Trystan's POV:
That bothersome incident over with, we finished up pix, then Thomas and I sequestered ourselves upstairs. Happily, a bottle of Asti Spumante was waiting for us, which Kelly kindly opened. She took some filled glasses down to the rest of the wedding party, who were in the lobby, showing people to their seats and handing out programs. Thomas and I just chilled for a while, chatting with whoever stopped by.

One thing I suddenly remembered at this time was that I had no "something borrowed or blue." In our haste to leave, both Thomas and I had forgotten the garter, which fulfilled both of those. Originally I was going to have the alt.gothic.fashion wedding garter, which has been passed around to four or five a.g.f brides so far. There would be no toss -- instead I would mail it along to the next soon-to-be-wed a.g.f.er. But I didn't realize until just a few days before the wedding that I hadn't received it in the mail yet.

Then Thomas had the idea that I wear the blue and white lace garter he had actually caught at a wedding about five years earlier. It would be borrowed, since it was his garter, and it was most definitely blue. Then we thought we should have a garter toss, but as a surprise and do it a bit differently. We planned to have the DJ ask all the single men and women come up to the dance floor for a special presentation. Then we'd explain that this garter obviously has some real luck in it, since it's been at two weddings already. Then we'd toss it out together.

But it wasn't meant to be. Luckily, Elisa suggested I borrow a hairpin from her, and she hid a small flat pin in the back of my curls. And I realized that my much-maligned contact lenses (with which I could clearly see faces but not read text too well; technically, I have 20/20 vision with them and admittedly they are an improvement over the previous two trial pairs), well the lenses actually have a faint blue tint to them so you can find them easily if you drop them. That, plus the antique hankie from Daednu (tucked in my wristband) and the whole new wedding outfit, meant I did indeed have "something borrowed, something blue, something old, and something new"!

Thomas' POV:
While waiting upstairs, we were somewhat anxious to know what was happening downstairs .... Occasionally we'd get a vague update from the attendants. Later I found out that three movements from two piano pieces I'd written never got played on CD. This, in retrospect, is disappointing -- not even so much because the audience didn't get to experience the pieces, but more because I'd worked so hard to produce them -- first, with scores, such that they could be presented for performance, then when that didn't end up working out, with sequence/MIDI prep work such that the CD recordings of the pieces would *sound like* a real performer playing them. Days and hours worth of work down the drain.

I still don't know officially why (and I believe that only Rich, our audio/video engineer for the day and long-time friend) has the answer. My theory is that, based on the priority of getting my Quartet for Strings piece recorded by the San Jose String Quartet (who didn't play it as well as it could have been played, somewhat to my disappointment as well), I think Rich was sound-checking them well past the scheduled time that the piano pieces were to begin being played on CD. Doh. I'm not even sure at this point whether or not the Quartet got recorded -- if so, it was the sacrifice to make in lieu of getting the piano pieces played. Alas, I think this to be the only major snafu in the wedding overall, and it wasn't a huge deal at that, moreover just something to note ...

Trystan's POV:
Right before James came up to get us for the processional, Thomas brought out a beautiful silver-topped ebony cane. He looked so good -- a devastatingly charming gothic Scottish lord, decked out in black velvet and gray tartan, with an elegant walking stick in hand. We walked downstairs together, and when the trumpet fanfare started, he walked down the aisle. After he reached the front, I walked down.

Thomas' POV:
Chris may or may not be able to back me up on this, and it's highly unimportant, but I recall getting the cane from Chris well after we'd made our way downstairs and were almost ready to enter the Capital Club. At all events, the exchange was impressive to even me, and I thoroughly enjoyed playing the part as I walked down the aisle ...

back to Part 1  ... ... on to Part 3