At the very end of the ceremony, the guests game together in a circle around us. We were asked to hug each other very tightly. They spoke of how our life together would bring many new things and take us down all kinds of different paths. Just as the weather had showed us that day, there might be sunny days and cloudy days and without a doubt there would also be stormy days, because that is life. But we were asked on those stormy days to remember back to how we feel exactly at this moment and to remember to turn towards each other and come together more closely during those turbulent times rather than to turn away from one another. It is possible that many other beautiful things were said, but that is what I remember in my heart. I put it there very carefully, the words and the feeling of the moment, so hopefully I can bring it out, should life ask that of me in the future.And then we were surrounded by sheer beauty - lots of color but mostly genuinely smiling faces of the people we love most in the world.... :)
Beautiful.....
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
The fertility ritual
As I think I mentioned earlier, the ancient Latvian weddings were designed with a bit more emphasis for the bride, because she was experiencing the biggest life changes (leaving her family and home to live with her husband's). Of course a big imminent change is becoming a mother. This was the fertility ritual for me. Both mothers helped to seat me and then helped to cover me with this white cloth.
As I sat underneath the cloth, it was just a time for me to listen and reflect. The guests all got to say their wishes for me and for us in our future together. It was a pretty amazing experience. Then everyone threw grains. The grains which landed on the cloth were the wishes which will come true immediately. The grains which fell on the ground will take a bit longer to be fulfilled. Here we are collecting the grains/our wishes which will come true in the near future.
Maybe a wedding we will attend in the future? The two little A's sharing their grains with each other..... :)
As I sat underneath the cloth, it was just a time for me to listen and reflect. The guests all got to say their wishes for me and for us in our future together. It was a pretty amazing experience. Then everyone threw grains. The grains which landed on the cloth were the wishes which will come true immediately. The grains which fell on the ground will take a bit longer to be fulfilled. Here we are collecting the grains/our wishes which will come true in the near future.
Maybe a wedding we will attend in the future? The two little A's sharing their grains with each other..... :)
Monday, July 28, 2008
Parting with the flower wreath...
At this point, it was time for me to say goodbye to my flower wreath, which is only worn by unmarried women, as I was now a wife! My sister took me for a few laps around the fire as the guests sang and got to admire me in the flower wreath one last time...Then KB got to do the honors with removing the flower wreath.
We threaded the wreath onto a traditional belt and swung it around, letting it "dance" one more time.
Then I got to present the flower wreath to an unmarried woman, who I would like to have the same luck in finding a good husband as I did. I gave the honors to IG, who was at the time still bravely waiting for her future fiance to buy his plane ticket to move here from Canada - now she is officially counting the days until he arrives in September! I say, we should attribute some of that to the magic of the wreath.... :)
Beautiful....and happy! :)
Also, today is our one month wedding anniversary! (We are not planning on celebrating each and every month, but we thought it would be fun to celebrate the first month, so we're planning a special dinner out tonight.) One of our friends told us that Latvia's ex-president, the very wonderful Vaira Vike-Freiberga, said in an interview that every year she and her husband "reevaluate" their relationship on their anniversary and they decide whether they would like to continue for another year. :) (Kind of a nice way not to take things for granted....) We checked in with each other and said "yes!" to another month today! :)
We threaded the wreath onto a traditional belt and swung it around, letting it "dance" one more time.
Then I got to present the flower wreath to an unmarried woman, who I would like to have the same luck in finding a good husband as I did. I gave the honors to IG, who was at the time still bravely waiting for her future fiance to buy his plane ticket to move here from Canada - now she is officially counting the days until he arrives in September! I say, we should attribute some of that to the magic of the wreath.... :)
Beautiful....and happy! :)
Also, today is our one month wedding anniversary! (We are not planning on celebrating each and every month, but we thought it would be fun to celebrate the first month, so we're planning a special dinner out tonight.) One of our friends told us that Latvia's ex-president, the very wonderful Vaira Vike-Freiberga, said in an interview that every year she and her husband "reevaluate" their relationship on their anniversary and they decide whether they would like to continue for another year. :) (Kind of a nice way not to take things for granted....) We checked in with each other and said "yes!" to another month today! :)
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Uniting two families
Now it was time to symbolically unite the two families. This was done with the help of both sets of parents. KB's parents held one Latvian belt on either side and my parents held another, and together it formed a cross, showing the point where the two families meet and now continue together in life.The cross was then placed on the ground.
Now it was time for KB to do a "freestyle dance" on the cross - again to gather strength. The only requirement was the his dance steps must include each of the four quadrants, which I believe represented the four directions on the earth. Here he is receiving his instructions - the beat would begin slowly and then pick up speed.
Here is KB in action - doing some kind of crazy hiphop moves! We found out after he did the dance that the musicians were following his beat, and the way that he chose to dance represented something about how our life together would be. Their assessment was that "dzive bus veikla" - our life will be quick-paced!
Then our vedejtevs had to repeat. (His dance steps were quite orderly and organized.)
Finally, KB needed to choose a man who he would like to see get married next, to come and do the dance and gather strength. He chose JS (who is getting married next summer!) and also our vedejparis' youngest son joined him. :)
Now it was time for KB to do a "freestyle dance" on the cross - again to gather strength. The only requirement was the his dance steps must include each of the four quadrants, which I believe represented the four directions on the earth. Here he is receiving his instructions - the beat would begin slowly and then pick up speed.
Here is KB in action - doing some kind of crazy hiphop moves! We found out after he did the dance that the musicians were following his beat, and the way that he chose to dance represented something about how our life together would be. Their assessment was that "dzive bus veikla" - our life will be quick-paced!
Then our vedejtevs had to repeat. (His dance steps were quite orderly and organized.)
Finally, KB needed to choose a man who he would like to see get married next, to come and do the dance and gather strength. He chose JS (who is getting married next summer!) and also our vedejparis' youngest son joined him. :)
Friday, July 25, 2008
And there it is....
This post will stray a bit from my typical posts, and it's definitely a weird break in the middle of my retelling the wedding story, but it's what's big inside me at the moment. As I'm a teacher on summer break with a bit of extra time on her hands, I have more time and energy to publish that which I am feeling. Call it the cycles of the moon (I swear they are getting to me more and more in my ripe age of 29), call it the wind-down and debriefing of emotions post-wedding, but this summer I've got a lot of extra, extra large feelings going on, too big for my physical body sometimes. So I purge....
We can call this a tribute to KB.
At first glance, I know we turn some heads and make others wonder what it is that really brought and keeps us together. At second glance, I sometimes wonder that myself. I say that with all the love in my heart. The teacher and the musician, not such a likely combo. I receive the not so infrequent phone call starting with "Pele, don't be angry, but....." followed by something like "I bought another drum for my kit and still need 50 Ls to pay for it" or I get awakened by musicians still rocking out in our upstairs bedroom at 3am on a school night or it's just plain summer concert tour mode and then there's no reasoning....and so on.
But I can say all of that with a smile in my heart and on my face, because here's why. When I was going through my divorce three years ago, I dealt with stuff in a lot of ways, but one thing I did was to make an angry CD for myself to listen to when I needed to get that stuff out and a happy CD to bring myself back up again. The transition song in the middle, was what I called my hope song. It was all that I was looking for in a life partner and I listened to it with a slim possibility that just maybe, I might still be able to find that for myself someday. In the end, it happened a bunch faster than I thought, not necessarily in the form that I had expected (again, all the love in my heart.... :), but the bottom line was, that every line in this hope song was answered in one person.
We made a deal with each other, early on, that it's not fair to cage up a butterfly or put a tear in its wings by trying to hold it down. We are two pretty different people, and though we may not always understand each other, we understand that we each have our own needs and do our best to respect that about each other. And bottom line is, we love each other for that. So there it is.....
I don't know about the legality of copyright stuff on blogs, but I fully attribute the next lines of the text to Alanis Morissette. The song called "Everything", my hope song....
I can be a nightmare of the grandest kind
I can withhold like it's going out of style
I can be the moodiest baby
And you've never met anyone as negative as I am sometimes
I am the wisest woman you've ever met
I am the kindest soul with whom you've connected
I have the bravest heart that you've ever seen
And you've never met anyone as positive as I am sometimes
You see everything
You see every part
You see all my light
And you love my dark
You dig everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which you can't relate
And you're still here....
I blame everyone else not my own partaking
My passive aggressiveness can be devastating
I'm terrified and mistrusting
And you've never met anyone as close to down as I am sometimes
What I resist, persists and speaks louder than I know
What I resist, you love, no matter how low or high I go
I'm the funniest woman that you've ever known
I'm the dullest woman that you've ever known
I'm the most gorgeous woman that you've ever known
And you've never met anyone as everything as I am sometimes
You see everything
You see every part
You see all my light
And you love my dark
You dig everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which I can't relate
And you're still here...
We can call this a tribute to KB.
At first glance, I know we turn some heads and make others wonder what it is that really brought and keeps us together. At second glance, I sometimes wonder that myself. I say that with all the love in my heart. The teacher and the musician, not such a likely combo. I receive the not so infrequent phone call starting with "Pele, don't be angry, but....." followed by something like "I bought another drum for my kit and still need 50 Ls to pay for it" or I get awakened by musicians still rocking out in our upstairs bedroom at 3am on a school night or it's just plain summer concert tour mode and then there's no reasoning....and so on.
But I can say all of that with a smile in my heart and on my face, because here's why. When I was going through my divorce three years ago, I dealt with stuff in a lot of ways, but one thing I did was to make an angry CD for myself to listen to when I needed to get that stuff out and a happy CD to bring myself back up again. The transition song in the middle, was what I called my hope song. It was all that I was looking for in a life partner and I listened to it with a slim possibility that just maybe, I might still be able to find that for myself someday. In the end, it happened a bunch faster than I thought, not necessarily in the form that I had expected (again, all the love in my heart.... :), but the bottom line was, that every line in this hope song was answered in one person.
We made a deal with each other, early on, that it's not fair to cage up a butterfly or put a tear in its wings by trying to hold it down. We are two pretty different people, and though we may not always understand each other, we understand that we each have our own needs and do our best to respect that about each other. And bottom line is, we love each other for that. So there it is.....
I don't know about the legality of copyright stuff on blogs, but I fully attribute the next lines of the text to Alanis Morissette. The song called "Everything", my hope song....
I can be a nightmare of the grandest kind
I can withhold like it's going out of style
I can be the moodiest baby
And you've never met anyone as negative as I am sometimes
I am the wisest woman you've ever met
I am the kindest soul with whom you've connected
I have the bravest heart that you've ever seen
And you've never met anyone as positive as I am sometimes
You see everything
You see every part
You see all my light
And you love my dark
You dig everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which you can't relate
And you're still here....
I blame everyone else not my own partaking
My passive aggressiveness can be devastating
I'm terrified and mistrusting
And you've never met anyone as close to down as I am sometimes
What I resist, persists and speaks louder than I know
What I resist, you love, no matter how low or high I go
I'm the funniest woman that you've ever known
I'm the dullest woman that you've ever known
I'm the most gorgeous woman that you've ever known
And you've never met anyone as everything as I am sometimes
You see everything
You see every part
You see all my light
And you love my dark
You dig everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which I can't relate
And you're still here...
"The equalizing"
After exchanging rings and vows, we did the "lidzinasana" or "equalizing". This was an important part of the ancient Latvian wedding tradition. The feeling that I get and have always gotten is that historically Latvians, while recognizing that there are differences in men's and women's roles in the family, it was not considered that women should be submissive to their husbands, thus the "equalizing".
For lidzinasana, we needed to find a large rock. (See back to my previous post about rock duty - this was a fun job for me!) We found a rock which we thought would do, but the folklorists, when they came to scope out the scene a few days before the wedding, immediately found another and ideal rock. You can't see from the picture, but it is diamond shaped from above, white, gray and pink with sparkles. Just in the the middle on the top of the rock, is the rock's "heart", a perfectly pink indentation, and a bit to the side, there is the "soul", a perfectly white indentation. Since we had to relocate the rock, KB had to dig it into the ground a bit - the rock needs to be solid and sturdy, as it is the foundation for our future together. So we each put our right foot on the rock and joined hands.Then our vedeju paris also put their right feet on the rock and covered our hands with their hands, from the top and the bottom, as they are our guides into married life and are also responsible for helping to protect our marriage. And we breathed together, inhaling from the earth, and asked for strength and blessing.
And there is the godson, helping with the drums (a musician's son - how can you deny him?)! I absolutely loved this about the ceremony, that really everyone, everyone participated as they saw fit, and that the folklorists allowed and welcomed this. It was very "real", not a show to be put on, but it is all about a series of rituals, designed to teach the young couple lessons about what is important and necessary in marriage, gathering strength from the earth and from the community as well.
For lidzinasana, we needed to find a large rock. (See back to my previous post about rock duty - this was a fun job for me!) We found a rock which we thought would do, but the folklorists, when they came to scope out the scene a few days before the wedding, immediately found another and ideal rock. You can't see from the picture, but it is diamond shaped from above, white, gray and pink with sparkles. Just in the the middle on the top of the rock, is the rock's "heart", a perfectly pink indentation, and a bit to the side, there is the "soul", a perfectly white indentation. Since we had to relocate the rock, KB had to dig it into the ground a bit - the rock needs to be solid and sturdy, as it is the foundation for our future together. So we each put our right foot on the rock and joined hands.Then our vedeju paris also put their right feet on the rock and covered our hands with their hands, from the top and the bottom, as they are our guides into married life and are also responsible for helping to protect our marriage. And we breathed together, inhaling from the earth, and asked for strength and blessing.
And there is the godson, helping with the drums (a musician's son - how can you deny him?)! I absolutely loved this about the ceremony, that really everyone, everyone participated as they saw fit, and that the folklorists allowed and welcomed this. It was very "real", not a show to be put on, but it is all about a series of rituals, designed to teach the young couple lessons about what is important and necessary in marriage, gathering strength from the earth and from the community as well.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Rings and vows
After the fire had burned down a bit, it was time to bless the rings. These are our rings, being blessed over the fire.Exchanging of rings (the second time - now they are legal AND blessed).
Then we stood back to back - first as all the guests together chanted a blessing for us and then as the folklorists blessed each of us individually. They were burning a small torch of all kinds of dried grasses tied together (kind of like incense) and in front of each of us they "drew" Latvian symbols in the air while saying their own blessings/wishes for us.
Here we are exchanging our vows. I can only remember a bit of what we promised each other (can't wait for the video so I can hear it again), but I just remember thinking how beautiful it was what we were saying, and how right that this was exactly what a husband and wife should be promising one another. You will notice that our hands are tied together - that is with an ethnic belt which my grandmother designed and made for my folk costume. (Ever heard of "tying the knot"? We did this LITERALLY!) So the final vows, I do remember, were that love unites us and love also frees us, and then the belt came off, and they reminded us that while our souls are now bound together we are not physically bound together, reminding us each to keep our own, and that our souls being bound together is much stronger and more lasting than any physical bonds.
Hands down, this is one of my top two favorite photos of the day.
A kiss to seal the deal. :)
This picture may be a bit out of order - I think it is just after she removed the belt and saying how love unites us and love frees us!
And here we are, taking a stroll around as the newlyweds, KB "showing off" his new wife. :) He has this goofy "saimnieks" (farmer) face - including a smile and a nod - that he was making the whole time in the video (he noticed this himself) and we had a big laugh about it... :)
Then we stood back to back - first as all the guests together chanted a blessing for us and then as the folklorists blessed each of us individually. They were burning a small torch of all kinds of dried grasses tied together (kind of like incense) and in front of each of us they "drew" Latvian symbols in the air while saying their own blessings/wishes for us.
Here we are exchanging our vows. I can only remember a bit of what we promised each other (can't wait for the video so I can hear it again), but I just remember thinking how beautiful it was what we were saying, and how right that this was exactly what a husband and wife should be promising one another. You will notice that our hands are tied together - that is with an ethnic belt which my grandmother designed and made for my folk costume. (Ever heard of "tying the knot"? We did this LITERALLY!) So the final vows, I do remember, were that love unites us and love also frees us, and then the belt came off, and they reminded us that while our souls are now bound together we are not physically bound together, reminding us each to keep our own, and that our souls being bound together is much stronger and more lasting than any physical bonds.
Hands down, this is one of my top two favorite photos of the day.
A kiss to seal the deal. :)
This picture may be a bit out of order - I think it is just after she removed the belt and saying how love unites us and love frees us!
And here we are, taking a stroll around as the newlyweds, KB "showing off" his new wife. :) He has this goofy "saimnieks" (farmer) face - including a smile and a nod - that he was making the whole time in the video (he noticed this himself) and we had a big laugh about it... :)
Monday, July 21, 2008
Gathering strength
After we had built the fire, we sang some verses to get the fire going. I'm not sure of the meaning behind all the verses, but at least one verse was thrown in and they whispered to me that this was a verse to ward off accidents with fire in the new home we are planning to build right there. I know that we were also singing something to the effect that there always would be a fire burning between me and KB in our relationship. There were several of these moments during the ceremony when little things were whispered just to me and KB by the folklorists, making it extra special, and we knew that what they were doing was just for us. It may have left some of the guests a bit confused, but for us it was kind of nice...
With our expert fire-building skills and awesome singing, we had built it a bit too big to start with the exchange of the rings, so while we waited for the fire to burn down a bit, KB gathered strength from the men at the ceremony and I gathered strength from the women. The men went first, and did the "dance of the bear" around the fire. Then they passed the energy around the cirlce, starting and ending with KB, by clapping hands with the next person, saying "HO HO!" The first time around, it was a bit weak, but as it went on, we could literally see the men gathering their energy. I would say from the outside it looked a lot like a sports team gearing themselves up for the event, getting more and more into it. KB said it was pretty powerful the second time around and he really felt it. It went faster and louder, and to me sounded like a heartbeat travelling around the cirlce.
The women were next, and women gather their strength from being able to sit together with a girlfriend or other females, and talk and share. So we went around the cirlce singing, all holding hands, every so often breaking down into circles of two or three, continuing the singing. In the end, I was "returned" to KB, and, strength now gathered, we were ready to go on.
With our expert fire-building skills and awesome singing, we had built it a bit too big to start with the exchange of the rings, so while we waited for the fire to burn down a bit, KB gathered strength from the men at the ceremony and I gathered strength from the women. The men went first, and did the "dance of the bear" around the fire. Then they passed the energy around the cirlce, starting and ending with KB, by clapping hands with the next person, saying "HO HO!" The first time around, it was a bit weak, but as it went on, we could literally see the men gathering their energy. I would say from the outside it looked a lot like a sports team gearing themselves up for the event, getting more and more into it. KB said it was pretty powerful the second time around and he really felt it. It went faster and louder, and to me sounded like a heartbeat travelling around the cirlce.
The women were next, and women gather their strength from being able to sit together with a girlfriend or other females, and talk and share. So we went around the cirlce singing, all holding hands, every so often breaking down into circles of two or three, continuing the singing. In the end, I was "returned" to KB, and, strength now gathered, we were ready to go on.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Lighting the fire
We still have not collected wedding photos from all of our guests, so I know there is a better picture of this moment out there....however, for now this one will have to do. Our next task was to try to do the impossible - we had to hold water in our hands. This task is about as easy as holding love in your hands. However, when we worked together (one pair of hands on top of the other) it was a bit easier... Then we got to clean out what was behind us in our past by throwing water behind us (got those people nice and wet!), clear our future by throwing water in front of us, and enjoy the moment we are in (one more time - tris lietas labas lietas - good things come in threes!) by throwing water straight up! :)
The area for the fire was decorated with fern leaves, and together we built and lit the fire for the ceremony...
KB's godson really wanted to help build the fire... We let him do as much as he could, but then he just had to stand back with dad...
The area for the fire was decorated with fern leaves, and together we built and lit the fire for the ceremony...
KB's godson really wanted to help build the fire... We let him do as much as he could, but then he just had to stand back with dad...
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Beginning the ceremony
The photos above show the people who helped to make the ceremony happen. The musicians as well as the folklorists, who are husband and wife. They truly made it a beautiful day for us.
Everything began as the guests came close together in a circle around the place where the fire would be built. We passed a ball of yarn around the circle, creating a circle to unite us. Then a "laimes akmens" was strung onto the yarn, this is a rock which is found in nature with a perfect hole in it. As the rock was passed around the circle, each guest introduced him/herself and how they knew us. Now that we all knew each other, we could begin!
The first order of business was making a wreath of flowers for me. This was the last time that I would get to wear a flower wreath, as they are only for unmarried women; married women covered their heads. However, before the flower wreath could be finished, KB and I each had to take a close look at all of the flowers that had been woven into the wreath, and smell them as well. Then we each had to choose the one that was our favorite. Here we are looking, smelling, choosing... :)
For those of you who don't know, I actually suffer from some pretty serious allergies this time of year from some sort of flower pollens. The allergies show up in my eyes, which become crazy red, really puffy and ridiculously itchy. Usually it actually hits me at the end of the summer (making me a fun sight as the "new teacher" on the first days of school!) but this year they were bugging me early. I had gone to the pharmacy to pick up some allergy medicine to start taking about a week before the wedding. They of course didn't have my usual medicine at the time, so I took a replacement. Anyway, during this part of the ceremony, I was really getting nervous about whether the new medicine would do it's job.
After we had chosen our favorite flowers and picked one out of the wreath, we were instructed to gently rub it over each other's faces. This was a way to mark each other with our favorite scent so that we would always know when the other was coming and we could even find each other in the dark. I had chosen a jasmine flower. I was so lucky that KB had chosen a fern leaf, as I was pretty sure that was not what I am allergic to! (That also got a pretty good laugh from the crowd, as "flowering ferns" are what young couples go off into the woods to look for on the night of the summer solstice - as we all know ferns do not flower, it's just a good excuse to go off into the woods....) :) In the end, all was well, and the new allergy medicine worked beautifully. My flower wreath was finished off by my vedeju mate, and we were ready to begin!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Arriving at Jaunvitagas
After we made it legal, everyone headed to Jaunvitagas. All day long it threatened to rain, but the storms totally held off to one side of the sky. In many ways, this was actually the ideal weather for us. If the sun had been out, it's quite possible we would have all melted in the field. Of course many people had commentary throughout the day about the weather. KB said it reminded him that there is nothing in life that should be taken for granted - mother nature granted us the weather that we needed, but only just so. We often get the feeling that our grandparents who are not with us anymore are watching over us, especially when we are at Jaunvitagas. I get the feeling that on that day they were there and literally holding back the storms so that we could have a beautiful day (because the storms were really circling all around us). The folklorists who led the wedding ceremony and blessing at Jaunvitagas reminded us that in Latvian mythology Thunder of course reminds us of the strength of God, so his presence was there as well. In any case, it all worked out for a beautiful day. While this photo doesn't capture the most threatening clouds, it is a great shot looking out from where our ceremony was held.Upon arriving at Jaunvitagas, everyone lent a helping hand in final decorations, setting out some snacks and preparing the champagne toasts. That was just what we had envisioned for the feel of the day, nothing too formal, but everyone participating, helping out and enjoying their time together. Then we gathered for toasts. Again, whichever guests wanted to congratulate us at this time could, so most people presented their gifts, gave us words of wisdom or recited short poems or quotes at this time.
MP and JS gave us words of wisdom to wear. This is a reminder to us, if we ever feel like we are going to bed angry, we should put these on. We actually have been wearing them around the house quite a bit in the past two weeks (not because we are angry, just because we want to)! :)
Then we did the "formal family shots" before the next part of the day began. Us with the parents. Us with the family, including Krix and AA. Us with our vedeju paris. I'm still looking for a copy of the whole group shot that I like - since we got seated in the front, my face looks like a squished up potato in the pictures I've seen so far....
MP and JS gave us words of wisdom to wear. This is a reminder to us, if we ever feel like we are going to bed angry, we should put these on. We actually have been wearing them around the house quite a bit in the past two weeks (not because we are angry, just because we want to)! :)
Then we did the "formal family shots" before the next part of the day began. Us with the parents. Us with the family, including Krix and AA. Us with our vedeju paris. I'm still looking for a copy of the whole group shot that I like - since we got seated in the front, my face looks like a squished up potato in the pictures I've seen so far....
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Making it legal
The wedding started at noon, first with the official part at the "city hall." The ladies who work there were extremely cute in decorating the place with fresh jasmine flowers and leaves. Mostly the ceremony was the ladies reciting lots of poetry about love and their keyboardist playing schmoozy songs and singing about love. For me, a bit much. The moms were crying so it must've been good. :) We got to officially thank our parents with flowers as part of the ceremony, which was nice. The ceremony was also quite official with several signatures (both old and new names) in several places and an official reading of each line of our marriage license. (Point of interest - Latvian women have a different ending on their name than men, so while Karlis is Briedis, I am officially Briede. I have yet to see what the US embassy says about this, when I go in to apply for a new passport. I'm sure this could be a whole new bundle of fun with red tape.)
Our witnesses for the marriage were also our vedeju paris - a couple which we chose as "role models" in marriage because we value their relationship and family life - RF and VF from Sweden (also sometimes our Ben and Jerry's suppliers!) who just celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary. :)
A favorite moment was at the end of the ceremony, when all the guests could come up and congratulate us personally. When KB's godson (nearly two years old) came up he looked at us and just said "ALUS!" (beer). We're pretty sure he didn't know what he was saying, but priceless, anyway.... :)
Our witnesses for the marriage were also our vedeju paris - a couple which we chose as "role models" in marriage because we value their relationship and family life - RF and VF from Sweden (also sometimes our Ben and Jerry's suppliers!) who just celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary. :)
A favorite moment was at the end of the ceremony, when all the guests could come up and congratulate us personally. When KB's godson (nearly two years old) came up he looked at us and just said "ALUS!" (beer). We're pretty sure he didn't know what he was saying, but priceless, anyway.... :)
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