernice but she has an extra 'e' and is Berneice.

Also, I have a hard time with my grandfather's name, since it is actually 'Alex.' However he died before my parents were even engaged so I only know him through family stories, and he was called 'Alec' and that 'ek' sound is so distinctive to my connection to his memory that it feels wrong to use the 'x'.

It was amazing to have everyone (living) from the above family free present at our wedding this weekend. As we get older and more relatives live further away this is becoming a very rare occurrence.

It Is Monday And I Am Married

Jason and I had our wedding this weekend. Everything was such a blur, my head is still spinning. I really don't feel ready to go back to work tomorrow and just want to spend some more time hanging out.

It feels amazing to be married and there is a small difference. I think it was something that was missing from our relationship, especially these last few months. Content, whole, calm, happy, complete - would all be used to describe how I am feeling today.

The wedding event itself was a multi-day crazy affair that was bigger and better than I could have even imaged. I will share stories and photos in the coming days.

I AM An Intrrobang?!

A co-worker shared a survey with the Marketing Team called What's Your Punctuation Mark? It was a quick quiz and I got "interrobang.' In fact each member of our four-person team got a different type of punctuation and the tiny write ups were cute. Mine was especially accurate, "Inquisitive. Confident. Often surprised." I had never heard of an interrobang before, it looks like an exclamation mark overlapping with a question mark, but can be represented with ?! as well. I like the idea that I am a punctuation mark used to show "asking a question in an excited manner."

Martin's Crispy Apple Chips

My latest obsession was introduced to me by Laura at work, Martin's Crispy Apple Chips, which she buys at Costco but since then I have found smaller bags at The Canadian Superstore and Starbucks. The ingredients just say "apples" but they are so good it is hard to believe. This is a shot of me after we went to The Canadian Superstore, specifically to purchase these chips, I pretty much cleared out the store:

Me & My Apple Chips

Photo by Jason

Two's On Instagram

I don't really understand the platform, but she seems to like it.

Follow her HERE

Wedding Website Is Done!

Wedding prep has been a challenging and overwhelming task at times. I posted first about our Wedding Website when I was talking about the amazing drawings that my cousins did. I have included the link to the left since early this year. I think most people who read Always Standing have been invited. (Though there might still be the occasional lurker from my past, who I appreciate and wish would comment.)

Like most things with the wedding, I had big plans, big dreams about the website but didn't find the time, talent, or patience to see them through. However, again like most things with the wedding, the end result is still exciting.

Check it out at:

www.SweetonWoods.blogspot.com

Obviously the best part are the witty responses from our wedding party. So be sure to read that page.

Good Morning

Me: I slept in..
Jason: Umm, yeah, a little bit.
Time: 2:54pm

On a side note, Jason woke up at 6:30am this morning to meet a friend down at the waterfront for an early morning bike ride. By the time he got back to the house, around 10:30, he had cycled for almost 3 hours and gone a total 85km.