Finally I got some shots from the actual ceremony. Here are a few:

That's Mom lowering the veil. Her dress is called han-bok.

(a bigger version for those of you who want to see my dress more closely :) )

Hero Material's BFF took the close-up picture of the back of my dress:

That's me and Hero Material during the actual ceremony. You can see the attendant in the background, who took care of my ridiculously long train.

That's me signing the certificate:

That's an example of fancy envelopes people use to put wedding money inside. You get cash (crisp new bills only!) instead of gifts in Japan.

• Finished Ashwyn. It needs to sit and percolate a little more before I look at it for rewrites.
• Started outlining My Big Novel Project #1 (MBNP1).
• Wrote an online florist to file a complaint over a gift I ordered for my parents. The flowers were unsatisfactory. The florist offered to resend and refund my money, in addition to giving me a $20 credit. We'll see how the replacement looks. (Thank God, they were sent to Mom, who isn't shy about complaining. I'm just glad they weren't sent to professional colleagues or something…)
• Went to a local glasses shop to get my lenses recut. (Must go pick those up on Saturday…)
• Started watching Rome Season 2.
• Uploaded more pictures to my wedding photo gallery.
• Got my hair cut — about 3.5 inches gone.
• Did a rehab session.
• Went to the gym.

It's only Thursday now, so I have one more day or two of writing time. Saturday and Sunday are going to be tough tough tough because I have to work all weekend, plus have dinner with Hero Material and some friends who couldn't make it to our wedding.

Someone told me it was silly to post wedding photos without the bride and groom in them. Unfortunately we haven't gotten any until now. It's a snap shot taken with a cell phone by one of our guests. You can see me feeding Hero Material some of our delish cake.

FYI — the dress in the picture is not the wedding dress I wore to the actual ceremony. I had to change because the wedding dress had a huge train, and there was no way I could do anything without two people hovering around me to take care of the danged thing. (It was heavy too.)

More stories to come…! (When I'm more lucid.)

ETA: Kumi Lipman from Cleo did my hair and makeup. I can't even begin to describe how much I adore her.

Hi everyone,

I'm now officially a Mrs! :) Hero Material and I got married on January 4th. It was supposed to rain, but the weather was perfect during the ceremony and reception.

I still can't believe that my brother and Hero Material's best friend felt sick before the wedding. They were going to take pictures! My brother was so sick, the hospital gave him an IV the day before the wedding. Thank God he recovered fast.

I'll post more stories and photos as soon as I get them from photographers (studio, bro & Hero Material's best friend), but here are a few:

The hotel lobby —

This is the Atrium where we got married. This photo was taken when it was still empty. The virgin road is made of ivory faux marble (superbly-polished…!).

This is my bouquet after the reception. It looked so fresh and dewy earlier in the day, and I wish I'd been able to take a picture of it then, but was too busy.

BTW — Hibiya Kaden created my bouquet and everything else I needed (flower-wise) for the wedding. I highly recommend their service if you ever need a florist in Japan. They worked within my budget, and though they never showed me the bouquet until the day of the wedding, it was just perfect. Their florist (who took my order and worked with my so-so Japanese) came to our reception to make sure that everything was fine and to congratulate us on our happy occasion.

Close-up:

More to come soon…! :) (I have Kyoto pictures to share as well.)

How was your new year celebration?

Well, I've been stressing about my wedding to be held in less than three months, and a friend of mine sent a lovely email full of encouragement, which ended with the following remark and picture:

Nothing will dare go wrong. Everyone knows what's going to happen if the bride isn't happy on her wedding day.

Recently, I've been slightly stressed about many things. Some of it was writing and some not. I basically let things get to me to the point that I wasn't quite as cool-headed as I would be normally. Things like planning for my wedding, a long trip to the States, etc. all just added up. I'm already going over what needs to be done for the ceremony and the banquet (and thinking about the budget too!) and what to do about our hamsters while we're gone, etc. Oh and let's not forget my wondering what directions I want to take with my WIPs, my family pressure (it's the wedding; my mom's already demanding to know when she can expect her first grandchild), several people insisting on XYZ for my wedding, etc.

Hero Material and May basically kept me sane during the insane time. Jill also helped me see that I'm not alone and that I just need to take a deep breath and communicate. My uber-agent of course was absolutely delightful (and helpful!), and I felt 100% better about everything after speaking with her.

So I want to thank you all for your support and kindness! :wub: