YAYYYY!!!! It's OVER!!! WOO HOOO!!!

Well, here ya go folks...the first official photo of our wedding!

That's Pete on the left, our Reverend "Uncle" Ed in the center, and ME, on the left. It was a GORGEOUS sunny and hot day so everybody LOVED the swimming pool right behind us. All in all, we had a beautiful time, lots of compliments, and plenty of food, dancing, drinks, and fun.

Here is another photo, where you can see more of the pool behind us, and with Pete's "Best Buddy" Lisa on the left, and with my Matron of Honor, Laurie, on the right...she's a bit cut off.

Please do NOT notice that the flower on the top left of my arch way fell off....grrrrrr...hot glue does NOT stay put in hot melty weather, but I didn't realize that beforehand!! (DUH)!

Pete is reading his vows to me...here is what he was saying....

"Rebecca, thank you for helping me want to be a better me.

I promise that I will always love you.

I promise that I will always be here for you.

I promise that I will take care & protect you with my very life.

I promise that each night I will hold you, kiss you, and tell you I love you.

I want to wake each morning and see you lying next to me.

And I promise that I will brush my teeth before I kiss you.

I know we will argue but I promise I never want to fight.

Fighting implies a winner & a loser.

But the only way to truly win is to work together,

sooth each other's hurts, and move forward together on our paths.

I promise to strive for this and you may slap me upside the head when I do not.

Rebecca, you are more precious to me that mere words can explain.

I am both honored and bewildered at the trust you show in me.

Thank you for helping me to be a better me.

And I promise to love you with my heart, my soul, my life & my being."

Here is a better shot with Laurie in it....and me, reading my vows to Pete....

I spent most of my days

before you entered my life

Living with emptiness, hardship,

loneliness & strife.

Alone in the world,

I had no way of knowing

The potential seeds of love

that you had begun sowing.

Now I’ll cherish your love

and commitment every day

Our future is so bright,

I’m glad we're on our way!

I love you so much more

than I ever knew I could,

Your heart and soul, to me,

are always so very good!

You're my best friend,

my world, my everything,

So I will happily marry you

and wear your wedding ring!

I promise you my heart,

my love, and my soul,

To be the best wife for you

is my ultimate goal

Today and every day,

I will pray to the Lord above,

That He'll bless us both with happiness,

and keep us forever in love.

So there ya go folks, a few photos to enjoy while we're off to San Francisco for two weeks! I can't tell you just how totally exhausted we both are. But, despite some minor glitches, a few awful vendor issues, and basically doing everything ourselves until we nearly collapsed, the whole day was a good one, we are happy, and everyone had an awesome time!!

In fact, before the wedding ended, Pete's theater director Rob, the DJ, and several other guests gave us compliments about the location, the decorations I made, and even told us that they would hire me to work on the theater sets if I wanted to--and the DJ will recommend me to other people who are planning weddings and need a coordinator/decorator person to help them! Pretty cool.

Well, that's all for now. We're flying outta here to San Francisco tomorrow morning. We'll be back August 1. I make no promises to write on here while we're gone, but I will promise to try.

Love, Becky