February 11, 2012

I've had these pictures loaded for awhile but I keep forgetting to "Publish" the post. For those of you who aren't on Facebook, here's some pictures from the Surprise Wedding!

Louis got to the Tiki Bar before me. He was the best wedding planner ever.



I have to admit that I was really nervous when I showed up. Everyone was taking craploads of pictures of us. I didn't really like all of the attention.





The Malagasy officials were very nervous to be in front of so many vazas!



Everyone was kind of ready for the ceremony to get going. It was a good time to have a wedding. The cyclone was coming and there was nothing to do but wait. Everyone was ready to party!





I wish I remembered what we were talking about here!! I know that I was dripping sweat and that I kept having to wipe up my face. Half way throught the ceremony, I had to ask a friend to get me some napkins. It was COOKING outside and super humid!



A full house! I was so happy to have everyone there! There were a few people missing that I would have liked to be there, but, oh, well.





Again...I wish I would have rememebered what was being said!! I think either that it's Malagasy law that my husband is the boss of the family and that it is law that we try to have children. It's also law that my husband has to provide for my parents, siblings, and grandparents!



Another law? To procreate. It's wished that we have SEVEN girls and SEVEN boys.

I was extremely nervous and sometimes had a hard time following. I have a difficult time with some accents. At one point, the Mayor said a word that I thought was, "Amanda" (my middle name). I blurted out, "No, my name is Nicole!". I got a kick under the table. He actually said "ammendment". Oops!



I'm not sure I've said this enough, but it was at least 33*C (91*F) and 85% humidity.

Neither of us were aware that we had to write our vows. We kind of just made them up on the spot. I even said mine in French!



I met my witness Hari, two years ago when I hired her to work in my group. I work very closely with her and am looking forward to working in another department so that we can have more of a real friendship. She currently reports to me so that kind of complicates things. Anyway, she always says that she has learned so much from me and she looks up to me. I always think that I've learned so much from her and even more through trying to teach her what I know. I hope to always remain in contact with her, and one day, long down the road, meet up again.





 I can't remember why Louis felt the need to turn around here, but I love the picture. :)



So - I put his ring on the wrong finger. I guess half of the crowd saw - but no one said a thing until afterwards!!! Many Europeans wear their rings on their right hands....but he changed his over after we found out about the glitch.



Again - I'd love to know what we were thinking!!! It looks like we are scared!!



Here is Louis' witness, Coco. He is the Supervisor of one of his machine shops. Louis admires his work ethic and character. He couldn't think of anyone else he'd rather have as his witness.



Analysing the ring again. We had them made from a local Indian jeweler. They are "supposed" to be 18k white gold. I have no idea, but they are more yellow than white. It was funny when we went to pick out our rings. I've always loved diamond eternity bands, but I'm not comfortable wearing anything like that while we live abroad. So I wanted something simple. Louis spent much more time picking his out and had detailed specifications!



We had a few gifts given to us. Very cute lamps to have in the camp room.



And somehow (I think after a lot of champagne), we had a first dance. Although it was mainly just us talking how freaking cool the night was!!



A friend brought me some flowers. I didn't get to hold them or anything...so here was a total poser shot! (I even took the time to fix the red eye!)



And again, after much champagne, I pretended to throw the bouquet. That would have been a BIG MESS. We decided to leave them at the Tiki bar for the week.



Our wedding party. I can't beleive it! I keep saying it was "perfect". But just how everything came together, it was wonderful. It's slightly bittersweet because all of our family and friends couldn't be there, but when I think about it, we have the rest of our lives to spend with them. Yes it was a special day that they missed, but they were there in thoughts.


 We had been dancing, it was hot out, and we were both sweaty. But what a fun night!!!!!



We drove to Tana, and a few hours later,  we were off to Paris!!



Like I've said before, I could never have imagined my life like this. It is unbelevable surreal that I moved so far away from home (when I could have never imagined leaving it), travel regularly (when I had no interest in travelling, apart from a break to Mexico), married Louis (when I had no intentions of finding a husband - especially an expat!), and have now renewed to stay one more year (when I didn't know if I'd make it six months!). I had always had a plan for life - and this wasn't it. My life is far from perfect. There are some pretty big bumps here and there. In spite of that, at this moment, I can't imagine myself anywhere.