Happy Couple: Derik and Lindsay
Wedding Date: Saturday, November 5
Location: Spotsylvania, VA
Status: Bride
This is it: my wedding!!! It was beautiful and perfect and fun, and I enjoyed myself tremendously. At the same time, it was every bit as meaningful as I could have wished. Everyone told me it would be overwhelming, not to mention frustrating, to be surrounded by my friends and family and be too busy to really talk to them, and they were right. However, it still meant to much to see them all there. Looking around and seeing pieces of my past, my present, and my future was really very cool. We did a candlelight ceremony at 5:30, and my father and stepmother put together an 8-voice choir for the occasion that was my favorite part of the whole thing. They sang an "Ave Maria" by Tomas Luis de Vittoria for the bridal party processional, a "Jubilate Deo" for the bridal processional, and an anthem that was a setting of "O, my luve is like a red, red rose" by Robert Burns. It was so pretty! The reception was in the fellowship hall. I am not the best judge of whether or not it was a good time, busy as I was with bridal duties, but I heard there was karaoke afterwards at the bar up the road, and a couple of my friends got kicked out of the hotel pool at 3 a.m., so, judging from that, I'd say it was a good party. As for me, I managed to dance for a good long while, and I got to dress up like a pretty, pretty princess, so my cup was full.

Wedding Photo:

To hear more in-depth babbling about this wedding, go here for the short version, or, if you really want to hear all of my wedding-related adventures, go here, then here, then here, and then, finally, here.

Happy Couple: Rudi and Lena
Wedding Date: Saturday, November 12
Location: Atlanta, GA
Participation: did not attend
OK, so I wasn't actually invited to this one, but I wanted to post the very cute picture, below.

Wedding Photo:

So there you have it, the weddings of 2006. Without further ado, let's get to the awards! I know you're all very excited. Vanna, envelopes, please.

Best Ceremony Location: I have to make this one a tie between Derik and Lindsay and Maggie and Jeff since both couples got married in churches with lots of family history, which make them both sentimental favorites.

Best Reception Location: Alan and Min - The reception (as well as the ceremony) was held at the Westin Grand, a glamorous hotel in downtown D.C. From the courtyard where the mandap was set up for the ceremony to the staircase lit with candles to the ballroom, the whole thing was just amazing.

Quickest Turnaround: Richard and Heather - I don't remember exactly when they got engaged, but I'm pretty sure they only had a couple of months between the engagement and the wedding. (January feels like so long ago...)

Best Comedy Moment: Derik and Lindsay - Our kiss was a little long (OK, really long), and Derik told me later that Father Jeff started fanning himself with the program. Hee!

Most Awkward Moment: Jeff and Margaret - During the processional, there was a rather long pause during which we all started wondering what was going on. It turned out that the ring bearer, who was very young, had decided not to come down the aisle after all. His mother, who was one of the bridesmaids, had to run back and get him. I'm calling it an awkward moment, but it was actually really funny and very cute.

Best Ceremony Music: Derik and Lindsay - I have to give this to our choir, which I really thought was beautiful.

Best Reception Music: Alan and Min - The DJ played a mix of Alan's favorite dance hits from the 80's ("Kiss" by Prince was a highlight) and the Punjabi music that's a hit with Min's Indian relatives. Let me tell you, that music is fun to dance to!

Best DJ: Derik and Lindsay - OK, so this is really an award for my friend Dolph and the trusty iPod that helped him. I just had to give him a plug because he was so funny and cool as the DJ at our wedding.

Best First Dance: Alan and Min - I'm giving this one to them purely because of Min's gorgeous outfit. She changed from her pink and orange wedding sari into a blue and green sari for the reception, and, with her upswept hair, she looked like a classic 40's movie star.

Best Dance Floor: Derik and Lindsay - We get this one because we had Alan Cunningham AND Angie Pitha AND Yvette Barton AND Duckie Smith, all in the same room, all dancing at the same time. Never have I seen such funky poetry in motion.

Loudest Screaming Baby: Derik and Lindsay - As I've said before, it's not a wedding without one, and we had several!

Cutest Toddler on the Dance Floor: Derik and Lindsay - We had this one covered several times over as well. I've got pictures.

Cutest Flower Girl: Jeff and Margaret - SO CUTE!

Best Reception Food: Alan and Min - First of all, there was delicious Indian food, all vegetarian, at both the mehndi night on Friday and the sangeet on Saturday, so Alan and Min might have gotten this award even without the amazing spread at the reception. But, DUDE, the spread at the recepion!!! First of all, there was this drink we got before the ceremony even started that tasted like coconut milk mixed with spices. Then there was a cocktail hour following the ceremony that Derik thought was dinner because there was so much amazing food. There was chicken tikka, and there were also these lamb appetizers dipped in green sauce that I think were possibly the best things I'd ever tasted in my life. I had to force myself to stop eating them in order to have room for dinner. Then there was dinner, which was something like five or six courses, most of them fabulous Indian dishes. After every course, I'd think I didn't have room for another, but then there would be a break for toasts or music or a little dancing, and then the next course would come out looking and smelling just amazing, and I'd start eating again. This was a feast of feasts. At the sangeet, we complimented Min on that food, and she said, "Wait until you see how much food there's going to be at the reception! My dad ran amuck!" We spent the entire reception going, "Yay, amuck!" and toasting Min's dad.

Best Bar: Alan and Min - Open bar. Did you doubt it?

Most Beautiful Cake: Rudi and Lena - It was red velvet cake, and her dress was red and white, so when they cut the cake, it matched her dress! I thought that was really cool.

Most Delicious Cake: Jeff and Margaret - It was perfectly moist and delicious and was served with fresh berries.

Best Toast: Derik and Lindsay - I wish we'd videotaped the toasts because I don't remember everything that everybody said, and I wish I did. So many people said such amazing things to us. I get choked up just thinking about it.

Worst Toast: Alan and Min - That's all I'll say. They had many people give fabulous toasts, so it wasn't a big deal that one person decided to make a wedding toast All About Him.

Best Photographer: Derik and Lindsay - We get this one by default, really, since I haven't seen the professional photos from any of the other weddings. Still, I am very pleased with the photographer we chose. He was nice to everyone and put people at their ease, and he was really cool and flexible and gave me everything I asked for.

Most Pictures: Derik and Lindsay - OK, so I wore out my wedding party a bit with all the pictures. But we did it before the ceremony, so at least it didn't cut into anybody's party time.

Best Wedding Gift: Derik and Lindsay - Our friends went in together and got us his and hers iPods, pre-loaded with playlists, photos, and tons of music. They're engraved with our names and the wedding date. I can't think of anything we would have loved more! What a classy, thoughtful gift.

Best Wedding Dress: Derik and Lindsay - This award should probably go to Heather, who actually has the height to carry off a floor-length veil, or Min, who rocked a sari with full wedding jewelry, but I thought my dress was beautiful, and plus I got it for free, so I win, so there.

Best Veil: Jeff and Margaret - In my heart, I want to give this award to myself because I wore a tiara that Derik's mother wore for her wedding, and it was beautiful and perfect, and Moria made my veil, and I wore it over my face, but enough about me. Maggie gets the prize for her sparkly headpiece with floor-length, coffee-colored veil. I'd never seen one that color, and I thought it was really cool, and I loved the headpiece so much that I was disappointed that she didn't wear it at the reception.

Best Hair: Derik and Lindsay - Everybody did updos year, and they were all fabulous. I'm giving myself the prize because my hair had pearls in it, and the hairdresser did really cool things with my braids. I only regret that the veil obscured it for most of the night because it was truly a fabulous 'do.

Best Bridesmaids' Dresses: Derik and Lindsay - Us, again? Gosh, how embarrassing! But no one else can have this award, not when my bridesmaids were so gorgeous. They all picked out their own dresses, in "jewel tone" winter colors of gold, wine, blue, and dark green. I really think I had the most beautiful wedding party of all time.

Best Attendee Fashion: Alan and Min - Again, I wish you could have been there. Each event was a sea of glittering saris, tikkas, bindis, and jewelry, and it was all just to die for. I spent a lot of time checking out all the gorgeous outfits, trying to decide which was my favorite. Indian women have the best clothes in the world.

Best Rehearsal Dinner: Derik and Lindsay - To be fair, it's the only one I went to. But it was awesome! Mom planned the food, and we all went bowling after dinner. I left early to get my beauty rest, but Derik tells me that he stayed up with several of our friends until the wee hours of the morning drinking beer and playing air hockey. It was a blast!

Best Favors: Richard and Heather - They gave out boxes of chocolates, which might not be the most original idea, but these chocolates were made by someone Heather knows personally, and they were very delicious. Second place goes to Alan and Min, who gave out mix CD's at the sangeet (with lots of awesome Bollywood music!) and gold coins with the image of Ganesh at the wedding.

Best Invitations: Alan and Min - These were Indian wedding invitations, printed on that handmade paper in which you can still see the fibers. The invitation to the wedding was on a card, and then invitations to the other events (the sangeet and the mehndi night) were attached sheets of sheer, fibrous paper in other colors. The envelope was bright orange, stamped with gold. As a rule, I try to avoid keeping unnecessary bits of paper in the name of organization, but that invitation is just too pretty to ever throw away.

So there you have it, another year of wedding fun. I keep thinking it will slow down eventually; surely all my friends will eventually be married, and the weddings will therefore stop. However, it shows no signs of stopping; there are already at least three weddings on the horizon in 2006. And you guys know that's just the way I like it! I never get sick of weddings. Never. If you're ever in Atlanta, call me because you know I'm dying to have you over and make you look through all my wedding photos.

What’s in my stereo at home:

• iPod on shuffle

What’s in my car:

• WABE 90.1 (NPR)

What's in my CD player at work:

• I'm really only listening to my iPod these days.

What I'm reading:

• I just finished Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire