The Day I Married My Beautiful Wife

The night before our wedding we were so wired full of energy that we simply couldn't let ourselves rest. We went through the motions of getting ready to sleep and even lay down to give our physiological selves the illusion of rest, but by 4:00 in the morning we realized that sleep was not about to happen. We finally decided that since we were not sleeping we might as well play cards until the breakfast buffet would begin.

At 6:30 we went down for breakfast. The Royal Empress Hotel had an extensive buffet that carried everything one could possibly eat for breakfast. The previous two mornings we had partaken immensely, however, our excitement of the wedding day seemed to make our stomachs small. Yes, no sleep, and no appetite; we were very excited!

We could not help but notice that it had been raining heavily outside and the sky looked as though it had no intention of stopping. We were crossing our fingers in hopes of nice weather. Fortunately the rain did not last the day. The sky cleared up later, and also, we found out that in Thailand it is considered good luck for it to rain on a couples wedding day. So it goes.

Jit and her husband picked us up on schedule. Our first stop was at their shop to get Cheryl ready such as her make-up and hair. This was rather amusing as the first generation of her make-up was a bit extreme. I think the application of make-up in Thailand is often an event not of highlighting details but of hiding blemishes and acquiring whiter skin. Cheryl had to do some slight adjustments until she looked beautiful.

Once Cheryl was ready we departed to our wedding venue. The venue was nestled deep within the countryside of northern Thailand. we drove up hills, through valleys, and down many winding roads that led to more winding roads. When we finally rolled into the venue we drew in a breath. The place was wonderful. The grounds were lush and full of small flower gardens. There was a small thatchet chapel-like area for the service, and in the centre of the grounds was the main venue building. The bottom consisted of a patio with pillows and mats and a kitchen in the back. Above this was the actual wedding suite. This was made entirely of teak wood from floors, to walls, to ceiling. There was even a small patio with kitchenette for us to watch the sunrise and eat breakfast the following morning. The place was breathtaking.

We immediately set to getting ourselves ready for the ceremony. We were nervous because we had yet to see each other in our wedding clothes. When I was ready I went to the altar to meet with the minister and await Cheryl. I had my vows and our rings ready in my sweaty and shaking hand. When Cheryl emerged from the venue house I could feel my heartbeat through every artery of my body. I was so excited, and seeing her only heightened the effect of it all. She looked so beautiful as she approached across the lawn in her weding dress. From her face I could tell that she was feeling similarly giddy.

The actual ceremony did not take long. We spent most of the time looking longfully at each other and trying not to fall apart from the shakes and happiness. We both seemed to be bursting at the seems. I was so nervous that I even messed up my traditional vows. Instead of repeating each of the vows, I instead said, "I do" and "yes" in agreement to all of them as tehy were read by the minister. I can only hope that Chery thought it cute of me and not stupid.

Once the ceremony was over Cheryl and I stopped shaking so much. It was like we could move on to the joy of being newlyweds now that we were passed the initial nervousness. We moved about the grounds with the photographer following and taking picture after picture. In fact, the photographer ended up taking over 500 pictures that day.

Our next item on the agenda was to ride an elephant. We had to drive awhile, but that was fine as our wedding organizer had arranged for a very nice van transort for the day complete with air con, drinks, and a cooler full of ice.

We arrived to see the elephants ready for send off. I think some of the locals and staff thought it odd that we were planning to ride the elephant regailed in our full wedding gear but...so it goes. We wanted to ride in style and that we did. Although we didn't have soup cans trailing our wedding transportation we did ask to have a "just married" sign hung on the back of Dodo the elephant. Our wedding planner, Jit, seemed to think this was very cute. We rode Dodo for about 30 minutes through the lush valley countryside. When we returned to the handlers they had provided food for us to feed Dodo. This was fun. We found Dodo was quite gentle taking the food from our hands in a very delicate manner with the end of his trunk.

We had a light lunch at a local luxury hotel before leaving to return to the venue. Upon our return there was a 5-piece Thai band awaiting our arrival ready to regail us with music for hours on end. We sat on pillows and drank Thai wine whilst listening to music and enjoying each others company. I even tried to play some Thai music. Meanwhile the Thai staff was preparing our wedding meal in the kitchen.

When the dinner was served we were in awe. The food was so delicately placed and finely prepared with every consideration taken to asure a wonderful meal. I would place it as possibly the best meal I have ever eaten. We had several types of curry with meats, vegetables, spring rolls, chicken, and other items. We enjoyed lazily eating small amounts over a long period of time as we wished not to hurry the experience.

After dinner we enjoyed a bottle of champaign as the sun sank away. Once it was sufficiently dark we went to the entrance of the venue to set aloft nine fire balloons. Why nine? "Because it rucky number!" This was a nice romantic touch to finish our wedding day. When we were finished we watched the row of balloons in the sky depart slowly bobbing with the air currents through the valley.

We couldn't have asked for a better day. Everything happened better than we could have planned. Jit saw to everything and all was perfect, especially my wife.

-please check out our pictures

"The Day I Married the Most Beautiful Woman in the World"