Wedding in New York

On November 15, as you all know, Marco asked me to marry him and I ecstatically said yes. Since that day, it seemed like every day we were talking about the wedding. Right from the beginning, both of us had declared that we didn't want the planning and execution to be a lot of work. We wanted to do something small and simple. After tossing around a few ideas and dates, we got to thinking about locations. I wanted to get married somewhere warm, on a beach, in flip flops. Marco agreed (what a good man). Jamaica was my choice. And after a lot of thought about the logistics, planning, and potential cost to guests we started to think more and more about having a ceremony with just the two of us. We also wanted to get married soon, excited to start our lives together. [No, not pregnant - got asked that about 100 times!] So, we spoke to our parents and got the green light to go it alone. And then we booked our trip to Jamaica - about a week before we planned on going.

We knew there were documentation requirements to get married in Jamaica, but didn't realize that we couldn't just bring the docs with us...they had to be sent to Jamaica two weeks in advance. We found this out a few days before we were scheduled to fly out. Hey, I never claimed to be a great planner!

So, we had to rush to get married legally first in NY.

Our Courthouse Wedding
First, we had to get a license. Here we are, in line at city hall for about 2hours. The couple in front of us apparently had just met. They were learning all kinds of things about each other in line. What kinds of tattoos she has, what kind of phone he has, what classes she is taking in school. It was all very surreal and interesting. We got our form and left..had to now wait 24 hours before we were allowed to marry.

On December 23, I left work at lunch to go get married. We met at the courthouse but were a little early, so we went to lunch. A pannini. The bride wore a black pant suit with brown winter boots. The groom wore a nice suit and tie. He looked nicer than I did.

We then went to get in line. We found out then that we needed a witness. Neither one of us planned for that - and the people at the courthouse didn't tell us when we got our license. So, we went on a telethon. Marco started calling his pals and I called mine. I had one friend that I knew I could count on. She's the friend who is always up to something and has the best stories. This was a job for Marsha.
True to form, Marsh grabbed a cab and rushed over to help. Voila, we had a witness. She was great ..even took photos for us during and after, much to the dismay of our matter of fact Judge. I honestly think the judge has married too many people in her life. I almost felt like she was reading us our rights or sentencing us rather than marrying us.
The ceremony was super fast .. It probably took about three minutes, and then it was done!
After the ceremony, we headed over to Wolfgang's to celebrate - not for a savory Wolfgang Puck steak, but instead for the best appetizer in the world. They have the most amazing "real" Canadian bacon strips. And a glass of wine. Strange, but oh so satisfying. Then we went home and jumped right in to married life: we did the laundry.

I know it sounds like a strange wedding day, but it was so very "Marbecca", in our own special way. And we loved it. r