Saturday, April 12: The day finally arrives! I got my hair done (it looked beautiful!) in little curls all around my head and around my tiara. When I took it down the next day, there were over 100 pins in my hair. I swear to gods I'm not joking. Anyway, after my hair came my makeup. What was cool was that I got a free tube of Clinique lipstick out of it. The lady that did my makeup said she had a freebie and thus it became mine. Score! After that it was time to get to the church so I could get dressed. My maid of honor and her sisters showed up (the acolyte and flower girl, respectively). I got into my wedding dress and started crying. Not because I didn't want to go through with it, mind you, but because I was so happy. Getting married is a very emotional thing! And let me tell you, the waterworks did not stop flowing until well into the ceremony. Apparently, Tony was calm beforehand because his mom came into the room I was in, saw me crying, went back to him and said that it was a good thing he was calm because I was a wreck.

The moment we'd all been waiting for arrived. My flower girl and acolyte went in first, then my sister (my bridesmaid), then my maid of honor, then me and my dad. I was crying so hard walking down that aisle. I don't think I've ever cried that hard in my life (well, tears of joy, that is). My wedding had a musical theatre theme to it, so I walked down the aisle to "The Last Man In My Life" by Andrew Lloyd Webber. (It's a very beautiful song; download it if you get a chance.) Anyway, apparently my dad was actually crying, and anyone who knows my dad knows that he's not a very emotional person. Seeing both me and my dad cry almost made Tony cry. But I got up there, held Tony's hands, and tried to stay calm. The service itself was beautiful. Pastor Luisi did a good job of selecting appropriate scriptures, and coming from a heathen, that's a good thing. We did the typical "you may kiss the bride" thing, faced the congregation, Pastor Luisi pronounced us husband and wife, and we walked down the aisle to the fellowship hall so we could greet everyone that came to the wedding. After that, we headed out to the car (we being me, Tony, Bonney, and Lexi) and went out to the Legion for the reception.

The reception was a lot of fun. After everyone in the wedding party was introduced, Tony and I were introduced and we went inside to lots of cheering. We sat down with the rest of the wedding party and drank sparkling juice in place of champagne, since I can't drink. Bonney gave his speech to us as best man. Especially for winging it, it was a good speech. Then we cut the cake, shoved it in each other's faces, and went out on the dance floor for our first dance to "Come What May" from the "Moulin Rouge" soundtrack. Then I danced with my dad to "The Greatest Love of All" by Whitney Houston (I'll explain the significance of that some other time), then Tony danced with his mom to "Always" by Atlantic Starr. Then the parents (and my grandma and her boyfriend) danced, with everyone from the wedding party joining in later on in the song. Then came the dollar dance, which we made $42 on. Not bad, I say. Then came the bouquet toss, which Mariana, my acolyte, caught. (She's 8 years old, by the way.) Then Tony took my garter off with his teeth (the DJ was kidding about that, but he did it anyway) and tossed it, which my friend Dave caught. Dave had to put the garter on Mariana, which looked wrong considering she's 8 and he's 16. After that came all the dancing. Tony and I picked out all the songs, so if there were any complaints or compliments, they went to us. After most of the crowd had dissipated, it was time to call it a day. Tony and I danced our last dance together and said goodbye to whoever else was there. Then the 2 of us, plus Bonney, took off to Albany because Bonney had a 6 AM flight the next morning to Seattle. Bonney drove the whole way so us newlyweds could be together in the back seat. We get to Albany and then we try to find a hotel. We ended up at a Best Western that was not worth the $90 or so we paid for. But it didn't matter because it served its purpose: a bed to make love on (and sleep on, of course), and it had a shower for the next morning.

Sunday,April 13: It was ridiculous how many hair pins were in my head. I started taking them out when he was in the shower, was taking them out when he got out, got dressed, got breakfast, and came back, and STILL I was taking them out. The little hill of pins I created was monstrous. After all that, plus breakfast, we headed out to find the mall I really wanted to go to. We ended up finding a different mall in Albany that wasn't the one I wanted, but we decided we'd had enough of Albany and headed towards Syracuse for the mall there. We ate at Hooters (the first time he'd ever been there), then walked around for a bit. I bought a pair of jeans for $20 at Old Navy and was happy. Then we headed home.

Monday, April 14: We attempted to get stuff done, like apply for housing (the office was closed) and get a new ID card for me (the lady was a bitch and we didn't feel like waiting), so instead we opted to get the hell out of New York and drive to Michigan. We went stateside instead of going through Canada because he didn't have his birth certificate. We finally get to my hometown of Monroe, and at my great-grandparents' house they were celebrating my great-grandfather's birthday. He had just turned 82, and "we" was me, Tony, my parents, my sister, my great-grandmother, my Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Eddie, and my grandma and cousin Ally. We ate cake that my Uncle Eddie had made, and not too long after that we all went to bed.

Tuesday, April 15: What a day this was! The 5 of us (that is, me, Tony, my mom, my dad, and my sister) headed up to Ann Arbor to go to Pinball Pete's, the best arcade in the world. After several rounds of Dance Dance, I was ready to leave due to exhaustion. So all of us headed towards the mall to look around for a bit. While there, we discovered that all people with an active duty military ID get a free VIP card that entitles them to all sorts of stuff around the mall. One of which was a free makeover at Victoria's Secret Beauty, which my mom and I took advantage of. After feeling pretty, we decided we were hungry and ate at a place in the mall called Jonathan B. Pub. I had the fish and chips, and it was really good. After that, it was time to head up the road and visit EMU. My family headed back to Monroe while I showed Tony my old campus. We also had to meet Matt at 7, so after the mini-tour of EMU we waited outside Jones Hall for Matt. He finally arrives and we go inside. He was supposed to teach a dance aerobics class, but since no one showed, he didn't have to. We decided to get some food (well, Matt was hungry), so we took off for Ann Arbor again. We went to Good Time Charley's, waited at the bar for almost an hour when they said it'd be 10-15 minutes, then took off and went to COSI instead. I introduced Matt to Fluxx, the most awesome card game ever (Tony hates that game!), and then it was time to hit the Necto. It was so dead in there! I couldn't believe how much things changed. But I ran into Jason, which was awesome. It was getting late, so Tony and I dropped off Matt, said our goodbyes, ran into Diver Chris (Tony was not happy about meeting him and practically crushed his hand when he shook it), and I drove us back to Monroe, since Tony had been drinking. When we got back, we made love and then went to sleep.

Wednesday, April 16: Nothing too eventful happened today. We showed Tony downtown Monroe and I introduced him to my lifelong friend Amanda (not psychotic exgirlfriend Amanda). That was basically it.

Thursday, April 17: We woke up early to visit with my grandpa, who came over for coffee like he always does. Then we packed up all our stuff and headed down to Indiana. We arrive to an empty house. His mom, sister-in-law, and nephews were out shopping and his dad was in the garage. When his mom and them came back, we just kinda hung out for a while. This is where I got hooked on non-alcoholic beer. His nephews, who are 5 and 2, are adorable. Seeing him act around them made me see just how badly he wants children. But I'm totally not ready for that. I told him to at least let me get my associate's degree before we start trying, which would put me at age 22. I just think 19 is too young to be a mother, although that wasn't the case with my mom, my grandma, his mom, and his sister-in-law, who were all moms by my age. I know Tony will be a great father, but it's not time for that right now.

Friday, April 18: We woke up early to head down to Indianapolis. We get down there and have a few hours to kill before we meet up with his friend Jim. He shows me around Indy a little bit, we hang around the mall, and then we chill in front of Jim's apartment for a while. Then Jim comes back and we hang out until it's time to meet my Aunt Karla and cousin Rachel for dinner. We meet them at Houlihan's, and we get a wedding gift from them that consisted of a bunch of useful, practical items in a Longaberger basket. After that we look around the mall, Aunt Karla bought me a pair of sandals and 2 new bras, and we went our separate ways. Me, Tony, and Jim went and met some friends at Joe's Crab Shack. After that we went back to Jim's place, drank some wine, played some music, and then played Trivial Pursuit. I tell you, I love Tony with all my heart, but he is such a baby when he's losing in a game. Jim eventually won (I wasn't far behind him, though), and we went to sleep.

Saturday, April 19: We woke up early because the day before his mom called me on my cell phone telling us that there was gonna be a news crew coming to interview us between 12 and 1 PM. So Tony decided to drive the whole way back doing 70 MPH when it was supposed to be 55 and we made it from Indy to South Bend in 2 hours in a normally 3 hour trip. This was also the day of our open house for whoever wanted to come from his family to congratulate us on our marriage. Well, the news crew did come, but not until around 3 or so. We got interviewed and were on the news at 10 that night. We got it on video, and his mom's gonna send a copy to my parents. At the open house I got to meet several of his relatives. I clicked with his cousin Angie right away and spent quite a bit of time talking to her. After the open house was over, we all just kinda relaxed while his dad grilled us burgers. Then everyone except me and Tony went to mass (yeah, like a heathen would go to mass, that's funny, and Tony didn't go because he'd been drinking), so the 2 of us changed into pajamas and watched "Final Fantasy", which was a cool movie. Then we saw us on the news, taped it, and watched TV for a little bit. Everyone came home, he said goodbye to his nephews, and we went to bed.

Sunday, April 20: We woke up early and got on the road to get home to New York. We went through Canada this time. It was a boring drive. Tony had his first taste of Tim Horton's. That was it.

Monday, April 21: We tried to sign up for housing, we got me a sort-of new ID card, applied for a new social security card for me, and got frustrated with the whole thing. Argh!

And that was my wedding and honeymoon. Good god, that was a lot of typing. Now I must go be productive, so more later.