We drove up to Massachusetts on Sunday night with two dogs. (We had ours, plus the father of ours, who belongs to the friends who had volunteered to do a video of the wedding but who were coming by plane and thus couldn't bring their own dog.)
On Monday, we went bright and early to the courthouse to request a waiver of the usual three-day waiting period for marriage licenses. The person who checked us in at the court asked to see our ID. Seeing we were from Maryland, she asked, "Do you have family in Massachusetts?" We explained that we did not, but that we were getting married in Massachusetts because we still could not get married in Maryland. She responded, "Oh, yes, that's right." Apparently, it took her a moment to remember that we couldn't just get married in every other state the way we could in Massachusetts.
We got the waiver, then went over and got the marriage license. After picking up a friend at the Boston airport, we arrived at the place we were staying with just enough time to get a bite to eat and a manicure before the rabbi came over to discuss wedding details.
At the wedding, one thing after another went wrong--and we completely failed to care. The hair and make-up person got stuck in traffic and arrived about a half hour late, which meant the wedding ended up being a half hour late, too. We forgot to bring the pictures of how we wanted our hair done to show her. We had planned to have our veils over our faces during the processional, but forgot. We had gotten a bunch of digital voice recorders to pick up the sound, but they never got turned on. The rabbi mixed up the two rings, so NotFroofy ended up putting the wrong ring on my finger, and I had to switch them before putting the ring on her finger. The pen for the ketubah disappeared, and we had to ask if one of our guests had an acid-free pen. Neither of us could fit our Hebrew signature into the space provided, so we ended up with both signatures broken up over more than one line. NotFroofy's veil got knocked off, twice. When we went to break the glass at the end, it wouldn't break--NotFroofy and I were doing everything up to and including standing on it for several minutes before NotFroofy finally managed to break it. My sister and my son got into a whipped cream fight at the luncheon following the ceremony. (No, neither of them had been drinking!) The Legal Sea Foods accidentally served a much more expensive champagne than we had agreed to. And two champagne glasses got broken.
But it was still perfect. Everyone around us was wildly enthusiastic. Staff members of the synagogue asked permission to attend our ceremony, as they were so excited about it. Because the ceremony was late, we needed the photographer for more time than he had originally agreed to, but he just said he was going to stay as long as necessary to get the pictures. When we stopped to ask directions to the Legal Sea Foods where our luncheon was being held, the two elderly women we asked congratulated us on our wedding. Staff members at the Legal Sea Foods came in to admire our gowns and NotFroofy's bridal boots. Even the whipped cream fight produced nothing but amusement and offers of towels for clean-up from the Legal Sea Foods staff.
Our reception was also amazing. The club looked absolutely nothing like it usually does, once we had the paper lanterns strung, the ivory tablecloths and matching chair covers, the gold sashes on the chairs matching the gold of the floating candle centerpieces, etc. The food was delicious. The wedding cake (made by NotFroofy) was the best wedding cake I have ever tasted--it was made the day before and the morning of the reception, not allowed several days to go stale. The club owner asked the musician for her business card, because he was so impressed with her that he wanted to hire her for another gig. People were dancing all night. The DIY "photobooth" was extremely popular, producing numerous hilarious images of our friends.After nearly nine years together, we are both deliriously happy to be married.