Weddings and Baptisms and Babies, Oh My

This weekend was a big one with my new in laws. It was a weekend of celebrating the birth of a new nephew, three nephews baptisms, a few family birthdays, and our wedding. We all met up in Virginia ...coming from New York, Connecticut, and California.

We were celebrating the wedding in with the mix because it was the first time that most of the family had seen us since we got hitched in Jamaica.

It was after dinner, when we arrived back at home that something very strange happened. Marco and I were vote summoned to the upstairs of the house and asked to go into separate rooms. In my room was his mom. She came over to me and began to speak...all choked up. I don't remember her exact words, but it went something like this:
"Rebecca, today is a very special day in our family. We have a very special family tradition that has been passed down for hundreds of years. Your new sister in laws have done this before you when they were married. "

At this point, I'm thinking, wow, this must be some special event. Pretty interested in what it is. Then she starts to pull out all these strange things : a rainbow afro wig. A plastic tiara. A hot pink feather boa. A satin cloth to be worn like a toga. A really small pink frilly skirt to be worn as a garter. Plastic Mardi Gras beads. At this point I'm trying to decide if I should laugh - she seemed so serious and emotional. I didn't want to offend her if this truly was a special family tradition. She instructed me to wear all the items and left the room while Marco's sister guarded the bedroom door from the outside.

A few minutes passed and then his sister opened the door and told me to walk down the stairs to the kitchen. The stairs went down into an almost dead end with the living room a turn to the left and the den/kitchen to the right. I had no idea what would be around the corner. As I was walking down the stairs I heard the wedding march coming from all of them. "dum dum dum dum. Dum dum da dum" ....I turn the corner and find 15 people (his family) all dressed up in different costumes - bonnets, masks, mad hatter hats. I scanned the room and it took me a minute to realize which one was my handsome husband. Green wig. Suspenders. Horribly nerdy glasses.



We then had his sister, who is a chaplain and also wearing a dragon head costume, perform a wedding ceremony right there in the living room with the family. Afterwards there was cake.

It was such a fun evening and something that we will always remember forever. It was then that we decided that we really like the ceremony thing. We got to thinking that since no one saw us get married, we would offer up ceremonies to any of our friends and family that want to see us get married - and also see how many times in the coming year we can have a ceremony. So, anyone who wants their own personal small version of the ceremony, just let us know! There are a few stipulations:

1. It can't really cost any money (well, we could probably do cake!)
2. We really enjoyed the theme ceremony, so its preferable. My one idea that I really want to happen is a handle bar mustache ceremony - where everyone has handle bar mustaches.
3. We reserve the right to make new rules (ha).