I didn't want to post this at first but I couldn't keep it to myself any longer---- I'Z MARRIED NOW!!!
So, we're still having our large ceremony in June (i refuse to call it a vow renewal lol) but we tied the knot yesterday and I'm still in a "Are we really married?" Kind of mood.
Everything happened so fast that I guess you can say we eloped. We got a hotel room sunday and by about 3-4am sunday morning I was sitting on the counter in the bathroom while he splashed around in the tub (no grown man who is 6'2" should take a bath in a tub that small), I just blurted out "Let's get married today! You said if we got married early it should be in January to start off the year since 2010 was so bad and well...it's January" He looks at me and says, "Ok", like it's nothing. So I asked him about 15-20 times if he was really serious and he's looking at me like I'm crazy. "Yea, why not?"
We left from the hotel at 10am, headed out to get the paperwork for him so we could get our marriage license. While he waited at the DMV to get his ID (he lost his a while ago smh) I called the officiate I had found online. He had a small chapel in his house and he does elopements. Set up the ceremony for 7pm. Well...you know how when you plan something and EVERYTHING goes wrong? Well, everything that could go wrong did.
The DMV couldn't get his ID because a new rule went in to effect that you need your Birth Certificate to get it renewed. Can't get the birth certificate because they need an ID or two forms of identification, but I literally only had enough money for the license, ceremony, idea and Birth Cerftificate with the rest going for gas (as you can see I hadn't planned on getting married Monday lol). So, it's 3, everything starts closing around 4:30 and we knew we couldn't get married because their just wasn't enough time. I don't say anything because at this point I'm pissed. My FI turns to me and says, "I'm really upset right now. i was really looking forward to getting married today." I look at him and he's laughing, "I know, that's crazy right? Me looking forward to getting married"
So as we're driving, heading to his grandmother's, an idea hit me. "Let's still get married." He's perplexed, "But I thought we needed the license to get married?" "For the state to recognize the marriage, yes, but we can still get married. I'll call the guy and on Friday we can take the actual license and have him fill it out..." In the meantime I met his grandmother and she was a riot, I love that woman. He told her that we were getting married yesterday but that we were still having our large ceremony in June. From there we headed to the store so I could get a shirt. Well, my FI goes to a different store and as I'm waiting for him he comes out with his bag and is like, "They have a beautiful ring in there but I didn't know your size, do you want to come see it?" He is so excited about this because we weren't having a ring ceremony but he wanted to get me a ring.
We ended up having to push the time of the ceremony back to 7:30 because I had to pick up my older sister (MOH) and my mother....Liberians can never be on time. We didn't get to his house until 7:45. The whole way there my FI and I held hands in the front seat as I drove. The ceremony was sweet and simple- ten minutes tops, and I loved our vows. He opened the vows with a few words, said a prayer and then got right into the meat and potatoes of it....and I laughed through nearly the first 5 mins until my FI started reciting his vows. IDK why I was laughing, and I had to bite my lip so that our officiate didn't hear me. He had us holding hands and looking at each other and I think the whole thing was so unreal to me that all I could do was laugh. So we said our vows and, when he pronounced us man and wife, my FI pulled me towards him. As we stood there he slipped the ring on my finger (although he dropped it first from being nervous).
My mother was in tears, hugged my NOW DH, and then hugged me. It was so small, so simple, so fast but I'm married, which is weird because I still feel like me. So many people said that if we got married early it would take away from our June ceremony and, from what I experienced last night, I don't think that's going to be true- AT ALL. I still feel like me, I'm just married. I didn't cry NOT ONCE, I guess because I didn't really think it was happening
. I'm happy though, that much is for certain. Friday we make it "official" and I'm cooking him a huge African dinner, and then we'll probably go out to celebrate.