How do I write about the most amazing day in my life thus far?

It was positively spiritual. We started the day with a morning blessing conducted by a medicine man. The same medicine man who did my grandfather's death ceremony and did a blessing ceremony for our family when my uncle was murdered. It was good to get him up to Santa Fe to do something GOOD for our family. We all squeezed into a teepee in the middle of downtown santa fe and he did the ceremony. Halfway through I just started crying, and my mom was crying and my brother was crying. When I finally got to look at sweets he was crying too. It was so amazing. Once the ceremony was done we left the teepee and his mother came up and gave me a GIANT hug. It was a welcome to the family hug. And I was married.

That would have been enough, but I had the rest of the day to attend to.

We went back to the hotel room my mom and I had shared that night and called my grandmother. My aunt and uncle were in her hospital room and they said she hadn't responded to stimulus for about 18 hours. So they just held the phone up to her ear and let us talk. I could hear her breathing, so I said to her

"Grandma, I just got married. I love you. I'm going to be okay." I listened to her breathing a little more and then we hung up.

And then it was off to the hairdresser.

(I had my nails done. french manicure! first time. I felt VERY glam.)

My hair was up and curled around the beaded tiara my mom had made using my great-grandmother's beadwork. My mom had her make-up done and looked a little like a harlot (until she put on her dress). My bridesmaids all got their hair done and we all looked smashing.

then it started snowing.

me: Is it snowing?

Maid of Honor: No- those are bird feathers.

me: Oh.

twenty minutes later-

me: damnit, she lied to me! It IS snowing.

Good thing the wedding was a little south of the mountains and there was no snow. There was a lot of wind though- not a weather pattern I thought I should be worried about.

We rushed around and ate and got ready and the photographer was absoltuely charming with her French-Canadian accent. She took photos of everything- I felt like a celebrity. Then, all of a sudden it was time for the wedding.

I arrive at the site and there are our families, waiting for the processional. Moms are rushing about, daddy looks a little nervous in his NEW suit, brother is a bit concerned because he's already spilled something on his new suit. I can hear music and see people rushing about in the distant but all I can think about is how cold that wind is. And how this is happening so fast and all I want to do is TASTE these moments for just a little longer.

Then we're lined up and people are walking. The wedding planner is hustling and bustling and at the last minute she takes my cape off my shoulders and puts my arm in my father's arm and we're walking too.

I tried to walk slowly. But I turned the corner and everyone stood up and all of a sudden my entire life flashed before my eyes in the form of 150 faces. People I had known and have yet to know were smiling at me and I was actually walking down the aisle with my father. And the best part- the best part was that this man I love was at the end of the walk and he was smiling at me and I was walking to him. The time was flash-forward and spin-back for twenty steps until I was by his side.

The ceremony was outdoors, on a sunny Santa Fe day. The wind reduced itself to a small breeze and the words our officiant said meant more to me than ever before. As he was talking I looked out at the crowd gathered and I smiled at each person. Recognition of everyone in our families and friends from near and far.

Then the officiant paused, and asked for a moment of silence. He asked that we think of those people who couldn't be with us today. He called on the ancestors to join us in our marriage. At that moment an enormous gust of wind arose and blew my veil up into the air. It blew my dress around my legs and blew and blew around us as blustery as a desert wind might dare to be. The ancestors were absolutely joining us that day. And I thought of my grandmother- Barbara. And Lon, my uncle. I thought of Sachi, my muse. And I thought of my Grandfather. And then I heard my grandfather's voice as they suprised me with a recording of him singing an Apache song, recorded before he died.

and I cried. In front of those 150 people I cried like a little baby. It's okay though- everyone else was crying too.

And then we were married.