Part 6--The wedding

Our wedding announcement and our first picture as a married couple

Our first apartment was in a quaint little "gay friendly" neighborhood called North Park. It was only a little bit ghetto and very close to Balboa Park and the zoo. If you ever go to San Diego, visit Balboa Park, it's free and IT IS Beautiful! I moved in January 1st to the upstairs back one bedroom apartment of an old lime green fourplex building. Not that great, but much better than my ol' RV living space.

The day after I moved in I was watching the news and they announced that a serial rapist was attacking women in our neighborhood...like two streets over. I was scared to death. I made German come check out the closets everyday before I'd go inside. Luckily, the guy was caught a few days later. Then about a week after I moved in German was dropping me off and there were lots of police cars and an ambulance parked in front of the building. Our landlady saw us drive up and asked if I'd seen the neighbor since I'd moved in. The neighbor whose door I passed EVERYDAY to get to my door. I hadn't seen him and I noticed his car hadn't moved either. Apparently, he was a middle aged man who lived alone and kept to himself. The landlady was worried because he hadn't paid rent yet and he was normally never late. She came by to check on him and found him. Sadly, he had died of an aneurysm and nobody knew. He had been laying there dead since I'd moved in. It was really sad, but also very creepy at the same time. I quit my night job, so I wouldn't have to get home so late at night and prayed that our wedding day would come quick. It was the only time in my life that I've ever lived alone and I NEVER want to do it again.

A week before we were married German realized his resident INS card was missing. A card he hardly ever used and actually didn't need anymore because he was in the process of applying for U.S. citizenship. Yet, it was a card he needed to be able to leave the country and go on our cruise. He had to wait in line all night long outside the San Diego government building to apply for a new one. He paid over 300 bucks to get his old Argentina passport stamped, stating that the new card was on its way, so that he could go on our honeymoon. Don't know why things happen sometimes, but it was not fun.

My mom, sister and some girlfriends finally joined me a few days before the wedding and we were all busy with wedding preparations. We planned a small luncheon at the UCSD Institute building in La Jolla and that evening the Spanish Branch offered to throw together a reception.

*SIDENOTE* I did NOT want a reception. I especially didn't want a church gym reception. I wanted to be done celebrating after the luncheon and not bother with paying and planning for a reception. Looking back I still wish we had not had a reception, but certain family members (on German's side) were adamant about the need for a reception. I am very thankful to the ward members that paid for a beautiful second wedding cake, who brought food and who helped set up, serve food and clean up. Oh and there were people who offered to find and pay for the DJ (a DJ from Tijuana that couldn't cross the border and never actually showed up). Anyway, that said, I conceded to a reception and had very little to do with the planning. I did go help set up tables and string up lights in the gym the night before.

Then the dreaded night before...

Maybe it is common knowledge, but no one told us we needed a form signed by our bishop and stake president in order to be married in the temple. We thought all we needed were our temple recommends but this is sooo not the case. After a few phone calls we were able to meet with our bishop in the afternoon and our stake president that evening. Luckily.

Then we went to help set up the gym and finished around 10pm. We were all getting ready to drive home and get to bed. I went to get my purse from the front foyer. My purse, which contained my car keys, my planner/wallet with my I.D., my temple recommend, credit cards, multiple giftcards (two of which were valued at $100), all my addresses and phone numbers, my calendar, tons of personal information & mementos, had vanished. It also contained my nice fairly expensive camera, the only camera we owned, the camera I was going to take on our honeymoon. And it ALMOST contained my passport and our cruise tickets, but luckily I hadn't put them in my purse yet. Luckily. Yes, I realize it was stupid of me to leave it unattended with all that stuff inside, especially when the young men were having an activity in another part of the chapel. But we were in a church and I was extremely scatter-brained the night before my wedding...ok maybe I was a scatter-brain the whole month before. I really didn't even remember where I had left it until the next day. Everyone (about 7 people) squeezed into German's sedan and drove home. Then I lost it. I freaked out to say the least! I sobbed and felt sorry for myself and poor German tried desperately to console me, telling me we'd find it. He even drove 20 minutes back to the chapel that night to look around again. No luck. But my sweet friend Muriel loaned me her camera so we could take pictures on our honeymoon. I love that girl!

Some of my favorite wedding pictures (some people were also not very happy about my choice of wedding shoes, but I stuck to my guns and wore my flipflops)

The beautiful San Diego temple--someday German and I hope to move back.

I think I got about four hours of sleep that night. Muriel dropped me off to get my hair and makeup done and thank goodness they did I great job at JCPenney. I was very happy with it. (I'm not even going to write about having to get my nails done twice.) The morning went well and the temple ceremony was by far the best part of the day. I should thank again my mom and sister, Muriel and Lauren, Tia Norma & Betty for all they did to set up for the luncheon. It was perfect and exactly what I wanted. OH and German's institute director/instructor, Marty for putting together my bouquet and singing at the luncheon and the reception. He was put on the spot and made our day even more special.

Our luncheon cake, my colors were pale yellow and lavender

A shot of my hair at the luncheon--German was having a pretty awesome hair day himself. I actually had a veil and completely forgot to put it on.

We took some pictures after the luncheon down at the beach and then headed back to our jam-packed apartment for an hour, so I could call and cancel all my credit cards. Some punk kid had already charged about 50 bucks at a gas station the night before. Not fun.

Our ghetto green apartment (we are actually in front of the dead guy's door on our way to ours at the end). That's me on the floor calling all my credit cards to report them stolen. Got to love the brown shag carpet...

I was so exhausted and did not even want to go to the reception, but I did. And it went ok, except for the DJ not showing up. Someone in the ward went home to get their karaoke machine and German went outside to grab some CDs from our car. The music blared and people danced, so I guess they had fun. But then somehow the wrong CD was placed in the machine--A CD we did not own and all of sudden the stereo blasted a voice which said, "Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse..." Awkward.

We finally left the reception around 11pm...don't we look totally exhausted? I think I was about to pass out. And isn't German's grandpa adorable? I think German is going to look just like him when he gets old. At least I hope so. We drove to LA the next morning to embark on our blissful 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise. We were so happy to finally be married, but we'll be sure to pack some sunscreen next time. Ouchy...that wasn't fun, but everything else was awesome. I sure love my husband!

Above are some pictures from our cruise. He won 2nd place in the table tennis competition and to prove that he's a romantic, German sang "You've lost that lovin' feeling" to me at the karaoke bar. It was the only song on the list he knew and I loved it! The pic is from the "baby baby I get down on my knees for you..." part.