Mr. and Mrs. Largin......Shotgun Style :)

Here is my lovely fairy tale...



Once upon a time there lived a lovely couple, Patrick and Alison. They had been engaged for just over 5 months and wedding plans were a topic of frequent discussion. Several ideas were considered, but alas, to their frustration, none were panning out.

A couple days before their planned trip to Phoenix for Christmas, the two lovebirds decided to wed during the trip. First they thought of Mesquite, NV. Alison called the casinos there to see what wedding options there were... The wedding planner at one chain of casinos would be out of town until after the first of the year. The wedding planner at another was helpful, but they didn't have the low-scale options that the couple were looking for. She gave Alison a phone number to call a guy who could marry them at his home. This wasn't an ideal option either. Next, Patrick called places in Laughlin, NV and found similar disappointing results.

That evening after work, Alison was at a coworker's birthday celebration. Several people had heard that the couple was planning to wed the next day, and Alison shared the disappointments in trying to plan a small ceremony. Just then, Carl, another coworker, piped in that he was an ordained minister and would love to perform the ceremony for them! Alison called Patrick and they immediately started planning.

The next evening, Saturday, December 22nd, Patrick and Alison and a small group of close friends went to the Thaifoon restaurant in Salt Lake City and were married by Carl. It was a beautiful and simple ceremony, and a first for the restaurant! :) Here are some pictures of the ceremony:


Alison and Patrick waiting for the elevator at The Gateway.


Patrick, Carl, and Alison at the very beginning of the ceremony.



Just married!!! Our first kiss as husband and wife. :)


Just before our celebratory toast. :) What a cute couple!


Our wedding cake. Shay and Tia got them for us...with such short notice they had to split "Congratulations Alison + Patrick" onto two cakes. :)


We couldn't be happier to finally be married! We're excited about going into 2008 united in marriage and living a life full of blessings and love. Thanks to everyone, especially Carl, who helped us pull this together. We are blessed with so many wonderful people in our lives.

The End

***UPDATE 1/9/08***
I didn't realize that "Shotgun Wedding" implies that the bride is pregnant. :) No, I am not pregnant. It was a quick elope-style wedding rather than a Shotgun wedding. Hopefully babies are in the near future, though!!!

It's Official!!!

Patrick and I are MARRIED!!! I'll post more pictures and the story later...just wanted to get this cute picture on here. :)

I just need to vent

I absolutely hate drama. I try to live a drama-free life, which sometimes creates drama. For example, there tends to be a lot of drama tied to my family. So my solution is to avoid the drama by avoiding the people. They get pissed.....and....more drama. And to be fair, drama is typically connected to having a vagina. Or occasionally to being gay. I can say that because I have a brother who is gay and a best friend who is gay, so no one get offended. Tonight at work there was way too much drama. It wears me out. So, sparing all the stupid details, my solution is to be polite to everyone, but selective about who I trust and who I call a friend. Because people like drama...especially when it is at others' expense.

The end. Ugh.

Seriously

Why do relationships have to be so difficult? I know "The Secret" would say that I am bringing this on myself by focusing my energy on the difficult side of relationships. I partly agree. And the other side of me thinks that even if I focused on how "perfectly" everything is going, I'd still be dealing with the same old aggravating shit. I really have no idea if I will be married this year. At this point, I almost don't care. I'm back at the stage of "waiting a little longer to make sure it's absolutely what we want to do." I know I'm a pain in the ass, and so is every man out there... it's all about patience, love, and compromise. Ugh...rock and hard spot. With a soft squishy warm cuddly heart in there too...I wouldn't be here if that wasn't part of the equation. Duh.