011110

A series of figures with a meaning. For a computer scientist* frequencies of ones and zeros are very familiar and for a language and grammar nerd called Anna a palindrome of figures also has comfortable familiarity.

It also means the first day of the eleventh month of year ten of this century.

1 November 2010

And most of all, it is our wedding day!

Yes, Peter and I have been married for a month today!

And why am I telling you now and not earlier? Well, we only told a few close friends and family members beforehand and afterwards there have been so many we wanted to tell in person before going "public" in the blogosphere and on Facebook. And a little bit we wanted to suga på karamellen, i.e. make it last, keep it our little secret for a while.

We weren't all alone though, nor did we elope. We had a small wedding with two friends as witnesses. Family present were our parents, Peter's sister and her husband, my brother and Peter's grandmother. My friend Maria was one of our witnesses - and her fiance Daniel was invited too of course - and Peter's friend Thomas our other witness. We had a really lovely woman marrying us - I selected her from the list** because she's an actress and I figured that meant she would conduct the ceremony with feeling and expression. I was right! After the ceremony we celebrated with champagne and a bit of a mingle before sitting down for a three-course meal followed by coffee and cake***.

This was just the first of our weddings though! Our plan is to throw a big party next autumn - once the baby is old enough to be left with a sitter for a day (and night) - and invite everyone to a blessing**** in church.

Doing it this way turned out quite nice even though this is not what we had planned originally (we had planned to get married first and then have children but life is full of little surprises*****). This way we will have two wedding days! Another nice consequence is that our families had the opportunity to spend more time with each other and talk much more than they would have had at a big party, especially Peter's grandmother who would probably be too tired to come to a big party (my grandfather was invited but has been unwell and couldn't attend unfortunately). I also think it was a much less stressful day than most people's wedding day and hopefully it will also mean we'll be less stressed next time even if throwing a big party is always associated with an element of stress. But at least we won't have to worry about whether the other person will say I do! ;)

Our wedding day started already the day before when we checked in at Grand Hotel - I can recommend their package "Lagom mycket kärlek" with sea view accommodation (and view of the Old Town, the Palace and the Opera, etc.), champagne (well, alcohol-free alternative for me) and strawberries in the room, and a lavish hotel breakfast - continuing with dinner at Lydmar in the evening, followed by, the next day, after breakfast, a visit to the hotel's luxurious spa Raison d'Etre (that I've told you about before) including massage for both of us. We figured it was nice to do all that stuff before the wedding, as on our actual wedding night we wouldn't get to the hotel room until pretty late and not have time to really enjoy all the extravaganza and services Grand provides (we spent the wedding night at home instead). Doing it this way also meant our wedding day was pure relaxation and no stress, at least until 2pm; after that it was time for hair appointment, picking up flowers and wedding cake, etc. and arriving at the venue around 4:30pm to make sure everything was in order before the guests started arriving after 5.

More pictures to follow but here's one to satisfy your curiosity!



* Well, really electro engineering but now working in IT and holding a position as a CTO.
** In Sweden, those authorised to marry in a civil ceremony - church ceremonies are different - are usually politicians and this is an extra (unpaid) assignment they can volunteer for. I googled the officiators on the City of Stockholm list and fell for this 70-year old woman who's also an actress.
*** Peter thought dessert would be enough but I insisted on cake too, even if people are already stuffed; no wedding without cake, right?!!
**** As we're already married we couldn't get married again in church but we could still have a church ceremony even though it's a bit different from a regular ceremony.
**** We could have waited to get married until next year of course but for various legal, family and other reasons we wanted to be married before the baby comes.