When Paul and I first met online, we clashed over a blog post. We had no idea that one disagreement would rock our worlds and change our lives so dramatically. Disagreement led to friendship, which led to something neither of us had ever felt before, and we knew we’d found something that despite circumstance and 4,000 miles of distance, couldn’t be denied. We pushed ahead, often precariously, in a relationship that friends called both inspiring, and absolutely nuts. We fought often, breaking up and making up with equal intensity, and exhausting ourselves and our loved ones in the process. We drove each other crazy, but we loved each other too much to be apart.
Now, after two long, wonderful, heart-wrenching, how-the-hell-did-we-ever-survive-it years of Skype calls and teary airport goodbyes, we are finally getting married.
In just one week, we will be exchanging our vows in the only way we could imagine- completely, totally, uniquely…us. He’s Irish. I’m American. We share an offbeat sense of fun, and an often-offensive humor website. We got engaged at a Tweetup. We have proven we will go to hell and back to live life on our own terms. How do two people like this plan a wedding?
A purple dress. A kilt. A best man who is *all* woman. Live-streaming and live-tweeting. A Twitter-themed-pot-luck-pool-party-reception. Rock Band. A pinata. A sex toy toss in place of the bouquet.
It’s going to be one hell of a party, and we want you to join us! Tune in here on Suburban Oblivion next Saturday at 4pm Central time to catch the whole event live, as it happens.
For better or worse, we are finally making it happen.
Update- Looks like the media is starting to take notice of our rather offbeat plans!
A bunch of Twitter locals get together for a Tweetup, something cool happens and someone catches it on their iPhone, video is uploaded to Youtube and people are tweeting it within minutes.
It may be the epitome of geeky, but when Paul proposed last night with many of our close friends there to share in the moment, that’s exactly what happened. Thanks to Alli recording the video and Chris taking pictures, we have a beautiful visual record of what many often don’t, and we are able to share that with those we wish could have been there with us (Amanda and Christy especially, miss you guys!) but couldn’t.
Paul popping the question as twitter locals share in the moment.
The actual capturing of the video was incredibly lucky, because he hadn’t told anyone he was going to ask last night. He did however start his speech with something along the lines of us ‘never breaking up again’ or something to that effect, and Allie decided just being a smartass that she needed to get that statement on video. We are so glad she did!
Since we are anything but traditional, you know the ring had to be different as well. Instead of a diamond solitaire, the center stone is an emerald (he’s from Ireland, and we met in May) with emerald-cut diamonds on either side. Stunning!
Thank you so very much to everyone who was here to share in the moment last night, and to all of our friends who couldn’t be here but have sent their well-wishes via Twitter, Facebook and email.
Most of all thank you to Paul, my wonderful, sweet, pain in the ass husband-to-be for making the moment so special. This has been so hard-earned for us, but so worth it. I love you.
With all the divorce crap going on on my blog lately, I figured it’s time to switch gears a bit and share some things that have made me smile recently. Hopefully they’ll brighten your own Monday morning a bit as well
JetBlue
JetBlue airline recently launched an ‘All You Can Jet’ pass giving customers the opportunity for unlimited travel to any JetBlue destination for a month for only $599. Not useful for me, but very useful for those who were able to take advantage of such an unheard-of deal.
Why does this make me smile? JetBlue’s twitter crew started retweeting links to blogs people have set up to chronicle their month-long travel adventures. Just some of the examples-
