My Marriage to John Ricker

30 October, 2009 - Posted by: erika

The wedding took place at 6 pm on September 3rd, 2005, on the 27th floor balcony of the Marriot hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, during a huge science-fiction/fantasy/anime convention called DragonCon. The vows were completely ad-libbed. There was no officiator; the bride claimed she had the authority to perform a marriage since she was the captain of a kayak.

The guests included fans dressed as Kirk and Spock from "Star Trek," Jasmine from Disney's "Aladdin," and a self-described "Jedi pimp." The groom was dressed as a samurai; the bride wore a costume that resembled a Star Wars Twi'lek with snake-patterned skin. (She had been talked out of wearing it to the prom, and ever since then she had been determined to get married in it.)

Okay, that was actually the second ceremony, a little something we did on our honeymoon. If you ask my family, the real wedding was on August 20th, at my grandma's cabin on Lake Minnetonka. Here are some pics of that, too.

John's father, a Lutheran pastor, officiated.
John and I had felt "married" ever since our engagement-- it felt as if the wedding was just a silly formality, so instead of taking traditional marriage vows, we just renewed the vows we had taken when we had gotten engaged. This was highly amusing, because when John had proposed, he had planned a long speech and then forgot it, and I had replied very enthusiastically. So our vows went like this:
"You have caused me to see beauty in every aspect of my life... Um, I forgot the rest... will you marry me?"
"Darn right I will!"

Two friends and the groom's sister formed his side of the wedding party.

The bridesmaids were two more friends and a cousin of the bride. The flower girls were two younger cousins.

The cake was a traditional Norwegian "Kransekake"-- very delicious.

The catering was Thai.

The ringbearer was a picture of our parrot Rain Man; he wouldn't have appreciated being there in person.

I wore a green dress from Brides of France, and pearl jewelry.

My uncle parked his car on the lawn, and his brother played a prank with a bow made of paper towels and a sticky note reading "Congratulations, Erika and John! Have Fun and Happy Travels!" We actually thought for a moment that someone was giving us a car.